The New One Minute Manager

Introduction

The New One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson follows a motivated young man on his quest to unlock the secrets of effective management and leadership.

• It reveals that successful managers need to be both results-oriented and people-oriented.
  
• The key lies in three powerful practices: One-Minute Goals, One-Minute Praisings, and One-Minute Re-directs.
• These practices empower employees, leading to a sense of accomplishment and ultimately, better results.
  

Leadership and the One Minute Manager and Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager are companion books that delve deeper into these core practices, focusing on team leadership and individual self-management, respectively.

 

 

One-Minute Goals

Effective management begins with clear goals.

• Works side-by-side with team members to plan goals, their responsibilities and desired outcomes (what good performance looks like).
• Honest, open, and early communication is crucial to prevent misunderstandings. Clearly defined goals ensure employees understand their roles and avoid situations where they unintentionally miss expectations.
  

Consider the 80/20 principle (80% of results come from 20% of goals) when setting goals.

• Focus on establishing 3-5 concise goals per team member, ideally not more than a paragraph or two, so they can be reviewed daily in a minute.
• Document each goals with a due date on a single page for easy reference.
  
• Encourage team member to regularly review their actions to ensure they are aligned with the established goals. If there are discrepancies, think and adjust strategies as needed.
  

Empowering employees to solve problems independently reduces the need for constant managerial intervention and build their confidence.

• A problem arises when there's a gap between what's actually happening and your desired outcome.
• An ideal solution, unlike a poor one, bridges the gap perfectly and ensures your desired outcome becomes reality. Keep brainstorming to achieve it.
  

One-Minute Praisings

After setting One-Minute Goals, observe how employees are doing through simple observation and progress reports. Then, provide crystal-clear feedback.

• The key to effective praise lies in catching your employees doing things right and recognizing their achievements as soon as possible, especially at the beginning of a new project or responsibility.
  
• Offer sincere praise, being specific about what they did well.
  
• Pause for a moment to let the compliment resonate.
• Encourage them to continue this excellent work and make it clear you have confidence in them and support their success.
  

This positive reinforcement motivates and encourages continued good work.

• Hence, it is still important to recognize your employee's good work, even when things are not going well personally or for the company.

One-Minute Re-directs

Addressing performance issues promptly is just as crucial as offering praise.

• When mistakes occur, address them immediately with redirection, not harsh reprimands.
  

In today's fast-paced environment, redirection becomes a valuable tool for helping employees learn, adapt and do things differently.

• Before offering redirection, double-check that goals are clearly understood.
• Confirm the facts with employee, reviewing the details and potential impact of the mistake.
  
• Allow a moment of silence for the employee to absorb the feedback.
  
• Reaffirm the values of the employee by reassuring that you believe in them and their ability to learn from the mistake. This avoids a defensive reaction.
  
• A touch of humour, used appropriately, can lighten the mood and create a more open environment.
  
• Once the redirection is complete, move forward. Do not dwell on the past mistake.

When mistakes happen, have the courage to acknowledge them first and encourage your employees to do the same.

• We can laugh at our missteps, learn from them, and ultimately do better work.
  

The Explanations

One-Minute Goals

• Without clear goals, we lack direction and struggle to gauge our performance. It is like playing golf in the dark.
• People are motivated by feedback on results; they want to know how they are doing.
• Unfortunately, many only receive this feedback during annual reviews for bonus or promotion, hindering their progress.
  

One-Minute Praisings

• The most effective way to cultivate winners is to catch them doing something approximately right in the beginning, similar to how we teach babies to speak. This positive reinforcement strengthens desired behaviours and motivates them to progress towards the intended outcome.
  
• Abandon the "leave-alone-zap" approach. Leaving someone who is still learning alone without guidance and then punishing them for not achieving expectations is ineffective. Fear of punishment discourages initiative and leads to minimal effort to avoid reprimand.

One-Minute Re-directs

• Early intervention is key. When managers address issues promptly, feedback is delivered in small doses, allowing employees to focus on one behaviour at a time.
• However, if observations of poor performance accumulate, managers become frustrated, and during performance reviews, unleash a torrent of criticism. This overwhelms employees, who become defensive and fail to recognize their mistakes.
• Never attack the person, but focus on correcting the mistake. The goal is to build employees up, not tear them down. Remember, everyone has the potential to win!
  

Summary

In today's fast-paced world, where speed is a key differentiator, collaborative leadership trumps the outdated command-and-control approach.

• Collaboration allows us to tap into everyone's talents, fostering innovation and accelerating decision-making.

This aligns perfectly with the philosophy of The New One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson.

• The book reminds us that our most valuable resource is our people.
• By investing a mere minute of our time in these core practices, we can unlock employee potential, leading to a more engaged and productive work environment.