In continuation of achieving my target of reading “1 book every month” in 2017, I have managed to finish The one minute manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. I hope that you are also on target, but don’t mind in case you couldn’t manage to read something this month, you can always speed-up as soon as you are able to manage some time.
So, the reason for why I chose this book is, because it is from the same authors as my previous read of “Who moved my cheese” (link to review) and is again a very-short book of about just 100 pages that talks about how to get the best from your sub-ordinates.
The book begins by classifying managers into basically 2 categories. The first category consists of “Autocratic Managers” who are mostly interested in results and not in the people driving the results. While, the second category is of “Democratic Managers” who are more interested in their employees and less in results.
But as you might have guessed already that both of them have their shortcomings, and that’s the reason that narrator in the book is looking for people who are “Effective Managers”.
The narrator comes across a highly successful manager who also looks like an effective manager. Since the time he had joined the office, both “The Organization” and “The Employee” were getting the best from each other and success for his branch had increased multifold. And hence the narrator tries to explore the ingredients for this success recipe.
After talking to the One minute manager himself and few of his employees, he is able to get the secrets out, which literally are:
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One Minute Goal Setting:
Define your goal in a mAximum of 250 words. Read and Re-read until you are clear enough. take time out of your task to analyze your performance.
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One Minute Praising:
Help people reach their full potential, catch them doing something right. Praise them immediately. be specific while telling them- what they did right?
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One Minute Reprimand:
reprimand people immediately, be specific and tell them- what they did wrong? End it by telling them how valuable they are to you.
Though above lines tell you the recipe, but I advise that kindly take out some time and read the book, as the manner and detail the book will provide you is something which is certainly missing here. Spencer and Kenneth have put their sincere efforts in making those points meaningful.
This book is surely a fine read and I will give it around 3.5 stars. Below are few of my favourite quotations from the book:
- The essence of knowledge is, having it, to use it. -Confucius
- People who feel good about themselves, produce good results.
- Helping people feel good about themselves is the key for higher productivity
- If you’re going to take out a long-term car loan, don’t buy a short-term car. (Productivity is both quantity and quality)
- If you don’t blow your own horn, someone else may use it as a spittoon
- The best minute I spend is the one I invest in people.
- Everyone is a potential winner. Some people are disguised as losers , don’t let their appearances fool you.
- Take a minute: Look at your goals; Look at your performance; See if your behavior matches your goals.
- We are not just one behavior, we are the person managing our behavior.
- Realize that you are managing people and not just their recent behavior
- Goals begin behavior, consequences maintain them.
Who doesn’t desire to be an effective manager or team-lead? But I advise that no matter at what position are you in your career, give it a read or at least add it to your shelf and refer to it when you think it’s time enough.
Let me know through your comments about what you think of the book. Cheers!
