I am in a mentor program, and part of the expectations upon being in the mentor program is that you have to read a book that has to deal with the goals that you are working towards. I read all the time. Reading is one of my hobbies, but despite this fact I found myself dragging my heals on the assignment. I had plenty of excuses in my head. I worked over time. I am tired. I am sick. I have a wedding to go to. I left the book at home. I left the book at work. It wasn’t until I was getting close to the dead line I had set for myself and a really rough week at work, did I actually sit down and do my assignment.
One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson is not a horrible read. It is not a New York Times best seller and it most certainly not in the realm of Science Fiction/ Fantasy that I normally read. It is how ever a very insightful book about managing your life. Below is my write up on what was gained from the book.
The One Minute Manger: A Review & Insight
Being a manager is not as complicated as people would have you believe. Everyone is a potential winner. Some people are disguised as losers. You can’t let their appearance fool you. The more I read the One Minute Manager, the more I realize what behaviors make an excellent manager and how to assist the people that are disguised as losers to shine as a winner.
People are more than what they appear. In order to get the best out of any one you have to invest time in them. A person is not just their behaviors; but the person managing their behaviors. Goals begin behaviors, consequences maintain behaviors. If you want people to reach their full potential, they need to know what they are supposed to be working towards, they are supposed to be encouraged in good behaviors and understand the consequences of their actions.
In the One Minute Manager, it emphasized that if person does not know what they are working towards, they will never actually reach their goal. Nobody ever really works for anybody else, they work for themselves. They work to get a good review, to advance their career, to get a kid through college, for recognition, they work for the money and various other reasons. They don’t work because someone tells them to go to work. A person works as a means to an end.
Once goals are agreed upon, it is much easier to see what good behavior looks like, because you know what you are working towards and what to look for. Write down the goal in a simple language. A written word is more binding then a spoken word, and is more permanent and a lot less flexible. A person should take a moment to reread from time to time their goal so that they can evaluate if their behavior matches actions it would take to reach the goal.
Rewards for good behavior promote more good behavior. If you catch a person doing something right, you should let them know immediately and they will continue to do the right thing. Just telling a person “Good Job” or standard “We appreciate your contribution” isn’t enough. You need to be specific in what they did right and why it was good, so that they are armed with that knowledge to make more positive choices in the future, and can recognize by themselves the impact of contributions.
Just as you want to catch a person doing something right, you want to let them know when they are doing something wrong right away. If a person doesn’t know they are doing something wrong, they will continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. If you let them know right away what they are doing is wrong, they will be less likely to make the same mistake and move on. When it comes to telling them they are doing something incorrectly, it is important to let them know what exactly is wrong about it and that even though it is wrong, that it does not change their value and that you think well of them as a person but not their performance in that situation. Then you have to let go and move on. If you constantly remind a person that what they did was wrong, it pigeons holes them into a behavior pattern and doesn’t give them a chance to grow from that experience.
I think that the most important thing that I learned from the One Minute Manager is not that a person should set goals, or praise their employees or even reprimand them when they stray, but that is all boils down to accountability. If you ask brief important questions, speak a simple truth, recognize accomplishments and be accountable for your actions, you will exceed professionally and personally.
"The essence of knowledge is, having it, to use it" - Confucius
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