The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson is truly an incredible book and a total MUST for any business owner who works with a team or with a group of people.
What was a defining factor for me in buying this book is how successful it's been and how it's contributed to many well-known businesses and organizations around the world, including Apple, Chevron, AT&T, Wal-Mart, Holiday Inns, Hewlett-Packard, Pepsi-Cola, KFC, Harvard University, US Army, Navy & Air Force, etc… If this little book has contributed to the successes of all these amazing organizations, then something is up. I wanted to find out what that is… and I did.
The essence of The One Minute Manager is based on the concept of: “People Who Feel Good About Themselves Produce Results.”
When do you work your best? It's when you feel good about yourself.
1. One Minute Goal Setting
2. One Minute Praising
3. One Minute Reprimand
I'll break down a little bit of an explanation of each, but you'll have to check out the book for the rest.
One Minute Goal Setting
At your weekly meetings with your team, each member is required to set goals. This is setting a quick, one minute goal (nothing more than 250 words) on a piece of paper and then giving a copy to your manager and one for yourself. Everything is one minute because in management, efficiency is key.
One Minute Praising
This is rewarding your crew when they're doing a great job. It's spending one minute to make them feel good, acknowledging their accomplishments and hard work. Rewarding others for their effort is key to building momentum with your team and having them enjoy working with/for you.
One Minute Reprimand
When people make mistakes, this is when you let them know and give them immediate feedback on it. After letting them know how they messed up and how they could improve it or make it better, you reaffirm that you think well of them but not their performance in this situation.
Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson go into these concepts much more clearly in the book. The writing style and story is incredible and fun to read. I recommend it for anyone that works with others, as it'll definitely improve your relationship. I personally have started using these principles with my virtual assistants that I work with and hire through oDesk.
I enjoyed this book so much that I also bought the books, The One Minute Entrepeneur and The 4th Secret of the One Minute Manager, also written by Ken Blanchard. I'll be writing reviews on those books as well.
To check out The One Minute Manager on Amazon, click here.