One Minute Manager - A Simple Philosophy of People Management

The One Minute Manager is one of my all time favorite books by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson that presents the complex topic of people management in a very simplified way. The tiltle One Minute Manager may give an impression that it is about rushing to finish everything quickly, but far from it, the book uses a simple story to teach three secrets of efficient management. It is a useful reading not only for people who have a manager's job but for everyone as we all need to manage something during our day-to-day work. This is a story of a young man searching for the perfect managing and leading skills. He comes across a one minute manager, who is a respected leader, highly spoken of by his employees. The man shares his three secrets that are the key to his success. 

One Minute Goals 

The first secret is One Minute Goals. This involves a meeting of the manager and the team member where goals are agreed on, written down in a brief statement, and occasionally reviewed to ensure that productivity is occurring. This whole process takes a "minute", which truly means it is a quick meeting, however it is not limited to just sixty seconds. The one minute goal setting ensures that the team member his responsibilities clearly. This is important as confusion about role leads to inefficiency and discouragement. 

One Minute Praise 

The second secret is one minute praise. This involves being open with people about their performance. When you catch someone doing something right, you praise them immediately, telling them specifically what they did correctly. Pause to allow them to "feel" how good you feel regarding their importance to the organization, and finish by shaking hands. 

One Minute Reprimand 

The third secret is the one minute reprimand. Being honest with those around you involves reprimanding when a wrong has occurred. The first step is to reprimand immediately and specifically. This is the same as the second secret, and it holds an important aspect of the first secret: it enables an understanding of responsibilities and how to complete them correctly. Following the reprimand, shake hands and remind the person that he or she is important and it was simply their performance that you did not like. The one minute reprimand consists of the reprimand and the reassurance, both being equally important. If you leave the latter out, you will not be liked by those around you and they will attribute mistakes to them being worth less, which is far from the truth. 

The book also puts emphasis that we should consciously try and 'catch' people doing good things, and not play a supervisor who is always looking for faults. 

These are fairly simple steps to follow, that can help you manage more efficiently. I would like to be a perfect One Minute Manager, but my experience is that I tend to forget these simple principles in many situations. Reading from this book every once in a while helps to remind me about the principles and keeps me on track.