thinkarete Notes on™ The One Minute Manager®
Ken Blanchard’s and Spencer Johnson’s The One-Minute Manager® series has sold something close to 10 million copies. As the authors state, whether you’re a manager at home or the office, the same principles apply. We agree.
If you haven’t read it yet (or recently) we offer this quick review.
Hope you enjoy. Apply the principles like a thinkarete manager!
The Fundamentals of The One-Minute Manager®
The fundamentals of The One-Minute Manager® are extremely simple–deliberately so. Follow the three tenets: Set goals, praise, and reprimand.
One Minute Goals
- Keep them simple
- Make sure you both agree on them
- Have your staff summarize the agreed-upon goal in no more than one page
- Focus on the 20% of activities that will lead to 80% of the gains
- Don’t make the process of managing too many goals overwhelming—no more than 3-6 at a time
One Minute Praisings
- Pay close attention to staff up front
- Monitor activity—look for things done right that you can praise
- Praise in person, specifically pointing out what was done well
- Be consistent—even if you’re having a tough day/week, praise the positive
- Don’t let mistakes pile up!
- Immediately correct mistakes—don’t make the mistake most manager make and wait until review time to bombard someone with their mistakes
- Be consistent
- Be specific—agree on the facts
- Be clear about how you feel about the poor behavior
- Do not attack the person—address the behavior, not the individual
- After communicating dissatisfaction with behavior, praise the individual
- Establish the fact that you are only sharing your disappointment because you respect them and expect so much from them
Why One Minute Praisings Work
Whale Training
Do you think that Sea World went into the ocean, held a rope out of the boat and magically found whales that would jump over it?
Of course not!
They capture a whale, bring it to the pool, then put a rope on the bottom of the pool. The whale swims by it, it gets fed. Then they raise the rope. Whale swims under it, it’s not fed; over it and it gets fed. Then they continue raising the rope until it’s soon out of the water, and guess what? The whale is jumping out of the water and splashing the first 10 rows of gleefully wet families.
Same thing holds true for humans. We need continuous positive reinforcement (aka praisings) in order to change our behavior.
Babies Learning to Talk and Walk
The first time we ever asked for water, did we say “Could you please pour me a glass of water, I’m rather thirsty?”
No. First we said, “Wahha.” And we were praised and praised for that. Mom and dad jumped up and down–called grandma and grandpa and all that good stuff.
Then, because our parents didn’t want us ordering “wahha” when we were adults, what was “praised” was altered until it became closer to the desired result.
Do we get up smoothly the first time we tried to walk, then cruise around, maybe even throwing in a little moon walk? Not most of us! Same rules apply: Cheering and cheering on that first crawl then the first tentative step…until, soon enough, we could do the amazing: walk!
Imagine if we scolded a baby as they fell the first couple of times. What would happen? NO ONE WOULD EVER LEARN TO WALK!!
So, why in the world would we not praise the “baby steps” our team members take (and ourselves!) as we learn something new?
Same rules apply to whales, babies and adults. Start applying them to your management relationships!
On Problem Solving
- Identify the current results in objective terms—no emotions or feelings
- Identify the ideal or desired results in equally objective terms
- Identify solutions/new behaviors that can be adopted to achieve the desired results
- Implement the required behavior
Other thinkarete Thoughts
Attributes of a One-Minute Manager®: he or she asks brief, important questions; she speaks the simple truth; she laughs; she works; and she enjoys.
Above everything else, the One-Minute Manager® keeps it simple. You ever notice how simple Blanchard’s books are? So is his philosophy. And, yours should be so simple.
Remember: It’s not what you think, or how you talk, it’s what you do that matters. So, don’t talk a big game—study, practice and learn on your path to mastering the fundamentals of effective management.
thinkarete Tip(s): Read the book. Give it to those you manage. Ask them to read it. After reading it, ask them if they would like to be managed by a The One-Minute Manager®.
When/if they say “yes,” tell them you’re not perfect but you’ll give it your best shot and, together you and your team will be become more efficient, more effective and more energized and happy than ever before!
thinkarete Quotes
“The essence of knowledge is, having it, to use it.”
~ Confucius
“Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.”
~ Leonardo da Vinci
Conclusion
We hope you enjoyed this quick look at a classic management book.
Our recommendation: If you don’t already own it, go out and buy it. If you own it, read it again and ask yourself whether or not you’re consistently applying the principles.
And, you may even want to consider becoming what Tim Sanders, the Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo!, calls a “Lovecat”–go out and buy a copy for your partners and staff so the whole team can enhance their performance.
thinkarete.
-Brian
Keep them clear
Mission must be fulfilled 