What Kind of People Manager Are You: The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
What kind of people manager would you say you are? I am on a quest to learn the 10 key skills that the World Economic Forum says you need for future jobs. So, I have been reading books that teach you the skills. The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson is one of the books I read to the satisfy the requirements for people management skills. It is important to read more than one book on a topic to get diverse points of view.
Have you read?
Why Our World Would End If People Management Skills Disappeared
The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson is an easy read that packs a great punch. It shows the traits of great people managers.
What is The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson About?
The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson is about effectively managing people. The business book is written as a fable. In the story, a young man is on a quest to discover how people manage people. He speaks to many managers and often goes home feeling tired and discouraged.
In talking to many managers, he notices there are two types. Those who are either interested in people or results, not a combination. But he feels that,
“Effective managers manage themselves and the people they work with so that both the organization and people profit from their presence.”
After looking everywhere for an effective people manager, he learns about one who is from a nearby town. He telephones this special manager's secretary and gets an appointment that same week. Managers are supposed to super busy, so could this manager be any good if he has all this free time to meet? Despite his reservations, he goes to meet with this special manager.
The meeting proves to be eye-opening and informative. For instance, he learns that you get more done when you feel good about yourself. This is important because effective people managers do not put down their direct reports. The special manager tells the young man that productivity is about more than the amount of work you get done. It is also about the quality of work you produce. Quality is giving people the product or service, they want and need. He learns about the one-minute manager.
Who is a one-minute manager?
A one-minute manager is someone who is capable of getting good results without spending a lot of time to do so.
3 Secrets to Becoming a One-Minute Manager
The young man gets the opportunity to speak to three people about the secrets to becoming a one-minute manager.
- One Minute Goal Setting: This is the Foundation for One Minute Management. It is the 80/20 goal setting rule (Pareto Principle). Eighty percent of important results come from 20 percent of your goals. You do One-Minute Goal setting on 20 percent of goals. You focus on your key areas of responsibilities, and you identify about three to six goals in all. Each goal and its performance standard should not be more than 250 words. You create a one-page statement for every goal. A problem exists only when there is a gap between what is actually happening and what you desire to be happening.
- One Minute Praisings: As a one-minute manager, part of your responsibility is to catch people doing something right. You praise them as soon as they do something right. As an employee, it is also your responsibility to catch yourself doing something right and praise yourself. An effective people manager lets people know up front that he or she will let them know how they are doing. It's not about an evaluation once a year – it is about immediate feedback so people can course correct. It is about having timely career conversations. The one-minute manager knows that the more successful her direct reports are, the higher she will rise in the organization.
- One Minute Reprimand: When you do something wrong, a good people manager tells you exactly what you did wrong as soon as it happens. Making the same mistake more than once is unwelcome.
Invest in People
The one-minute manager knows how critical it is to invest in people. You tell them what you expect from them so there is no confusion. People want and crave feedback on results because it motivates them. “Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions.”
As an employee, it is your responsibility to review your goals and check your performance against them to make sure that you are making progress.
The one-minute manager is different from typical managers in that they praise people when they do something approximately right until they can do it exactly right. You do not have to do something perfect to receive praise. People have the room and freedom to grow. It is like working on incremental goals. So, you get someone to do something approximately right then move them in the direction of the desired outcome.
At work, people often do not produce quality or quantity because they are managed so poorly. They are unsure of what is expected from them and feedback is not timely enough for them to course correct.
Feedback from the One Minute Reprimand is immediate. One-minute managers Reprimand the behavior and not the person. The Goal is to eliminate the behavior and keep the person. The behavior is not okay, but the person is. Tell people what they did wrong, how you feel about it, and that they are valuable.
Final Thoughts: What Kind of People Manager Are You?
The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson is worth the read. You can digest the content in a couple of hours and you will pick up some tips that you can immediately use.
