The One Minute Manager - A Brief Overview
“The One Minute Manager” authored by Ken Blanchard and Spenser Johnson is a short book that is of help to managers with how it explains simpler ways of managing work by setting goals and following up on them. The book elaborates three tools that are simple enough to be done but also improve how managers do their job by motivating people and able to deliver work happily. The tools take one minute or less, hence the name “One Minute Manager”. The book highlights the following three tools: Setting one-minute reviewable goals, at least three of them for every employee, using one minute to acknowledge giving employees a positive feedback and having a reprimand of only one minute to express any dissatisfaction on what the employees have done. These then, when done make a manager a “One Minute Manager”.
Tool 1: Setting One-Minute Reviewable Goals
One minute reviewable goals help a manager handle the problem of miscommunication in the company or the problem of zero communication which often is something that every company struggles with. When something is communicated early enough, with every one exercising honesty and openness almost every problem in the company is preventable. Being new in a company requires that one is given all the information he or she needs to start working and being a productive employee. This can be done by having someone sit the new employee down and make a list of every responsibility of this employee, with goals of this employee laid down to them. The targets need to be three to six in number, specific and have the ability to be reviewed in a minute or less.
Tool 2: One-Minute Praising
Praising an employee after a good job is important but if it takes sixty seconds or less, the better, according to “One Minute Manager”. This is the second tool of the book and it is meant to help managers with their busy schedule get back to the employees still, with some positive feedback. With goals that were set before (tool 1), it is easier for managers to at least focus on what has been done first before focusing on the undone work, which is the normality of many managers. The book emphasizes that managers should tell employees that they have done a good job at that moment that they have done and if possible, accompany the acknowledgment with a physical gesture, like a thumbs up. This helps new workers settle better in the new environment.
Tool 3: One-Minute Reprimand
The third tool acknowledges the fact that not every time a manager will be satisfied with an employee's work. It, therefore, advises managers to also take a minute and not more, to express their dissatisfaction. This is what Blanchard and Johnson call a one-minute reprimand which should be done immediately when the mistake is done just like in the one-minute praise. To avoid any resentment, the manager should also include appreciative words in the reprimand. All in all, as per the book, there are three reasons why this form of criticism works; the employees feel fairness on how their mistakes are treated, there are no bad feelings and the manager remains clear about what he or she wants or does not want and the employees always keep in mind their roles in the organization and that they are valued by the company.
Work Cited
Blanchard, Kenneth H, and Spencer Johnson. The New One Minute Manager. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2015. Print.
