The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
“People knew up front that he was honestly on their side from the start, and that made all the difference.”
3 Main Messages:
Give one minute goals
Give one minute praisings
Give one minute re-directs
Matthew Dicks, according to his website, is an “internationally bestselling author, columnist, blogger, podcaster, playwright, and teacher.” I heard him interviewed on The Learning Leader Podcast when he was talking about changing your life through the power of storytelling.
He, like many other excellent writers and public speakers, knows that the key to a great speech is to engage with the audience emotionally from the outset and the best way to do that is through telling stories. He says that you should start with the ending; telling the audience what they will gain from listening to the story and then make sure that your story shows how change occurred.
That is what Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson have done in The New One Minute Manager. They originally wrote this book with the intention that it could be read on an internal US flight and would positively impact leadership behaviour immediately.
The concept is, in fact very simple: we are all pressed for time and need to be efficient with it so there is no point in having pages of goals and KPIs - they need to be concise enough to be able to read them within a minute. ‘Little and often’ in fact could be the by-line of this book as it also suggests giving immediate and specific feedback, be it praise or a redirect.
Living in South East Asia for over 3 years, I have become incredibly aware of how flowery the English language is and how we speak and write in sentences which contain many superfluous words and phrases, so complicated that sometimes the meaning can be lost. In ‘Singlish’, the tendency is to use as few words as possible. “Can,” is a full sentence here, as is “Correct.” Words are used sparingly and the message is clear, which is the simple approach suggested in this book.
Although first published in 1983, the message and purpose of this book still feels relevant and important today. The story is told from the point of view of a “bright young man” who was looking for a special kind of manager who “encouraged people to balance their work and their life, so that each became more meaningful and enjoyable.” Through meeting such a manager and their team, he learns the secrets to keeping things simple and effective. By the end of the story, he too found success because he “asked brief, important questions; spoke the simple truth; laughed, worked and enjoyed.”
In our ever-increasingly demanding schedules, it is important for us to learn how to find “new ways to get great results in very little time,” which is what is explained in this story. The ‘young man’ learns through his conversations and observations and gives summaries and checklists throughout the book, giving the reader a clear and simple path to follow in order to implement the ideas here.
Although at times the story becomes laboured and conversations unnaturally and heavily drive home the key points, the book is a light and enjoyable read and the message - well the message is spot on!
