The One Minute Manager: Highlights From The Book

The One Minute Manager, was my week-end reading (last week). I thought of sharing my reading notes as a blog post.

"Once there was a bright young man who was looking for an effective manger. He wanted to work for one. He wanted to become one. His search had taken him over many years to the far corners of the world." Finally he met the "One minute Manager" who shared the secrets of "one minute management". He was neither autocratic nor democratic; neither tough nor nurturing. He taught three secrets of the one minute management to the young person.
So here we go...

Secret #1 : One minute Goal Setting

People who feel good about themselves produce good results

One minute manager sets each goal and its performance standards with his subordinates in paper with less than 250 words; something that can be read in less than one minute!
Occasionally, people can spend a minute of their time and read the goal and see whether their behavior matches the goal.

When you go for bowling and if there are no pins standing, would you ever roll the ball?
When there are pins but if they are covered with a paper screen, you would try rolling and might hear some sounds which makes you happy. But you would not enjoy the game much.
So the manager's responsibility is to make the pins visible!

Secret #2 : One Minute Praising

Help People to Reach Their Full Potential. Catch Them Doing Something Right

The book argues that managers often "catch" people when they do something wrong. They are watching behind the paper screen so that they can see the pins well. They would say that you missed eight pins instead of telling that you hit two.

That's where the second secret of one minute management is "One Minute Praising". Good work should be praised immediately and it should be specifically about the particular work and not a general praise.

Secret #3 : One minute Reprimand

We are not just our behavior. We are the person managing our behavior

There are times, when bad things happen due to mistakes. That's where you need to go for one minute reprimand. As in the previous secret, this should be done immediately. Divide your minute into two. In the first 30 second, tell what went wrong and tell how you feel about it. During the second half you should remind them how valuable they are to you and to the organization. Re-affirm that you condemn the behavior but you value the person and that the person is not just the behavior!

Finally, ensure that an agreement is made not to repeat the same mistake.

Worthy quotes
"The best minute you spend is the one you invest in people"

"Everyone is a potential winner. Some People are disguised as losers, Don't let their appearances fool you"

"Goals begin behaviors. Consequences maintain behaviors."

Finally, our young guy became an effective manager by learning and practicing the above secrets and came up with a new principal.


"Share it with others"

And the last principal forced me to write this :-).

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