The One Minute Manager by Spencer Johnson, M.D. and Kenneth Hartley Blanchard, Ph.D.

Spencer Johnson, and his partner Kenneth Blanchard, Ph.D.,

have perfected the art of writing motivational business books

in the form of parables.

The One minute manager, arguably their most successful book, opens with a young man who is looking for an effective manager, one who is successful with his people but still gets the job done. The young man’s search has taken him to many places, he has seen many types of offices and he’s had conversations with many different kinds of people, from autocratic managers, bottom-line managers and profit-minded managers.

He has also met with democratic,

and supportive and humanistic managers.

Both these extremes of managers were not entirely efficient, they either got the results and lost the respect of the people, or they had the admiration of the people but were lacking in results.

Until, one day, he heard about this incredible manager who was well liked by his people and also got fantastic results for his company. This man described himself as the One Minute Manager.

The first thing he learned from the one minute manager was that the only way to get results is through people. Results and people go hand in hand. "People who feel good about themselves produce good results." Says the One Minute Manager. He also learnt that productivity is not only about the quantity of work done, but also the quality.

We learn that there are effectively 3 secrets to One Minute Management, the foundation of which is one minute goal setting.

"In most organizations when you ask people what they do and then ask their boss the same question, you get two different lists. And then people get in trouble for not doing something they didn't even know was their job.

That's the primary purpose of one minute goal setting -

to clarify the responsibilities of both the manager and the employee, and also the expected performance standards for each goal.

Feedback is said to be the breakfast of champions, what better way is there to give and receive sincere feedback than to understand exactly what is required from you, and what you should expect in return?

Mistakes are inevitable in the workplace despite our best efforts to do every job well. The one minute manager shows us how to deal constructively with mistakes that creep up in a manner that will not make the employee feel unappreciated and belittled.

The one minute manager believes in empowering people to identify and solve their own problems. In defining a problem he suggests, "The behaviour must be in observable, measurable terms."

The one minute manager also teaches the reader that asking questions helps them get to the solution. We don't have to rely on other people to come up with solutions all the time. We just have to ask ourselves a series of questions and analyse the potential consequences until we get to the outcome we need and want.

The one minute manager is constantly trying to catch people doing something right. “This helps people reach their true potential” he says. In most companies, people are ignored when they do things right but chastised for small errors. The book warns against this “leave alone-rebuke” approach to management.

Many companies spend money maintaining buildings and equipment, but they don't invest in the development of their people, which is a sin. As a manager, the book argues, you can hire proven winners at very high cost, or you can hire potential winners and train them to be winners.

People love to get rewarded for their work. It keeps them motivated. The best way to ensure you have engaged employees is to set the goal much lower in the beginning and gradually raise the bar. As the book suggests, "The key to training someone is to catch them doing something approximately right until they can eventually do it exactly right.” We all want what feels good to us and avoid what feels bad. We dearly love to be motivated and encouraged but we hate flattery and manipulation.

Be delicate when dealing with people. Be tough on the performance, not on the person. Tell the person exactly what they did wrong, how you feel about it and remind them that they are valuable as a person. It’s just their behaviour that needs to change. "Goals begin behaviours consequences maintain behaviours.”

"Unless discipline occurs as soon after the misbehaviour as possible, it tends not to be as helpful in influencing future behaviour.” So don't store up observations of poor behaviour and then dump the heap of garbage on the employee. This usually leads to resentment.

"Take a minute: look at your goals - look at your performance - see if your behaviour matches your goals.  If not, decide what to change about it and set a plan in motion.