The one Minute Manager Summary PDF

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The one Minute Manager Summary The One Minute Manager is a 1982 book by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson that purports to hold the secret to ideal and effective management techniques, divided into three separate points – each point claims to take one minute, and to have longlasting constructive effects. As one might imagine, a book about concision is, in itself, a very brief read, and within it are the writing structures of businessmen and managers, where many of the notes are exhibited in bullet points. Interestingly enough, these bullet points and notes are part of a story: about a workingman who is searching for an effective manager. This unnamed man knows of only two types of managers, first he describes the very hard and strict ones who will work their employees to the bone, regardless of how much they are disliked, because all they care about is the bottom line. And the other type is the manager who loses his grip on the operational machine because they are trying to be “the good boss.” Knowing this, the man wonders if he would ever meet someone who can combine the two: luckily, the man hears of a manager in the next town that fits the bill, and that is willing to see him right away to divulge his secrets of effective management. Blanchard and Spencer divide the techniques, that this clever manager tells, into three “secrets.” Firstly, is clarity – he calls this “one-minute goal setting.” He talks about how the manager should write down exactly what is expected of his employees on a piece of paper, using less than two hundred and fifty words, to avoid confusion, to add clarity, and so the staff would seldom come to the boss with questions and problems, as all they need to know is written on the paper. He emphasizes how important it is that the goal is clear, by having the staff re-read the goal multiple times in one minute, as well as referring to the set goal throughout the day to make sure their performance and their behavior matches the expectation. The second secret of The One Minute Manager is labeled: “one minute praisings.” These include the employees keeping records of everything they are doing, so the manager wouldn’t have to waste time, making rounds, keeping one eye on his work and another on his staff. More importantly however, this is so that he can provide constant, immediate and specific praise for work well done, when presented to him in clear-cut recordkeeping. The author states the importance of having the staff be

caught doing something right, and how “people who feel good about themselves produce good results.” Finally, the third secret, the “one minute reprimand.” The authors mention how important it is to first have the employees know beforehand that they will be judged on their performance, and exclusively so. “Clearly the number one motivator of people is feedback on results,” and with that, the manager must make sure that the reprimand is of the action, not the person. The manager is told that he should be specific about what the employee did wrong, but to make sure to motivate and express value immediately following the one-minute reprimand. After listing the three secrets, the manager goes on to explain why this one-minute management works, by focusing on each point he made. For instance, he explains how significant the “one minute praisings” are, by emphasizing the effectiveness of positive reinforcement. Nobody knows how to do everything the moment they are hired, so a good manager takes time to train and find the potential of each employee, and that is where the benefit of praising comes through. It is also suggested that this second point is the best one, especially since the authors note that companies spend up to 70 percent of their budgets on employee salaries, and only 1 percent of the money is spent on staff training. They say that the best way to get the most out of your employee is to first hire someone who has potential to be a winner, and then to systemically train them. The manager in the story wraps up by admitting that “one-minute management” does not necessarily mean it takes exactly one minute to do each thing, but in fact it means that most employers spend countless hours on performance or praise or on reprimanding, whereas if a manager would just take a moment to find what elements of the work is the most effective, break it down into points, and have the employees focusing on that, then the workplace would run a lot smoother, and much faster too. Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson were praised for creating such a succinct instructional piece in such a creative way, yet many critics have found this book and its teachings to be nothing more than a fad, with one critic comparing it to “papertraining your dog.” The book also stirred controversy because nearly half of the material it contains bears a striking resemblance to a 1976 article written by Blanchard’s former colleague. Criticism notwithstanding, one commenter believes that since the book sold so many copies, there must either be a huge demand for

bosses who are at their wit’s end, trying to find a solution for the very common management problems of the workplace, or it is possible that the technique actually works....