The One Minute Manager

Management suffers from one shortage: time. Numerous books offer solutions to improve relationships within your team or to lead more effectively. However, these processes usually eat up a lot of time.

The One-Minute Manager gives quick solutions to be more efficient and closer to one’s team without wasting too much time.

This short book about management includes techniques, or rather principles that can be implemented immediately. The authors describe the three management secrets with incredible simplicity:

–   Set a goal in one minute

–   Congratulate in one minute

–   Criticize in one minute

For Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, the human aspect is essential. A goal must be defined in 250 words at most, and must describe the right attitude that does with the mission. This way, everybody can see if the work is well done and whether the process meets the client’s needs.

One of the most surprising pieces of advice is to follow closely a team member when this person was just given a new goal. The idea is not to criticize the employee, but to congratulate him or her when it is deserved. When a new mission begins, early praise can ground best practices and give trust. The manager is not the one who examines what was done wrongly, but who praises each success.

The authors remain objective and offer constructive criticism. In contrast to many writers of management books, Blanchard and Johnson ask for feelings to be expressed. Criticism must include the fact that people are not just behaviors, but people who manage these behaviors.