Kenneth Blanchard - The One Minute Manager - 2003

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Created: June 5, 2018 / Updated: July 24, 2025 / Status: finished / 6 min read (~1173 words)
management

  • People who feel good about themselves produce good results
  • Help people reach their full potential, catch them doing something right
  • The best minute I spend is the one I invest in people
  • Everyone is a potential winner, some people are disguised as losers, don't let their appearances fool you
  • Take a minute: Look at your goals, look at your performance, see if your behavior matches your goals
  • We are not just our behavior, we are the person managing our behavior
  • Goals begin behaviors, consequences maintain behavior

  • Effective managers manage themselves and the people they work with so that both the organization and the people profit from their presence

  • People who feel good about themselves produce good results
    • Helping people to feel good about themselves is a key to getting more done
  • Productivity is more than just the quantity of work done. It is also the quality
    • Quality is simply giving people the product or service they really want and need
  • Do not make decisions for others

  • Once told what needs to be done, each goal is recorded on no more than a single page
  • One of your goals for the future is for you to identify and solve your own problems
  • Tell me what your problem is, but put it in behavioral terms (observable, measurable terms)
  • Describe what you would like to be happening in behavioral terms
  • If you can't tell what you'd like to be happening, you don't have a problem yet. You're just complaining
    • A problem only exists if there is a difference between what is actually happening and what you desire to be happening
  • Talk about what may have caused the discrepancy between the actual and the desired
  • You're good... Remember that next time you have a problem

  • Agree on your goals
  • See what good behavior looks like
  • Write out each of your goals on a single sheet of paper using less than 250 words
  • Read and re-read each goal, which requires only a minute or so each time you do it
  • Take a minute every once in a while out of your day to look at your performance
  • See whether or not your behavior matches your goal

  • It is a lot easier to do things well if you get crystal-clear feedback on how you do things
  • Let others know in no uncertain terms when they are doing well, and when they are doing poorly
  • Help people reach their full potential, catch them doing something right
  • Put the accent on the positive
  • Give praise as soon as something right is done
  • Specify why
  • Do it consistently

  • Tell people up front that you are going to let them know how they are doing
  • Praise people immediately
  • Tell people what they did right - be specific
  • Tell people how good you feel about what they did right, and how it helps the organization and the other people who work there
  • Stop for a moment of silence to let them "feel" how good you feel
  • Encourage them to do more of the same
  • Shake hands or touch people in a way that makes it clear that you support their success in the organization

  • As soon as the mistake is known, go see the person. Confirm the facts. Tell precisely what was done wrong (the behavior). Share how you feel about it

  • Tell people beforehand that you are going to let them know how they are doing and in no uncertain terms
  • The first half of the reprimand
    • Reprimand people immediately
    • Tell people what they did wrong - be specific
    • Tell people how you feel about what they did wrong - and in no uncertain terms
    • Stop for a few seconds of uncomfortable silence to let them feel how you feel
  • The second half of the reprimand
    • Shake hands, or touch them in a way that lets them know you are honestly on their side
    • Remind them how much you value them
    • Reaffirm that you think well of them but not of their performance in this situation
    • Realize that when the reprimand is over, it's over

  • The more you understand why it works, the more apt you are to use it
  • The best minute I spend is the one I invest in people
  • Most companies spend more time and money on maintaining their buildings and equipment than they do maintaining and developing people

  • I've seen a lot of unmotivated people at work... But I've never seen an unmotivated person after work. Everyone seems to be motivated to do something
  • Most manager know what they want their people to do. They just don't bother to tell their people in a way they would understand. They assume they should know. Never assume anything when it comes to goal setting
  • The number one motivator of people is feedback on results
  • Everyone is a potential winner, some people are disguised as losers, don't let their appearances fool you
  • You have three choices as a manager
    • You can hire winners (hard to find and cost money)
    • You can hire someone with the potential to be a winner. Then you systematically train that person to become a winner
    • You pray
  • Why is it important to have each goal written down on a single sheet of paper?
    • So people can review their goals frequently and then check their performance against those goals
  • Take a minute: Look at your goals, look at your performance, see if your behavior matches your goals

  • By setting up a series of goal, we are establishing goals that can be achieved
  • The key to training someone to do a new task is, in the beginning, to catch them doing something approximately right until they can eventually learn to do it exactly right
  • The most important thing in training somebody to become a winner is to catch them doing something right - in the beginning approximately right and gradually moving them towards the desired behavior

  • Unless discipline occurs as close to the misbehavior as possible, it tends not to be as helpful in influencing future behavior
  • Never attack a person's worth or value as a person
  • Reprimand the behavior only
  • If you are first tough on the behavior, and then supportive of the person, it works
  • Three basic ingredients
    • Telling people what they did wrong
    • Telling people how you feel about it
    • Reminding people that they are valuable and worthwhile
  • We are not just our behavior, we are the person managing our behavior
  • There is a very simple rule about touching: When you touch, don't take. Touch the people you manage only when you are giving them something - reassurance, support, encouragement, whatever
  • Goals begin behaviors, consequences maintain behavior