Review of One Minute Manager - Non Fiction

As a fan of fiction books, I rarely get to read non-fiction types. I recently bumped across this book named "One Minute Manager" by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. ( I always wonder how does this multi-author concept work. But that’s a topic for another day). The book was – to borrow Mrs. Prabha’s words – unputdownable and I completed reading the book in one sitting. The fact that the book is of just 100-110 page size, makes it easier to complete in one shot. It's one of the best books I have read. The concepts used are much simpler than "The Alchemist" ( Well, I am no way saying that Alchemist is bad but I surely think that "The Alchemist" in English has some translation issues).

Back to the subject, the book talks about 3 secrets to be a successful manager - 1) One Minute Goal Setting, 2) One Minute Praising and 3) One Minute Reprimand - each explained with simple and day to day examples. The book starts with a young man looking out for a successful manager and eventually finds this "One minute manager". The One Minute Manager introduces him to 3 secrets through his immediate sub-ordinates and explains how those secrets help him to take care of both the interest of the organization and the people. (While majority of the managers go either way and not both).

Re-writing the entire book, will do a big injustice for the authors, however I would like to highlight few learning which helped me to introspect:

1. Problems Vs Complaints : How frequently have we seen an employee talking about problems in the organization. This is what the One minute manager had to say about Problems - A problem exists only if you are able to state the difference between what we (i.e. Org) are doing currently and what you think we should be doing. If you cannot pinpoint the difference, then we are not discussing about problem but mere complaint from you. . Clearly states that the problem should be objective and quantifiable. Apply this even in your personal life and see how many times we talked about problems and how many times we merely had complaint. Ofcourse it's an unwritten rule that Best Managers don't complaint but solve problems.

2. The One Minute Manager likes to catch his/her team members doing something RIGHT ( Oh Yes, I know this phrase normally goes as catching someone doing something wrong, but that's the difference). Do look for opportunities to appreciate your team members and whenever you get one, never hesitate - importantly don't accumulate and wait for the appraisal period - to do it. There is absolutely nothing wrong in appreciating your own team members when they do something good. We do that with our kids,- See, how he/she is crawling! Oh my goodness he/she called me APPA yesterday ( even when the kid actually said PPA), he/she walked on his own today morning......etc.. However never forget to raise the expectation bars. You don’t appreciate your 18 year old kid for walking on his/her own.

3. As a manager, when you have to reprimand your team members, be hard on their behaviour, state how much it affected the organization or you but NEVER attack the person. End your reprimands with how much you like the person and how badly you want the person to come out the mess.

The book also takes a dig at the "Leave and Rebuke" style of Management. In "Leave and Rebuke" style, the managers (claim to) provide complete freedom to their sub-ordinates and take them for a ride if anything goes wrong. While my opinion on this style is different from that of the authors, it did help me to understand the disadvantages of the "Leave and Rebuke" style.

Finally, read the book. It’s worth it.

Bye for now.

You have certainly got me interested in this book "OMM"; to me the author seemed to profess a style of management that is so close to your own. (that explains the appeal perhaps...).
The question that came up to me was: how does a manager make a complaining team-member to view the issue in a "problem"-solving mode? The efficacy of the technique seems sound and the logic makes lot of sense;but how does one convert the irresponsible or the demotivated complainer into a constructive contributor?
Before you question me as to where am I into managing people, let me hasten to add that this is primarily an academic interest; but the usefulness in personal life is not to be made light of... even you have suggested that, haven't you?
If you can come up with a suggestion (and wouldn't mind if it takes a couple of minutes) for this management, please let me know.
Since I seem to be surrouded only by "complainers", this would go a long way in making my folks more lovable than what they already are.
While the request is sounding as addressed to Muthu, it is an appeal to every pair of eyeball (and the brain behind it) that reads this.
Waiting with optimism...

I have tried a theory and had been fairly successfully. The theory - which I just now christened as ABCD theory - may not be applicable on all members ( you see, each individual is unique) but had worked reasonably well for me:

1. Allow the persons to talk and Ask as many "why" questions:
I have read somewhere that 30% of the complainers complain because there is no one else to listen to them. If you just listen to them - without really providing any solution - they would be happy. If the person is not an extrovert, ask him why questions - Why do you think this is happening? Why do you think others are able to handle? Why do you think we should do differently? etc.. In fact for people who had been involved in Fishbone (Ishikawa) Diagram blotting, the WHY technique is a very good tool to identify the root cause of the problem. The book OMM provides a very good example of how the manager converts a complaint from a sub-ordinate into a problem and ensures that the sub-ordinate finds a solution as well, just by using why question technique. It could be irritating to the sub-ordinates but what the hell, so are the complaints to you. Moreover there is a solution at the end of it. So don't hesitate to use the why technique.

2. Be Transparent and Pin Ownership:
During one of the interactions with the team, the team lead had been insisting me on paying a huge night allowance for the resources that operate in night shift. My reasoning with him on the policy didn't work at all and he made it a point to tell about this atleast once in a day. Finally I called him and asked him to work out the Profitability of the project and I said "Okay from now on, you own this sheet. Ensure that the profit from the project is good enough to pay for yours and your team members' annual bonus". No need to say that the complaint stopped there. Sometimes being transparent does help.

3. Consciously Converge:
Complaints are bound to aggregate if the team member feels isolated from the team. Consciously and continuously involve the member in the team activities - be it official or social. Involve them in planning, meetings and even lunch. If not anything, atleast the complaint can't be "I don't know"

4. Decide Professionally:
Finally decide whether you want to retain such a member in your team or not. Complainers need not be problem creators always. In fact there are some situations in which they suit perfectly. For example as Project managers, risk identification is one of key and important activity. How many times we are confident that we have identified all possible risks in the project/assignment.. If you want to know whether your new idea will work or not, throw the idea to your constant complainers and ask them what they think. They will come out with 100+ ways on how this idea will not work. There you are, you got the list of risks that you need to take care to ensure that project/idea is successful. So do have some complainers in your team. It ensures that your ideas are fool-proof.

Before I end, a disclaimer. NEVER TRY THIS AT HOME. It simply doesn't work. At home, if you have a constant complainer, there is only one technique - PRAY.

Bye for now.