In a shopping complex a short walk from my house there's a free community library tucked away near the fire exit. Hardly anyone ever goes that way excIn a shopping complex a short walk from my house there's a free community library tucked away near the fire exit. Hardly anyone ever goes that way except to pass it by on their way to the toilets. Fondling the yellowed spines of books likely palmed by people of questionable hygiene as they exit the least hygienic place strangers ever share together is a prospect most would raise a disgusted sneer at.
But not me!
Because although over the course of my life I've left behind three jobs, two girlfriends, and one religion, you will never see my leave behind my incorrigible love of books. If it's on a book I haven't seen before, so be it: hand me that airborne piss and faecal matter!
The latest airborne piss and faecal matter-covered book I've pulled from the community library is this one, The One Minute Manager. I had to dig through reams of romance novel trash to find it. And to be honest, after picking it out and perusing its front and back covers, I almost chucked it back as just one more piece of trash in that desultory pile. That's because, in my experience, business books tend to be almost condescendingly stupid. I'll admit to the sincere joy of reading prose so clear and simple it's understandable even by the blind, but the business-book habit of repeating simple concepts and even simpler phrases as though they're meant to be shouted by a motivational coach makes me straight up want to die.
Sure, I long for death: but for my enemies, not for myself.
So I hope you can understand why I was wary of reading yet another death-inducing business title.
But it's short. Barely one hundred pages long. And flicking through those pages I saw that some contained only one or two paragraphs all written in a very large font.
So I grabbed it. What the hey. I bet I could read it in under an hour. I know I can handle being depressed for at least that long because for reasons unexplained and unexplainable I've watched at least one full hour-long session of the Australian parliament's demoralising Question Time. Compared to that, this should be a piece of cake.
And what cake it was!
For one, it doesn't repeat itself. At least not as endlessly as most business books do. I didn't feel spoke down to. I didn't feel like my time was being wasted. In fact, I got the opposite impression: this book was written to be read and understood quickly by busy people with little time. If that was the authors' objective, I'd say they've succeeded. This book moves at a very quick trot.
Two, its prose is clearer, simpler, and neater than perhaps any business book I've ever read. This is probably related to the fact that its frame narrative is obviously that. It isn't a story you're meant to lose yourself in. It's a tool meant to ensure that the information being delivered has a certain order, structure, sense. One key piece of advice is conveyed per conversation; the conversations happen sequentially, one after the other, so that none overlap and so that the information they transmit doesn't get confused. If the authors had simply said to "Do these things in this order", you and I and everybody else would probably have forgotten that information as quickly as we forget everything else conveyed via de-contextualised dot-points, cheat sheets, Blinkist summaries, and Buzzfeed listicles. But because they're embedded in a frame narrative designed to be so simple it can't possibly distract from the information it conveys, the authors manage to walk the fine line that lets them communicate valuable practical information without ever coming across as a boring list of facts or commands (which it very well could have been and which other business books too often are).
So: what is The One Minute Manager actually about?
It's about three pieces of advice for business leaders to help them get the most out of their employees.
It is explicitly informed by behavioural psychology. This means it devalues talk of thoughts and feelings and recommends that leaders and staff talk as much as possible in terms of "observable, measurable" phenomena.
This is a little silly, because thoughts and feelings can be genuinely problematic and are observable, measurable phenomena in their own right. Nonetheless, this recommendation is proof of the authors' bias towards taking effective action (and hence being able to do things in the titular One Minute). You should only talk about thoughts and feelings if it'll resolve a problem. If your feelings won't solve a problem, "Then don't waste my time", [the One Minute Manager] snapped.'
This point is questionable. There's a reason we have HR departments (and it's not just to organise catering).
But that's perhaps beside the point.
Let's get to the meat of the matter.
The three pieces of advice are as follows: do (1) One Minute Goal Setting; give (2) One Minute Praisings; and give (3) One Minute Reprimands.
That's it.
That's the essence of the book.
The assumption underlying all three is that the employee and their boss should know with perfect clarity what their roles entail: "the One Minute Manager always makes it clear what our responsibilities are and what we are being held accountable for".
One Minute Goal Setting refers to the act of--you guessed it--goal setting. This means sitting down with your boss and discussing your roles and responsibilities. Naturally, this part will take longer than one minute. Then you're advised to describe that responsibility and the performance standard it's marked against in less than 250 words (such that it can be read in approximately one minute. That's what the one minute refers to in One Minute Goal Setting). (You're also advised to use the 80/20 rule to determine which one-fifth of your responsibilities are the most important, but on this point your mileage may vary). The point being that, once your roles and responsibilities have been determined, it should take you and your boss no more than one minute of review to know if you're fulfilling those responsibilities.
If you're meeting your goals, you're rewarded with a self-explanatory One Minute Praising. If you aren't meeting your goals, you're given a self-explanatory One Minute Reprimand. (Can you smell the behavioural psychology?).
Again, this is the essence of the book.
(A tad more detail for those still not interested in reading what's basically a pamphlet). The reprimands are to be delivered in a way that focuses on the problem, not the person. (The book describes a script that helps you do this). Both the reprimands and the praisings should briefly but clearly describe the emotions of the leader delivering the news. This is a deliberate ploy to humanise the experience, trigger empathy, and to the unify the team, all with the aim of retaining talent. (Human capital retention is a strong focus in contemporary HR).
The desired result from implementing these systems is the creation of a tight feedback loop between employers and employees that quickly corrects errors and quickly rewards quality work. It's also meant to create a supportive work culture that encourages people when they fail, emphasises personal growth, and maximises employee autonomy.
The advice is basic, foundational, and sound. Because it's basic it can be modified to suit contemporary social mores and individual workplace cultures. It's also a very quick read: if you dislike it you'll have hardly wasted any time at all.
Loading...
