Writing is evidently more time-consuming than managing: It took over 30 years for authors Ken Blanchard, Ph.D., and Spencer Johnson, M.D., to complete the update to The One Minute Manager, their best-selling guide to life and work, but it finally has arrived.
Written as a parable, the original book sold north of 13 million copies and was translated into 42 languages. In The New One Minute Manager, the authors kept the format but adapted how the manager uses the book’s Three Secrets—One Minute Goals, One Minute Praisings and One Minute Re-Directs—to reflect technological and societal changes.
“Today people want to find more meaning in their work and be appreciated for what they contribute,” Blanchard says. And now that so much communication happens electronically, praising is more important than ever. “Catching people doing something right and praising them for it builds relationships,” he says. It shows people that you “noticed their achievement, you care about them, and you appreciate how they’re doing their best.”
An important takeaway from the updated version is that, as Blanchard says, “managing people today is a side-by-side, partnership relationship. While it’s still the responsibility of the leader to oversee and manage performance, today collaboration sets the tone for the working relationship. Practicing the Three Secrets provides a structure to develop that collaborative relationship and let people know you care about them—as well as results.
by Ken Blanchard, Ph.D., and Spencer Johnson, M.D.
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