The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Chapter One

The One Minute Manager was staring out his office window. It was still his favorite place to come when he wanted to think. As he gazed across the grounds, the sound of the phone ringing startled him. Coming back to reality, he walked over to the coffee table in front of his couch and picked up the receiver. When he was in his office the One Minute Manager liked to answer his own phone.

The voice on the other end of the phone was Dan Brockway, the director of training at a large chemical company.

"How's it going, Dan?" asked the One Minute Manager.

"Just fine," said Dan, "but I do need some advice on our Essentials of Management course."

The Essentials of Management course was a new training program that Dan was teaching at his company that focused on the key skills managers needed to be effective in the new millennium. He had spent some time with the One Minute Manager while he was designing the course and was enthusiastic about the commitment of his company's top management to expose all their managers to the best management thinking available.

"Didn't you just finish the first session?"

"I sure did," said Dan. "And the reviews were great with one exception. A young woman, Maria Sanchez, who coordinates our customer service programs, has some serious concerns about the usefulness of some of the materials. In fact she wrote me a letter about her concerns and distributed copies to key people."

"What were her concerns?" asked the One Minute Manager.

"She said all the concepts taught focused primarily on managing people one-on-one and, as such, are limited. She claims that 50 to 90 percent of most managers' time is spent in some form of group activity with two or more people, and yet our course doesn't emphasize teamwork at all. Therefore, we are not providing help in one of the most significant areas of a manager's job."

"That's interesting," said the One Minute Manager. "Tell me more.

"She also thinks the concepts of One Minute Management are based too much on control," said Dan. "The manager sets the goals, the manager gives praisings and the manager delivers reprimands. Let me quote from her letter:

'We need managers who can foster teamwork, facilitate group problem solving and focus the group's attention and enthusiasm on continuous improvement. In today's world, group productivity is more important than individual task accomplishment. The success of individual managers should depend on how well the manager's team improves in quality and productivity on a continuous basis. Systems that can pit team player against team player must be changed so that the priority of each team member becomes the accomplishment of the team's mission. To do that, managers must give up a great deal of control to their people. When that occurs, a feeling of team ownership is created and the team develops pride that comes from producing high quality accomplishments. You will never hear "It's not my job" in an organization committed to teamwork."

"She sounds like quite a person," said the One Minute Manager. "How can I help you?"

"Could you dictate a response to her letter? She could really disrupt our whole program if we don't get her on track."

"I don't think she's off track said the One Minute Manager. In fact, I'd like to meet her.

Sounds like she is really aware of some important issues. I think that one Minute Management principles are sound, but I would agree with her that if you teach those principles without any attention to group skills, you have given managers only half the story. Let's have lunch tomorrow at 12:30 in the main dining room of City Hotel so I can explain to you why I think Maria is on the fight track."

"That would be fine with me, said Dan. "Sounds like I still have some things to learn.""Don't feel like the Lone Ranger," said The One Minute Manager. "See you tomorrow!"

The next day at lunch, the One Minute Manager immediately got to the reason for the meeting.

"Dan, I used to be frustrated at work even though I knew all kinds of effective management techniques. For a long time I didn't know why I was frustrated. I finally realized one day, just as your friend Maria has realized, that most of my job was not supervising and working with people one-on-one but, instead, it involved working with people in groups."

"I thought a lot about what you said last night," commented Dan. "So you really don't believe that we spend much time supervising people individually?"

"No, I don't," said the One Minute Manager. "In fact, most managers spend less than 30 percent of their time directly supervising their people individually. They spend most of their time in group meetings dealing with their people or with peers and their boss, or with people external to their organization such as customers or suppliers. When I first realized that, I decided that I'd better learn something about groups and how they operate."

"Could you tell me what you learned?" asked Dan.

"First of all," said the One Minute Manager, "when groups are operating effectively they can solve more complex problems, make better decisions, release more creativity and do more to build individual skills and commitment than individuals working alone.

"Can't they also destroy productivity?" wondered Dan.

"They sure can, said the One Minute Manager, "if they're not managed well. That's why today's leader must be an enabler of people and a facilitator of teams."

"What else did you learn?"

"Secondly, all groups are unique, continued the One Minute Manager.

"They are all dynamic, complex, ever-changing, duals-have systems living systems that -- just like individuals --have behavior patterns and lives of their own."

"How do groups differ from one another?" asked Dan.

"Well, there are the obvious differences of size, purpose and individual members, but an important difference that is often overlooked is in their stage of development," said the One Minute Manager, All groups go through similar stages as they grow from a collection of individuals when they first get together to a smoothly functioning, effective team."

Excerpted from The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teamsby Ken Blanchard Copyright © 2006 by Ken Blanchard. Excerpted by permission.
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