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The original One Minute Manager book was written by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson in 1982, and has sold 15 million copies in more than 40 languages. For this new edition, the authors write:
“The world has changed since the publication of the original One Minute Manager. Today, organizations must respond faster, with fewer resources, to keep up with ever-changing technology and globalization. But, just as the world has changed, so has the One Minute Manager. He has a new, more collaborative approach to leading and motivating people. When he first started teaching his Three Secrets, top-down leadership was a way of life. These days effective leadership is more of a side-by-side relationship.”
The authors also state that today people look for more fulfillment in their work, want to feel engaged and make meaningful contributions. The New One Minute Manager must use a new approach in this changing world.
This helpful quick read is written in a concise story about a bright young man who hears about a special manager that people like to work for and they produce great results together. When people apply the manager’s principles to their personal lives, they got great results as well. The young man decides to seek out the manager, who tells him about three secrets to One Minute Management. Those secrets are:
- One Minute Goals
- One Minute Praisings
- One Minute Re-Directs (a new version of the original third secret, a One Minute Reprimand).
Some of my favorite quotes from the book were:
- We believe in the 80/20 rule. That is, 80% of your really important results will come from 20% of your goals. So we set One Minute Goals on only that 20%—that is, our key areas of responsibility—maybe three to five goals.
- We used to be a top-down managed company, which worked in its time. But today that structure is too slow. It doesn’t inspire people and it stifles innovation. Customers demand quicker service and better products, so we need everyone to contribute their talent. The brainpower isn’t only in the executive office—it can be found throughout the organization.
- So I care about people and results, because they go hand in hand.
- Encourage people to take a minute to look at what they’re doing, and see if their behavior matches their goals. If it doesn’t, encourage them to re-think what they’re doing so they can realize their goals sooner.
- When he notices you have done something right, he tells you precisely what you did right, and how good he feels about it. Then he reinforces the praise by encouraging you to keep up the good work.
- Goals make clear what is most important to focus on, Praisings build confidence that helps you succeed, and Re-Directs address mistakes. And all three of these help people feel better about themselves and produce good results.
- The most important—and natural—thing to do to help people become winners is to catch them doing something approximately right in the beginning. Then you move on toward the desired result.”
- If managers would address things earlier, they could deal with one behavior at a time and the person would not be overwhelmed. They’d be more likely to hear the feedback the way it was intended. That’s why I think performance review should be an ongoing process, not something you do only once a year.”
- Making mistakes is not the problem. It’s not learning from them that causes real problems.
Faith and Work Book Clubs – Won’t you read along with us?
The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters by Albert Mohler
We’re reading this excellent book from Albert Mohler, one of the best that I’ve read on leadership. It is broken down into 25 relatively short chapters. Won’t you read along with us? This week we look at Chapter 15 Leaders Are Speakers:
- When leaders speak, we speak for the movement, the organization, the company, the congregation, or the institution we lead. If communication is central to leadership, speech is central to communication.
- Convictional leadership requires the communication and transmission of conviction through the leader’s voice. At times this function is conversational. More often than not, given the size and complexity of modern organizations, this requires a speech delivered before more than a handful of people.
- Speaking is an art and a craft, not a science.
- Leaders who are good speakers learn to use their voice as an instrument rather than a piece of equipment.
- Aristotle broke persuasive speech down into three elements: ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos refers to arguments based in the character of the speaker. Pathos refers to arguments that are intended to produce change by touching the emotions of the hearers. Logos identifies arguments designed to persuade by means of logical argument. Most leaders lean almost exclusively on logos in their speaking,
- Aristotle knew that human beings are more often persuaded by emotional elements. For this reason, the effective leader must work at establishing a connection with the audience’s emotions as well as their intellects.
- The effective leader combines ethos, pathos, and logos in every speech, every talk, every presentation, and every message—every time.
- If giving a speech seems daunting, redefine public speaking as storytelling. This will help almost any speaker be more effective. People connect to stories, and the best speeches and messages lean heavily into narrative.
- We speak in order to invite others into a narrative that grows out of deep conviction. Our confidence is that this narrative, put into action, will change lives, and sometimes even change history.
- I follow a simple process as I get my speech, and myself, ready for the occasion. First, know what you want to say. If you do not know what you want and need to say, don’t speak. It is just that simple.
- Second, know your audience. You need to know the anticipated size, composition, and expectations of the listeners.
- Third, outline your message. The outline is like a road map for your speech.
- Fourth, frame your presentation. The frame is the big picture into which your message is set—the narrative into which this speech finds its purpose and meaning.
- Fifth, punctuate and illustrate. By punctuate, I do not refer to the mechanics of punctuating sentences. I mean you must insert particularly powerful and memorable content into your message in order to drive home certain truths, points, and convictions.
- Sixth, get yourself ready. Do whatever you have to do to be ready.
- Seventh, speak like you mean it. Deliver your message with confidence and zeal, letting your audience know how much you believe what you are saying and how much you want them to believe along with you.
- Eighth, tell the audience what to do. Many speakers forget or neglect this essential step, leaving the audience informed and emotionally moved but absolutely unsure what to do about it. Do not end your message without an action plan that fits the message.
- Is Church Work a Higher Calling? “A call to ministry or church work is no more sacred than a call to other types of work. What matters most is not one’s job title or place of work, but obedience to God, the one who calls us.”
- Christian, Your Job is a Ministry Job. Jon Bloom writes “That is your calling today in whatever God has given you to do: make God look great. According to 1 Corinthians 7:17–24, your job (assuming it’s not inherently unethical or immoral) is a ministry assignment from God. It may not be your career assignment, but it’s today’s assignment. And God wants you to carry out that assignment with dependent faith, diligence, and excellence.”
- 3 Reasons Pastors Should Read Leadership Books. Eric Geiger writes “Reading leadership books can help you understand the everyday culture of the people whom you serve. With a better view of the culture, you are better prepared to apply the Word to their specific issues, concerns, and challenges.”
- What Christians Can Learn from Secular Business Thinking. Matt Perman writes “One of the best-kept secrets is that much of the strongest business thinking lines up with a biblical worldview. We see this in two of the most significant trends in business thinking: an emphasis on purpose and on service.”
- 5 Ways Reading Makes You a Better Leader. Michael Hyatt shares five ways reading can uniquely develop and empower leaders.
- “What… Me a Leader?” Mark Miller shares a few ways to help people see their own potential.
- Giving Bad News to Your Boss: Career Lessons from Joseph. Al Erisman writes “Joseph handled this delicate encounter in an amazing way, providing insight for us in our 21st century business environment. We look briefly at three aspects of this meeting: its timing, how Joseph dealt with his own needs compared with those of Pharaoh, and how he delivered bad news to an authority figure.”
- Culture: Light or Lightning? Mark Miller shares a few items to keep in mind as you think about the culture of the organization you lead.
- 3 Things to Consider about Your Vocation, Part 1. “Although God does not give most people a direct, individual, unmistakable call to a particular job or profession, God does give guidance to people in less dramatic forms, including Bible study, prayer, Christian community and individual reflection. Developing a general attentiveness to God’s guidance in life is beyond the scope of this article. But over the next three weeks we will look at three major considerations for discerning God’s vocational guidance: The needs of the world; Your skills and gifts and your truest desires. In this article we’ll look at the first of these.”
- Reimagining the Spiritual Purpose of Our Work. Here’s an interview with J.B. Wood, aka Shrinking Camel, the Work Editor for The High Calling, who has collected his best columns in At Work As It Is in Heaven: 25 Ways to Re-imagine the Spiritual Purpose of Your Work, published as an e-book by Patheos Press.
- We Put People in Jobs They Love. Trilla Newbill interviews Craig Cooper, a hiring consultant and executive recruiter for Provisions Group, an information technology (IT) staff augmentation firm specializing in the healthcare industry. He also serves as an associate church-planting pastor at Redeeming Grace Church in Franklin, Tennessee.
- Finding Purpose in Life: The Long Guide to Finding Your Life’s Work. Dan Cumberland writes “Finding your calling, vocation, and life’s work are about finding your identity. It’s about living into a deeper expression of who you are a human.”
- What Successful People Know about Winning. John Maxwell writes about a question that he likes to ask – What do you learn when you fail?
- Tough Times Never Last but Tough People Do. Dr. Alan Zimmerman writes “We need to think and act with courage. We need to boldly step out and speak out. And it doesn’t matter if we’re concerned about the economy, our work-life balance, or our national destiny. This is not the time for fear, negativity, and comfort-zone living. This is the time for courage.”
- Does God Call People to Their Jobs? When Christians ask about “calling” or vocation, we usually mean, “Is God calling me to a specific job or profession?” This is a significant question. The average person will spend 90,000 hours at work over his/her lifetime. Of course we long to assign meaning and purpose to those hours. And since our work matters to God, it makes sense to ask what work he wants us to do.
- Everybody Matters. Bob Chapman discusses his new book Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family, which is scheduled for release on October 6, 2015. The book is filled with stories and lessons learned along Barry-Wehmiller’s journey and offers clear steps to transform businesses and organizations and create cultures where everybody matters.
- New Everybody Matters Podcast. Bob Chapman introduces the new podcast: Everybody Matters. Like his blog, it will provide thoughts, insights and stories from throughout Barry-Wehmiller’s leadership journey. We’ll feature other like-minded leaders who are also trying to change the world. Friends we’ve made along the way like Simon Sinek, Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy, author and philanthropist Lynne Twist and many more.
- 10 Simple Ways to Be Great. Brad Lomenick writes “There are lots of factors that go into being great. But ultimately, being great starts with you. And since you are your greatest coach and advocate for yourself, here are a few things to always think about when it comes to being great.”
- Don’t Believe These 5 Myths About Christian Business! C. Patton dispels dispel 5 of the most common myths he has encountered regarding Christian business. And here’s part two.
- John Maxwell on Dynamic. In this “Minute with Maxwell”, John Maxwell discusses the word dynamic.
- Insight. In this “Minute from Maxwell”, John Maxwell discusses insight.
- Chess Not Checkers Field Guide. Mark Miller introduces his field guide for his book Chess Not Checkers. The guide is intended to create a step-by-step blueprint to help you turn the principles, or in this case, the four “moves,” into practice in your organization.
- Fulfillment video. Hugh Whelchel writes “When we work hard every day at whatever God’s put in front of us, it pleases Him, and it’s way more fulfilling for us. In this short video, learn more about how to find fulfillment in what God has put in front of you to do today.”
- 3 Ways to Say “Good Bye” To Stress. Dr. Alan Zimmerman writes “Why do so many smart business people work too hard, live too fast, and then feel strongly ambivalent about their success? It’s simple. They’ve never taken the time to figure out what they really, really want, and they’ve never learned the skills to make it happen.”
- How Do You Increase a Person’s “Want To?” Mark Miller writes “While doing the research that would lead to the book, Chess Not Checkers, we discovered Shared Ownership as one of the best practices present in High Performance Organizations.”
- Management in Light of the Supremacy of God. Matt Perman writes “Effective management, above all, means managing from a well thought point of view that is based upon how humans are created and has the supremacy of God as its ultimate aim. This kind of management is anything but boring.”
- 3 Signs of Leadership Fatigue. Chuck Lawless writes “Leadership is sometimes wearisome – so wearisome that we come close to giving up. Over the years, I’ve watched leaders slide into defeat, and I’ve seen some of these common signs of trouble. I list these symptoms of “leadership fatigue” here not to discourage you, but instead to help you recognize them, address them, and move forward.”
- Why Micromanaging is Ungodly. Barnabas Piper writes “Micromanagement among Christian leaders reflects poorly on our faith and the gospel. It doesn’t work, and that’s mainly because it’s not the way God designed things to work.”
- Can People Who Hate Their Job Finding Meaning in their Work? Trevor Lee writes “Can people who hate their jobs and those who are in positions of relatively low influence find meaning in their work? There are reasons to think they can – and should.”
- When Work is Unfair: Career Lessons from Joseph. Al Erisman writes “Sometimes in the middle of difficult circumstances we can see God teaching us something we need to learn. More often, however, we only see how an event shapes our lives much later. Joseph (Genesis 37-50) had such a period that went on for 13 years. We can look at his story for insight to deal with injustice and disappointment in our own work.”
- Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast. The May Andy Leadership Podcast is on the subject of the great question leaders ask.
- Let Your Life Speak: How to Understand Your Vocational Call. Justin Irving writes “As I have spent time teaching in the area of leadership and the inner-life, one of the core principles I come back to with students time after time is a rather simple one—the importance of listening. At the core of vocational discernment is the art of listening.”
Faith and Work Quotes
- Management is a ministry. We are called to love the people we lead. Patrick Lencioni
- Fairness is giving all people the treatment they earn and deserve. It doesn’t mean treating everyone alike. John Wooden
- Humility is always a good choice. Underwhelm in words, but always overwhelm in action. Brad Lomenick
- My Grandmother used to say, “There is a great place to go when you are broke….To Work!” Dave Ramsey
- When your passion and purpose are greater than your fears and excuses, you will find a way. Coach K