This new, updated edition of Leadership and the One Minute Manager reflects the latest thinking about Situational Leadership® II. Written as a parable, it tells the story of an overworked entrepreneur who learns from the One Minute Manager how to get the most out of a diverse team by becoming a situational leader.
This is a
book to read and reread until being a situational leader becomes second nature
to you in your leadership roles at work, in your home, and in the community.
Here we go with my highlights from the book:
“What you
have to do,” said the One Minute Manager, “is learn to delegate.” “I feel I
have to do everything myself. I can’t count on anyone to take on some of the
things that need to be done,” said the entrepreneur. “But my people are not
ready,” said the entrepreneur. “Then you need to train them,” said the One
Minute Manager. “I’ve heard that you have been very successful in a number of
ventures. What do you think it takes to be successful?” “It’s really quite
easy,” the entrepreneur said with a smile. “All you have to do is work half a
day. You can work either the first twelve hours or the second twelve hours.”
Don’t Work
Harder — Work Smarter
Different
Strokes For Different Folks
“Your philosophy of Different Strokes for Different Folks is alive and well. And what’s more, your folks don’t seem to mind being treated differently. How can I become a situational leader?” “You need to learn three skills,” said the One Minute Manager. You have to learn how to set clear goals. You have to learn how to diagnose the development levels of the people you work with on each of their goals. Finally, you have to learn to use a variety of leadership styles to provide individuals with what they need from you.
So, the three skills are: goal setting, diagnosis, and matching.
We talk
about three parts to performance management:
1.
Performance Planning
2.
Day-to-Day Coaching
3.
Performance Evaluation
Goal
setting is a key part of performance planning and sets up day-to-day coaching.
Day-to-day coaching is all about being responsive to the people
you lead.
Once your
people are clear on their goals—they have the final exam questions—it’s your
job to do everything you can to help them accomplish those goals—learn the
answers—so that when it comes to performance evaluation—the final
examination—they get high ratings—As.”
“You need to
look at two factors to determine a person’s development level: competence and
commitment. In other words, anytime a person is not performing well without
your direction, it is usually a competence problem, a commitment problem, or
both.”
Competence is a function of demonstrated knowledge and skills, which can be gained through learning and/or experience. Competence, on the other hand, can be developed with direction and support. It’s not something you’re born with. It’s something that is learned.
Another
aspect of competence,” Kathy continued, “involves transferable skills like
planning, problem solving, and time management skills.”
Commitment
is a combination of confidence and motivation.
Confidence
is a measure of a person’s self-assuredness—a feeling of being able to do a
task well without much direction—whereas motivation is a person’s interest in
and enthusiasm for doing a task well.
Everyone Has
Peak Performance Potential — You Just Need To Know Where They Are Coming From And
Meet Them There
Different
Strokes For The Same Folks On Different Parts Of Their Job
A whole
manager is flexible and able to use the four different leadership styles.
STYLE 1—DIRECTING
High Directive Behavior and Low Supportive
Behavior
STYLE 2—COACHING
High Directive Behavior and High Supportive
Behavior
STYLE 3—SUPPORTING
Low Directive Behavior and High Supportive
Behavior
STYLE 4—DELEGATING
Low Directive Behavior and Low Supportive
Behavior
These four
leadership styles consist of different combinations of two basic leader
behaviors that a manager can use when trying to influence someone else: directive
behavior and supportive behavior.
Four words
can be used to define directive behavior: decide, teach, observe, and provide
frequent feedback.
Different
words are used to describe supportive behavior: listen, involve, facilitate,
and encourage.
There Is
Nothing So Unequal As The Equal Treatment Of Unequals
When I Slow
Down, I Go Faster
Leaders hire
people, tell them what to do, and then leave them alone and assume good
performance will follow.
In other
words, they abdicate; they don’t delegate.
You Can Expect
More If You Inspect More
If You Want
to Develop People, Catch Them Doing Things Right, Not Wrong.
Situational
Leadership Is Not Something You Do To People It’s Something You Do With People
“You make a
clear distinction between a leader’s attitude and feelings about people and his
or her behavior toward them,” said the entrepreneur.
“We were
always taught that when leaders use a directive leadership style, they probably
think their people are lazy, unreliable, and irresponsible, and therefore need
close supervision.
But if
leaders use a supportive leadership style, they believe their people are
responsible and self-motivated.
What I’ve
learned from you is that positive assumptions about people are a given; you
believe people have the potential to become high performers.
What
fluctuates is the leader’s behavior, depending on their people’s needs for
direction and support.”
“The key word is potential,” said the One Minute Manager. “That’s the beauty of it all,” said the entrepreneur.
Now when I use a directive leadership style, I’ll know it’s not because I think the person isn’t talented. On the contrary, I’ll think the person has the potential to be a high performer—self-directed and self-motivated—but lacks experience right now. The person needs direction from me to begin developing his or her full potential.
“That’s an important lesson,” said the One Minute Manager. “What you’ve learned is that positive assumptions about people can be expressed by using any of the four leadership styles, not just supporting or delegating.” “I think it can all be summarized by this statement,” said the entrepreneur.
Everyone Is
A Potential High Performer. Some People Just Need A Little Help Along The Way
People Who
Feel Good About Themselves Produce Good Results.
ONE MINUTE GOALS WORK WELL WHEN YOU:
1 Plan the
goals together and describe them briefly and clearly. Show people what good
performance looks like.
2 Have
people write out each of their goals, with due dates, on a single page.
3 Ask them
to review their most important goals each day, which takes only a few minutes to
do.
4 Encourage
people to take a minute to look at what they’re doing, and see if their
behavior matches their goals.
5 If it
doesn’t, encourage them to re-think what they’re doing so they can realize
their goals sooner.
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