Business Book Report and Presentation
Leadership and the One Minute Manager
“Leadership and the One Minute Manager” teaches managers the art of Situational Leadership. This is a very simple process in order to disband the idea of treating all employees equally. The book explains why tailoring management styles to individual employees is so important; why knowing when to delegate, support, or direct is critical; how to identify the leadership style suited to a particular person; and how consistent use of the One Minute techniques will produce better management and enhanced motivation on all levels.
The entire book revolves around the first hand experience of an entrepreneur with the One Minute Manager (OMM) and his people. The entrepreneur asked for the advise of OMM to help make her new business run more smoothly. My favorite quote is from her. OMM asks what she thinks it takes for a company to be successful and her response is “It’s really quite easy… all you have to do is work half a day. You can either work the first twelve hours or the second twelve hours”. This quote is my favorite because I find that it most closely resembled my own view on hard work.
The book dwells at length on situational leadership and how to use a specific leadership style for each situation. OMM dons several hats for each situation. The writing sets a conversational tone between the entrepreneur and the OMM and OMM’s partners. This writing style worked well for me because it explained what to do through a story and well explained examples. At the end; the entrepreneur is set with the skills and styles necessary for becoming a situational leader and excellent manager. The book provides several exhibits which are educational as well as informative and interesting.
The book briefly explains four basic leadership styles: directing, coaching, supporting and delegating. The directing style, style 1, is for people who lack competence but are enthusiastic and committed. They need direction and feedback to get them started. The coaching style, style 2, is for people who have some competence but lack commitment. They need direction and feedback because they have not yet fully developed the experience needed. They also need support and praised to build their self-esteem, and involvement in decision-making to restore their commitment.
The supporting style, style 3, is for people who have competence but lack confidence or motivation. They do not need much direction because of their skills, but support is necessary to bolster their confidence and motivation. The delegating style, style 4, is for people who have both competence and commitment. They are able and willing to work on a project by themselves with little supervision or support. In all these styles the support of the leader decreases gradually from Style 1 to Style 4. For instance, when a new graduate joins in an organization the leader has to adopt style 1. As the fresher learns, the leader has to shift the style of orbit to style 2, style 3 and finally style 4 where the new graduate becomes an experienced individual.
Directive vs. Supportive Behavior: Directive behavior contains structure, organize, teach and supervise and it involves: clearly telling people what to do, how to do it, when to dot it, and then closely monitoring their performance. On the other hand, the supportive behavior needs praise, listen, ask, explain and facilitate and it involves: listening to people, providing support and encouragement for their efforts and then facilitating their involvement in problem solving and decision-making.
In my personal experience as well I have come to realize that the directing style is appropriate during time constraints and for inexperienced people. However, coaching works best when disillusionment sets in for the individuals, and Participative management style works best for experienced individuals.
Competence and Commitment:The person should have both competence and commitment while doing a task. Competence is a function of knowledge and skills, which can be gained from education, training, and /or experience. However, commitment is a combination of motivation and confidence. Confidence is a measure of a person’s ability to do a task well without much supervision, where as motivation is a person’s interest in and enthusiasm for doing a task well.
Sutras for Success: It unveils several sutras for practicing managers and leaders to execute their tasks effectively such as:
- Don’t work harder – work smarter.
- Different strokes for different folks.
- There is nothing so unequal as the equal treatment of unequals.
- When I slow down, I go faster.
- Everyone has peak performance potential – you just need to know where they are coming from and meet them there.
- You can expect more if you inspect more.
- “When the best leader’s work is done, the people say, ‘we did it ourselves'”- Lao-Tzu.
- Situational leadership is not something you do to people but something you do with people.
- Everyone is a potential high performer. So some people just need a little help along the way.
Key Take Aways:
Leadership Lessons:
Conclusion:
The OMM concludes with Buddhist saying, “To know and not to use is not yet to know!” At the end of the book the entrepreneur dons the hat of a situational leader with several valuable takeaways from OMM. I also feel that I can in turn implement this information in order to become a more efficient manager in my hospitality career.
To sum up, OMM walked the talk with flexibility, diagnosing and partnering with the entrepreneur by donning several hats for each situation. The book is a must read for all. It not only gives you valuable inputs but also makes you a smart manager and leader for each situation.
I used to feel that the management motto “everyone should be treated equally,” was best, but this book has shown me why that style not only hinders workplace efficiency, but also frustrates staff. I now feel I understand situational management, as well as when to delegate, support, or direct; how to identify the leadership style suited to a particular person; and how consistent use of the One Minute techniques will produce better management and enhanced motivation on all levels. This book is very easy to follow and understand and is a guide to creative, self leadership.
...(download the rest of the essay above)