It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)
Ken Blanchard is an influencer.
He has been influencing leaders for years and his books, which are written in a way that people can really understand, provide deep leadership concepts with a clear way to apply the principles.
The first book I read of Blanchards was his book co-authored by Spencer Johnson, entitled "The One Minute Manager". It impacted me because he was teaching the concept of servant leadership to business leaders. I recently pulled "The New One Minute Manager" off my shelf, and am still inspired by the power of these words. Today I'll share my ONE THING from this book:
This book, and most of his books, have been written for people who lead others.
A couple of things that stand out from this book:
• Most managers fall into one of two different categories:
"TOUGH" Managers: Managers who care only about the organization.
"NICE" Managers: Managers who only care ONLY about people.
He talks about how important it is for managers to care about both results and people, because confident people produce results.
•The book focuses on 3 actions of a manager:
One-Minute Goal Setting: helping employees define their goals, measure them and have clarity around what they're doing.
One-Minute Praising: delivering immediate and thoughtful praise when an employee does something right encourages the employee to do more of the same.
One-Minute Redirects: this is connected to the goals, but when something doesn't work, identifying it, holding people accountable, and then redirecting because it didn't work. Not lingering on the failure, but clearly redefining expectations.
These three things help employees to know what they're supposed to be doing, there's a system of affirmation and celebration, and when something isn't working, there's a process of evaluation and creating a new goal.
Blanchard and Spencer teach us as leaders how to do this with our team members and they are some great tools to put into our leadership.
The original book was written in 1982 and helped shape leadership within organizations by teaching that managers and leaders need to lead others as servants, not by speaking down to them, but by coming alongside of them, helping them do their best work. This change in leadership has impacted companies all over the globe, and we should be impacted by it as well.
What kinds of things do you do as a leader to challenge, inspire and help your employees and team members to do their best work, to use all of their strengths and gifts for the greatest impact and contribution?
For me, I'm challenged by the "One-Minute Praising" and I realize I don't celebrate people enough or as quickly as I can. I'm challenged to do better in this area.
Thoughts? Comment HERE on the blog page.
I'd like to ask you to share some of yours. Do it simply:
What's the book?
What's The One Thing that stands out to you (we all see different things)?
How has it made a difference?
Send it to me HERE and I'll share it with others reading this weekly post.
"People who feel good about themselves - produce great results." Ken Blanchard
"Everyone is a potential winner, some people are disguised as losers, don't let their appearances fool you!" Ken Blanchard
"Whoever wants to be great must become a servant" Matthew 20:26 MSG
Things I'm Reading and Listening To This Week:
Yes, there's a Part 2 to the Andy Stanley and Ian Morgan Cron podcast called "Enneagram and Decision Making Part 2". If you use Enneagram, this conversation is helpful.
The New One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
Johnny Nash passed away this past week. His music will continue. I enjoyed listening to his music, and his song, "I Can See Clearly Now" has been a favorite for years. Rest in Peace.
Yes, I'm celebrating the Lakers Win for the NBA Finals. Celebrate with me, even if you don't like basketball or don't like the Lakers!
I enjoyed reading John Grishams book, The Rooster Bar. It's been out a while, but was an enjoyable "relaxing" read.