Leadership and the One Minute Manager
Increase Effectiveness by Being a Good Leader
There are not two without three. And actually, when talking about Ken Blanchard, there have been many more, as he has written at least a dozen short books to the One Minute -series. On our site, however, this review will complete the trilogy. The previous episodes were the original "One Minute Manager", and "Putting the One Minute Manager to Work".
The original One Minute Manager introduced managing people by setting goals, and then monitoring, and managing, the progress of those goals. Putting the One Minute Manager to Work expanded on this process, and concentrated on the implementation of the system, and measuring achievements objectively. Leadership and the One Minute Manager introduces a totally different but equally important aspect on being an efficient boss. That aspect is, as you might already have guessed, leadership.
The concept of leadership is quite multi-faceted and complex, and it might be fair to add that the book actually discusses a school of thought within leadership, called situational leadership.
If I would have to summarize the book in one slogan, it would be the one I found on page 19:
Different Strokes for Different Folks
This can also be put this way:
There Is Nothing So Unequal As The Equal Treatment of Unequals
Ken's books always contain excellent motto's, which coin some fundamental truths. I personally enjoy them, so I was happy to see that this book was not a disappointment in this sense!
Here follows a short summary of how situational leadership is represented in the book.
Situational Leadership According to Ken Blanchard
The Four Leadership Styles
Two key concepts what managers can do when leading people are (1) leading with supportive behavior, and (2) leading with directive behavior.
Directive behavior is when bosses give direct orders, and tell explicitly how they want that something is done, possibly giving even step-by-step instructions to the person being led. Directive behavior is needed when the person performing the doing is new to or not familiar with the work or task, and hence does not know how to do it properly. Directive behavior increases the skills, and knowledge, to perform a task. Everybody needs to be given directive leadership at times, even big bosses. This is because even big bosses need contextual knowledge of business.
Supportive behavior is when the leader cares, listens, and gives his team member support, sparring, and encouragement. When giving support, the leaders should try to help the team members to find the right solution for the situation at hand themselves. Supportive behavior develops, and increases, management, as well as leadership skills. It is not about the technical skills relating to the task. It is about teaching, and encouraging, the team member to do independent choises.
When directive and supportive behavior are represented in a matrix, we get four leadership styles, as represented in Picture 1.
Picture 1. Four leadership styles derived by altering the amount of directive and supportive behavior.
The four leadership styles are: Directing (Style 1), Coaching (Style 2), Supporting (Style 3), and Delegating (Style 4).
Delegating is the highest level of leading people. I would not mind if I could most of the time just use that strategy. Unfortunately, you can only delegate things to capable and professional individuals, which are self driven, and self motivated. Such people can be given complex tasks, and they will do it. You don't need to worry about it. People who can be led by delegation are the true stars and performers, who will make their own strategies or project plans in order to reach the goals they have been given. And they do this without you needing to bitch and remind them about it.
However, even such people need directing leadership (Style 1 = strongly directing), when they are trying to take on new responsibilities, which are not familiar to them. It is O.K. to be directed.
So, when should we then, as leaders, use the different leadership styles on people? Before we answer that question, we need to have a look at the various development levels of an employee.
The Four Development Levels
| D1 | D2 | D3 | D4 |
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Table 1.How our competence develops within our work, or some part of it.
There are essentially four levels how people develop in their role, and work. These four stages may be called development levels, and let's use the abbreviations D1-D4 for the different stages. This theory can be applied holistically, or only to a specific area of competence.
First, when we are given a new responsibility or a task, we usually are very motivated, but we have a low competence. This is development level 1 (D1).
Later, start to build on the competence, but may partly suffer in our motivation, as we feel we are not progressing fast enough, or the new thing or area is not exactly what we expected.
In the third stage (D3), we start to be good, but we are not completely self motivated as an individual, or we are not professionals enough to make more demanding decisions in the area, and still need support.
The high competence/high commitment people are the true stars, and have reached D4, in that specific area.
So, how do you lead these four groups?
Matching the Appropriate Leadership Style to the Right Development Level
Yes, you guessed right. You match the employee's current development level, with the appropriate leadership style.
| Development level | Appropriate leadership style |
| D1: New to the area | S1: Directing |
| D2: Starting to get it | S2: Coaching |
| D3: Still unsure | S3: Supporting |
| D4: A self motivated true star | S4: Delegating |
Table 2. How to match the right leadership style to the right development level.
When you think about it, it makes sense. To pull it of in a real life organization is more challenging. Perhaps one way is to introduce this framework to your whole team, and to tell them that you now want to try this approach for developing leadership within your organization. Most often you will spark some interest, as people hate bad leadership, which is so common, and any change in this area is welcome. Fresh managers also need this kind of frameworks and ideas in order to develop their skills.
However, in order for this knowledge to help, and to make you more efficient in managing your time, you have to make it happen for real. Good luck!
Summary
Leadership and the One Minute Manager is yet a short book about making you better, and more efficient, in managing your team. Implementing the core messages it carries will benefit your own time management.
I recommend this book for anyone wanting a short read on leadership. As the book covers only one aspect on leadership, it is not an all-in-one solution. Still, it will be more useful than any random academic article collection on the subject.
Time Management Books. Please have a look at my personal collection of the best books around this subject. From each one I have got at least one really useful insight.
Time Management (Main Page). Learn different time management solutions and be more efficient in everything you do. Increase your personal productivity and discover more free time!