Last night, I read the book "Putting the One Minute Manager to Work." It seems so easy, something we naturally know and can use in organizing our own lives as well as motivating and directing others.
The book begins with asking us to look into the faces of those we manage and realize that they are our most important resources. Isn't that how we should view those around us? Look into the faces of those you interact with today and feel what they mean to you. How often do we view others as resources, and yet, they are.
Also, we need to have a plan, a goal. We need to know our areas of responsibility and what good performance looks like. Once activated, people perform. Performance is what someone says or does, not what they think or feel. Again, for each of us in our lives it is important to activate our thoughts and feelings, to say and do.
The book also tells when to set goals and when to reprimand and to remember that reprimand is short, and then forgotten. The rule of the reprimand is that you have about thirty seconds to share your feelings. You end with praise. If there is nothing to praise, you let the person go. Again, I look at this advice in terms of my life and how I work and achieve. If I can't find a place to praise in what I do, perhaps I can let that activity go. It is a way to sort and prioritize. The books says "Only positive consequences encourage good future performance." Again, I see.
The book gives an example of a reprimand of a father to a child. The reprimand is short and reinforces the love of the parents for the child and gives the child responsibility for their behavior. It is a potent example of positive interaction. I recommend the book for just that short little segment beginning on page 48.
The book says, "The American way of managing seems to be: When people perform well, their managers do nothing. When they make a mistake, their managers "hit" them." Again, I consider if I reward myself when I perform well. Do I manage myself well? Where, how, and when do I reward? Do I tell others what they mean to me? Could I do it more?
It is also important to pinpoint. I know that. I set small goals and attain them, rather than bogging down in some vague haze of hope. You see, I am praising myself already. : )
There is an interesting article in the SF Chronicle today that points out that when Ann Coulter called Al Gore a "total fag" a year ago, it caused barely a stir. Now, a year later, there is a different response to her calling John Edwards "a faggot."
At least four newspapers have dropped her column and three corporations, including Verizon, stopped advertising on her website after she made the comment. That is good news and quite a shift in a year.