The New One Minute Manager Summary, Quotes, And Review

1-Line Summary: The New One Minute Manager Summary discusses how you can ensure the growth of an organization by focusing on both the people and results by using 1-minute simple techniques.

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The New One Minute Manager Summary [PDF]

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In this book summary, I’ve shared the best lessons I learned from this book. (Lesson #5 is my favorite)

By the end of this summary, you will understand what it means to be a great manager.

Without wasting any time, let’s get started…

Lesson #1: To be a good manager, you must know how to manage yourself first.

The role of a manager is to manage people in an organization.

But often, managers make this mistake. They think about managing other people without knowing how to manage themselves.

As a result, they fail to manage anything properly.

The question is:

How to manage ourselves?

The key to managing self is proper understanding and clarity.

A person who doesn’t have clarity in his life and doesn’t completely understand his actions will keep struggling to manage himself.

No school or college will teach you this art.

I believe it’s a journey that every person must go through. And for this to happen, one must continuously keep learning and adapting to changes.

The author talks about how managers were either ‘result-oriented or ‘people-oriented in the old days.’

So either they focused too much on the results or too much on the people.

What a good manager does is, focus on both aspects.

And before that, he first focuses on himself.

A great manager knows about his plans.

In other words, he knows what he wants and why.

This clarity of “why” is crucial.

One can’t manage other people if he is confused about himself.

Lesson #2: A manager’s job is to manage people right.

Managing people is hard.

Why?

Because every human has a different past, background, feelings, thoughts, emotions, etc.

We are full of diversity, aren’t we?

Ideally, an average person can’t handle everyone properly.

That’s why a good manager needs a common way of dealing with people regardless of how different they are.

Gone are the days when managers could force people to take action to produce output.

Now, managers need to focus on people too so that they enjoy working in the organization and work with total efficiency.

Any manager has two significant challenges:

1. Produce the optimum results for the organization.
2. Keep the workers/employees satisfied and bring out their full potential.

So a manager can’t just focus on one thing.

He has to focus both on his employees and the output they are producing.

The efficiency will suffer if people in the organization don’t feel energetic about their work and believe in its goals.

Also, the organization won’t make profits because the people in the organization are careless and are not doing their job correctly.

That’s why managers have to ensure that both aspects are in control.

Both the aspects are inter-connected. One can’t survive without the other.

Lesson #3: Set short and easy 1-minute goals.

The author has shared three secret tips in the book to help any manager simplify things.

The first tip is:

“Set 1-Minute Goals.”

Why only one minute? Why not 10-minute goals?

In most organizations, managers set too many goals for the people.

So most employees get confused and struggle to fulfill the demands.

Eventually, the efficiency of the whole organization suffers.

The best way is to set short and clear goals.

Every employee must be clear about what is expected of him and in how much time.

This has many benefits.

First, there is no confusion.

That means: Less explaining. Less work to do.

Second, employees don’t get to make silly excuses.

Third, it also boosts people’s morale, knowing exactly what they have to do and how much effort is required.

How does this work?

This works because it reduces the clutter and makes life easier for everyone.

When life is easy, we naturally tend to perform better.

Don’t we?

If you have tons of things to do, you may get confused.

But if you have just one thing to do, you can give your full attention to it and may even do it better than you usually do.

Also, it helps if the companies don’t throw unrealistic goals.

Managers should clearly explain the goals to the employees. There must be no confusion.

Managers can communicate with employees from time to time to see if they are confused about their goals.

Does this work in real life?

The truth is:

The is 1-Minute Goals technique may not work every time.

We all set goals. But only a few people achieve them.

Life is dynamic, and many unexpected circumstances appear out of nowhere and are beyond our control.

But setting short goals will make things simple.

The more simple your goals are, the more clarity you will have.

And the better you can deal with changing circumstances.

Lesson #4: Praise people first for what they do right before criticizing them.

In reality, people make mistakes.

And it’s okay to make mistakes.

Despite setting short and manageable goals, it’s no guarantee that the employees won’t make mistakes.

It’s irritating when a manager sees an employee making silly mistakes and not doing what’s conducive to the organization’s goals.

Here is where many managers do the wrong thing…

They start shouting at the employees and criticizing them for their mistakes so that employees feel as if they are in the wrong place. And feel scared about their job security and satisfaction.

The author says that this approach makes the manager villain in the eyes of the employees.

That’s a wrong approach.

There is a proper way of doing that.

First, don’t amplify the mistakes.

Of course, letting the employees know their mistakes is important.

But also tell them what they are doing right.

Praise them for what they are doing right, and then subtly let them acknowledge that they also need to make a few things right.

A manager must know how to manage his emotions as well.

Managing your raging emotions is the key here.

There is no point in going rampage, is there?

Try to explain how things can become right. Have a solution-oriented mindset.

Understand that it’s natural to make mistakes.

Check if your employees fully understand the goals in simple words or not.

If they don’t, try to be very clear and concise.

Don’t complicate simple stuff.

Lesson #5: “We are better than our mistakes”

This lesson is not just about managers.

As human beings, we should deeply understand this lesson:

We are better than our actions.

The idea here is not to justify anybody’s wrong actions but to realize that we all have immense growth potential.

If you have made a mistake, it’s not a big deal.

You can always try again and make things right.

Often people indulge in self-doubt and curse themselves for making a mistake.

The truth is:

It’s tough to get rid of your memories. Especially the bad ones.

Let this idea go into your mind:

We are better than our actions.

No mistake is more significant than you.

It’s alright to make mistakes.

Instead of suffering, you should investigate why you made a particular mistake.

Try not to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

Great managers realize that employees improve themselves with time and help them grow.

Lesson #6: Review and Re-Direct if a mistake has been made.

Let’s say an employee made a mistake.

What steps should you take then?

In the last two lessons, we discussed mindset.

But just having the right mindset won’t solve the issue at hand.

You need to take measures to make sure that efficiency is maintained.

Remember, you don’t have to focus on just one aspect.

Both people, as well as results, are essential.

You have to direct your employee so that he takes responsibility for his mistakes and tries to fix them without feeling overwhelmed.

The first thing you should do is:

Check if it’s your fault for not setting clear goals or not.

If it’s your mistake, accept immediately that it’s your fault.

Second, make it clear to your employee that you appreciate his efforts.

Usually, people who work hard more than others come into the limelight. And that’s why they get noticed if they make any mistakes.

If an employee has made a silly mistake, it means that he was working.

Those who try to avoid responsibility or don’t enjoy their work never do any challenging stuff. They do what’s necessary.

They act for the sake of it. They don’t care much about the organization.

People who don’t work make fewer mistakes. Otherwise, they are highly experienced.

As a manager, you should quickly review and figure out the issue.

Finally, be clear about your expectations and how you feel about your employees. Also, encourage them to be open if they have a tough time dealing with a specific challenge.

Lesson #7: Don’t spend more than a minute

It might sound as if it will take hours to do.

But no.

It should only take less than a minute.

That’s what the author means by becoming a 1-minute manager.

Do simple things that take only one minute.

But yes, make sure that you are doing only important things.

There is no point in doing stuff that doesn’t help in the organization’s growth and people’s efficiency.

Initially, it will take more than a minute.

Again, it’s natural.

But try to be quick.

Speed is necessary these days.

You can’t be a slow runner and still finish first.

Although life is like a marathon, you need enough speed so that you don’t end up last.

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Let’s Recap: The Key Takeaways From This Book Summary

• Create short and clear goals.
• Praise people for their efforts.
• Don’t harshly criticize people for their mistakes. Be supportive.
• Make sure everybody in your organization knows what is expected of him and what’s the time frame.
• Proper communication is the key to efficiency.

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The New One Minute Manager Quotes

Here are a few notable quotes from this book by the author:

We are not just our behavior. We are the person managing our behaviors.

The Authors

The best minute I spend is the one I spend in people.

The Authors

Everyone is a potential winner.

The Authors

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The New One Minute Manager Review

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These are my thoughts on this book…

Who should read this book?

If you are someone with a corporate job, you should read this book.

This will help you become a better and more efficient manager.

Things I liked in this book…

This book is a decent start if you want to become a great manager.

Things I didn’t like so much…

Unlike other leadership books I’ve read, this book is too basic and doesn’t dive much deeper.

Maybe the author did it on purpose, but it’d be great to have more practical examples.

Also, I didn’t enjoy the conversational style.

The book is okay. Suitable only for one-time reading.

It could be shorter, though.

Frankly speaking, I didn’t enjoy it so much.

But if you know nothing about leadership, it’s a great place to start.

Book rating: 5.8/10

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about The One Minute Manager

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Now it’s your turn

There you have it!

I hope you learned lots of amazing lessons from this book summary.

Got a question or thought? Leave a comment below.