Self Leadership And The One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Self Leadership Book Report i481w

Strategic Managem ent Book Report

Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness through Situational Self Leadership

14th Day of May, 2011

SUMMARY

“Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager” explores the skills needed to become an effective self leader. The book now clearly and thoroughly reveals how power, freedom, and autonomy come from having the right mind-set and the skills needed to take personal responsibility for success. It was authored by Mr. Ken Blanchard, Ms. Susan Fowler, and Mr. Lawrence Hawkins whom made it much more like reading a story—it was told through parables.

It tells about the story of Steve, a young advertising executive who’s about to lose his job. During a series of talks with a gifted magician / self-taught minutemanager-guru named Cayla, Steve comes to realize the power of taking responsibility for his situation. ing along the knowledge she has learned / acquired before, Cayla teaches Steve the three skills of self leadership. These three techniques not only empower him to keep his job but show him what he needs to know in order to keep growing, learning, and achieving.

Ultimately, there are five lessons to be learned: First is to accept the responsibility for getting what you need. When Steve initially failed with his proposal, he immediately started asg blame. His manager gave him too much responsibility too soon with too little guidance and his creative advertising team didn't him at the level he expected. But upon reflection, Steve realized that he didn't ask for any help from his manager nor did he give his creative team the direction and guidance they required from him, their

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manager. People are not mind readers and they can't be expected to know what you want or need if you don't explain it to them. You need to take responsibility for creating the situation you are in (whether it be good or bad).

Secondly, is to challenge assumed constraints. An assumed constraint is a belief you have, based on past experience that limits your current and future experiences. In the book, this is also referred to as "elephant thinking".

When a circus first receives a baby elephant, they clamp a chain around its leg and secure it to a large peg deep in the ground. The baby elephant will pull and tug and try to escape, but won't be strong enough to lift the peg or break the chain. The elephant learns this lesson and it becomes an assumed constraint. Years later, the elephant has grown and yet fails to escape. This six (6) ton beast has learned from past experience that he cannot escape and thus does not even attempt to do so. Circus handlers state a mature elephant could be restrained with a piece of string once this lesson had been learned.

This lesson is quite evident. There is a quote that says something like "Whether you think you can or can't, you're probably right".

Third, is the “points of power”. Steve initially believed that the only form of power that existed in the business world was "position power"; his manager had power over him and he had power over those beneath him. What he failed to understand was the other forms of power that surrounded him within his

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organization. The book identifies four other forms of power: knowledge, task, relationship, and personal, but assuredly there are more.

To examine the structure of many of today's organizations, fifteen years ago managers would manage anywhere from 4 to 10 individuals and thus, it was possible for them to stay in touch with the majority of events and operations that occurred within the workplace. But with the streamlining of organizations and with the empowerment of teams, there are managers that now oversee literally hundreds of employees. These managers still have position power, but they lack any form of organizational power.

These individuals will generally have very little knowledge about the workings of many specific projects. Thus, there is somebody else who holds the knowledge power. They will also have little understanding of who the suppliers, distributors and personnel are. Thus, somebody else will have the relationship power. The manager will also unlikely know what has to be done, in what order and when. Thus somebody else will have the task power.

Steve had to learn that although he had position power he still lacked many of the pieces required to put the entire puzzle together. He had to work as part of a team and maximize the different powers each and every individual had to offer.

Fourth is developing a continuum. The author has developed a continuum; he believes most individuals travel through whenever they begin a new initiative. It’s

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believed that this continuum holds true in both business and personal undertakings. There are four stages to this continuum and each stage is factored by a level of competence and commitment.

Finally, the fifth lesson to be learned is the power of collaboration and "I Need". Steve needed to stop making excuses, identify what points of power he possessed, where he was lacking and where he was on the Development Continuum. From there he was able to assess his needs and it them to those around him. He needed a lot of direction and . By itting these needs to his manager and his team, he found everyone was more than willing to help. They were all working towards the same goal and everybody wanted to succeed. Steve simply needed to collaborate and fill the gaps for his needs.

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PERSONAL COMMENT

Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager is a fun, quick read with some pertinent lessons that can assist people in many aspects of their lives. The author also stated that self leaders "Challenge assumed constraints. Celebrate their points of power. And Collaborate for Success" and that a "leader is anyone who can give you the and direction you need to achieve your goal".

IMPACT IN MY FIELD

I appreciate the overall theme of the book. A generally good book on selfleadership and taking responsibility for one's own success. It takes minute-tominute, situational adjustments, in both your leadership approach, and in your understanding of how different people react differently in different situations, to maximize the results you can get from different teams of individuals. Certainly, you can get stronger results from people by taking the time to think about and understand where they are coming from and how they best handle and react to different situations.

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