Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Kenneth Blanchard

1. In leadership, don’t work harder; work smarter
   
   1. Lao-Tzu: “When the best leader’s work is done, the people say: ‘we did it ourselves.'”
      

    

2. Management requires different strokes for different folks
   
   1. There is nothing so unequal as the equal treatment of unequals
      
   2. A person will tend to be at different levels of development depending on the specific tasks or goals he or she is assigned
      
      1. As an example, consider General Managers who come up through operations:
         
         1. For operations, their development level is likely high
            
         2. For accounting, their development level may be medium to high
            
         3. For sales and marketing, their development level may be low
            
      2. Same person, three different development levels
         
      3. Would you manage these General Managers the same no matter whether they were working on an operations issue, an accounting issue, or a sales and marketing issue?
         

    

3. Situational Leader – There is no one best leadership style
   
   1. You need to have a flexibility in your leadership style with your team
      
   2. You need to diagnose their development level
      
   3. You need to partner with them to lead them in the most appropriate leadership style
      

    

4. Four different leadership styles
   
   1. Directive
      
      1. Provide specific direction
         
      2. Closely monitor task accomplishments
         
   2. Coaching
      
      1. Continue to direct and closely monitor task accomplishments
         
      2. Explain decisions, solicits suggestions, and support progress; engage in two way communication
         
   3. Supportive
      
      1. Facilitate and support people’s efforts towards task accomplishment
         
      2. Share responsibility for decision making with them
         
   4. Delegative
      
      1. Turn over responsibility for decision making and problem solving to people
         
      2. But, still be a sounding board and monitor (“trust but verify”).
         

    

5. In situational leadership, the four different leadership styles create a leadership style continuum
   
   1. The goal is to increase the competence and confidence (preferences – what they like to do) of your people so that you can begin to use less time consuming leadership styles – supportive and delegative – and still get high quality results
      

    

6. Failed Leadership Styles
   
   1. Autocratic / Dictating
      
   2. Abdicating / Abandoning
      

    

7. Leadership behaviors
   
   1. Directive behavior
      
      1. Structure
         
      2. Organize
         
      3. Teach
         
      4. Supervise
         
   2. Supportive Behavior
      
      1. Praise
         
      2. Listen
         
      3. Ask
         
      4. Explain
         
      5. Facilitate
         

    

8. Diagnosis
   
   1. Diagnosing a situation or an individual before you act is the key to situational leadership
      
   2. Everyone has peak performance potential; you just need to know where they are coming from and meet them there
      
   3. In determining what style to use, remember that leaders need to do what the people they supervise cannot do (or avoid doing) for themselves at the present moment
      

    

9. Partnering for Performance
   
   1. Be honest with your people about their levels as it relates to their overall competence and preference / commitment and agree with them on the appropriate leadership style that will be used
      
   2. It is important that everyone know what is going on
      
   3. Situational leadership is not something you do to people but something you do with people
      
10. Leaders need to have positive assumptions about their people. It is a given: managers should believe that people have the potential to become high performers. What fluctuates is the manager’s behavior, depending on his or her people’s needs for direction and support
    
    1. Leadership is about providing direction and support to help people develop their full potential
       
    2. Everyone is a potential high performer. Some people just need a little help along the way.