4 Best Short Practical Books for New Managers

I enjoy learning and sharing what I’ve found helpful with others. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read the full disclosure for more information.

Would you like to learn the fundamentals of how to be a good manager in 3-4 hours plus a few minutes each day?

Then please read on, especially if you are not a fan of reading long books. Managers are busy people! This will save you an extra 60 hours or so compared to reading all the books in “The Top 10 books for Managers” or similar other lists.

I love to read and have read many management books over the years. But if I had to condense it down to what matters most in practice, these 3 books are what make the shortlist.

1.      The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard & Spencer Johnson – a ~1 hour read.

2.      The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier – a ~2 hour read.

3.      The Thin Book of Trust by Charles Feltman – easily read in 1 hour

A bonus book that only takes a few minutes each day to read is the Daily Drucker by Peter F. Drucker – one page per year that highlights excerpts from Peter Drucker’s best works. If you want to learn from one of the best in the field, learn from Peter Drucker, the “founder of modern management” as described by Forbes. Unlike the other three books, this one is more about principles than practice, but it is full of gems. Drucker was far ahead of his time and his writings are still very relevant today.

Here are the key points that go with each book:

1.      Set clear expectations if you want your team to be able to reach their goals (The One Minute Manager).

2.      Follow through with coaching if you don’t want to have to do everything yourself (The Coaching Habit).

3.      Build a high performing team with trust if you want to be able to accomplish more than you can do individually (The Thin Book of Trust).

4.      Learn from the best if you want to become the best in your field (The Daily Drucker).

When you become a manager, you become responsible for a team. Your world should no longer revolve around you but rather around your team and how you can equip your team to be the best they can be. Because when your team succeeds, you succeed.

Now let’s dive into each book and the principles they provide. This blog will review the first book and the second book will be covered in my next blog. The Thin Book of Trust I have already covered in an earlier blog that you can read here.

The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard & Spencer Johnson

Have you ever wondered why someone didn’t deliver what you asked for or what you could do to increase the chance that certain goals are accomplished on time? This is the framework the One Minute Manager provides, three “secrets” on how to get things done.

As Kenneth Blanchard explains, “a one Minute Manager is someone who gets good results without taking much time.”

How is this possible? Because certain moments matter more than others as Chip and Dan Heath explain in their book, The Power of Moments. This is the Pareto principle in action where 20% of the time accounts for 80% of the results.

What moments matter more than others when it comes to managing? This is where the three “secrets” come into play.

The Moment that Matters: The Start of any Assignment (Secret #1: One Minute Goals)

The One Minute Manager approach is simply to write down on one page in 250 words or less what the goal is for the top 3-6 goals. Writing down is key because this enables both the manager and their direct report to have the same reference point of what the goal is.

The other aspect aside from this that is critical at the start of any assignment is setting clear expectations not only of the goal but also of what behavior is expected when problems arise. One of my old bosses told me the first time we met, “If you let me know when you have a problem, I will do what I can to support you through the issue. That is part of my job. If you let me know after the fact, then it is an excuse.”

The Moment that Matters: Catch your team member when they do something right (Secret #2: One Minute Praisings)

The second part of the One Minute Manager framework is to praise people when they do something right. The praise needs to be timely, the sooner after the event, the better. When praising, be specific about what it is they did and how it helped the organization or other team members.

This reinforces good behavior - “Goals Begin Behaviors, Consequences Maintain Behaviors.”

The Moment that Matters: Catch your team member when they do something wrong (Secret #3: One Minute Reprimands)

It is also important to catch someone when they do something wrong. This step for many people is more difficult than secret #2 but without consequences, we encourage the wrong behaviors to persist.

There are two parts to a One Minute Reprimand.

·        The first part is similar to the One Minute Praising, the reprimand needs to be timely, specific, and clear on describing what was wrong.

·        The second part is to remind them how much you value them. The reprimand is directed at their behavior not at them as a person.

It helps to state the reason behind the reprimand, that you believe in them and their ability to be better.

If being able to clearly and kindly reprimand someone sounds challenging, that is because it is. I explain how this requires respectful candor, which is the ability to be both frank and diplomatic, which you can read about using this link. For training on developing the skill around crucial conversations, visit Crucial Learning.

The New One Minute Manager is a new, revised version of this 1981 classic.

Sounds simple enough, right? The principles themselves are not the challenge. The difficult part is the implementation of these principles.

Did you know that 90% of people that attend a training course or read a book do not apply what they learned? Most of the time knowledge does not translate into action.

If you are a new manager or have a new manager on your team, contact Claritas Consulting & Coaching to enable you or your team to put these principles into practice.

Subscribe below to be notified of new blogs including the sequel to this one!