The title of this article is taken from my favourite business book of all time, which was published just when I was finishing my pharmacy training and contemplating my professional future.
The One Minute Manager is a landmark short business allegory published in 1982 by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson.
Written as a brief parable about a young man searching for the perfect leader, it teaches three basic, highly effective management secrets that maximize productivity and job satisfaction in just a minute of time.
The Three Secrets of One Minute Management
- One Minute Goals: Managers outline clear targets alongside performance standards on a single sheet of paper. Each goal must take less than 60 seconds to read, forcing employees to review their targets frequently.
- One Minute Praisings: Leaders immediately catch people doing something right. They give specific, authentic praise right away to encourage staff and reinforce good habits.
- One Minute Reprimands (Redirections): When mistakes occur, leaders immediately address the specific error. They correct the behavior gently, ending the interaction by reaffirming the employee’s personal value to the organization.
When I first read this book in 1984 I wrote myself notes of the “aha” moments that I wanted to remember. And now, more than 40 years later, I can still recite them off by heart:
“People who feel good about themselves produce good results”
“Help people reach their full potential – catch them doing something right”
“The best minute I spend is the one I invest in people”
“Everyone is a potential winner. Some people are disguised as losers. Don’t let their appearances fool you.”
“Take a minute: Look at your goals. Look at your performance. See if your behaviour matches your goals.”
“We are not just our behaviour. We are the person managing our behaviour.”
“Goals begin behaviours. Consequences maintain behaviours.”
The psychology behind these messages has been the driving force behind my company’s RPM Retail software. By surfacing the relevant, meaningful retail data from store POS systems we can create powerful insights that empower retail sales professionals in their work.
Here’s a great example of the power of our RPM Retail scoreboard showing a number of KPIs that can be checked daily by retail staff to reflect their progress and performance:
Julie is the Retail Manager at Sumner Pharmacy in Christchurch. By using the RPM Scoreboard to benchmark her pharmacy’s retail results against 67 other pharmacies nationwide in The Independent Pharmacy Group she has been able to steadily improve sales, profits and return-on-investment for pharmacy owner Dane Bell.
The result is a win-win-win; for Sumner Pharmacy, for Julie and most importantly for their customers – who receive outstanding service and an instore experience that is noticeably better than competing pharmacies.
