Blanchard Ken - Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager

Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Self Leadership

Discover the Magic of No Excuses!

To my mother, Dorothy Blanchard,
who taught me how to take control of my own life
before someone else did.

K EN B LANCHARD

To my wonderful parents, Phyllis and Dick,
who helped me realize the magic of self leadership
by encouraging my curiosity, independence,
and love of learning.

S USAN F OWLER

To my three daughters, Genevieve, Ashley, and Juliet,
with the fondest hope that they may be beneficiaries
of these self leadership concepts and tools
and immerse themselves in the good life.

L AURIE H AWKINS

In the last decade or so, the old deal in business has changed. In the past, the workforce traded loyalty for job security. If you showed up to work, made a good effort, and stayed out of trouble, you were usually secure in your job. When I graduated from college in the early 1960s, one of my friends got a job with AT&T and called home. His mother cried with joy. Youre set for life, she said.

Are you set for life today with any organization? No! Lifetime employment is a thing of the past. Over the last number of years, Ive been trying to find out what the new deal is. Talking to top managers around the world, Ive asked, If its not loyalty you want from your workforce today, what do you want? The answers have been pretty universal: I want people who are problem solvers and are willing to take initiative. I want people working for me who act like they own the place.

In other words, top managers, given a choice, would like empowered peopleindividuals they can respect and trust to make good business decisions, whether top managers are around or not.

Does the workforce object to that? No! In fact, Ive asked people, What do you want from an organization if job security is no longer available? Again, the answers have been pretty universal. People today want two things. First, they want honesty. Dont lie to us. Dont tell us at one point there will be no layoffs and then turn around a few months later and lead a major downsizing.

Second, people want opportunities to constantly learn new skills. At some point, if I have to look for a new jobeither inside or outside my present organizationI want to have better skills and be more valuable than I was before. What better way to become more valuable than to be able to take initiative, become a problem solver, and act and think like an owner.

Bingo! We have agreement. Then whats the problem? Most people will argue that most managers are not willing to let go, that they still want to maintain control. These managers talk a good game but they still want to be in charge and prefer good subordinates who follow the lead of their superiors. Todays reality in the world of work suggests that managers today, if they are to be effective, must think and act in different ways. In the 1980s, a manager typically supervised five peoplethe span of control was one manager to five direct reports. To be competitive, organizations today must be customer driven, cost effective, fast, flexible, and continuously improving. This has led to more mean-and-lean organizational structures where spans of control have increased considerably. It is not uncommon today to find one manager for twenty-five to seventy-five direct reports. Add to that the emergence of virtual organizationswhere managers are being asked to supervise people they never meet face-to-faceand we have an entirely different landscape emerging in the world of work.

The traditional hierarchy of leadership has evolved into a new order: empowerment of individuals. The problem is no longer how to get managers to let gothey have no choice anymore. The problem is how to get people to grab hold and run with the ball that is being handed to them.

A number of people are taking to this empowered environment like ducks to water. But many more are becoming immobilized. In that state they act like victims, think empowerment is a four-letter word, and view their manager as an incompetent enemy. You hear people complaining, My boss hasnt done this; my boss hasnt done that! The truth is that most bosses today can no longer play the traditional role of telling people what, when, and how to do things. Managers just dont have time, and in many cases their people know more about the work than they do.

Whats the solution? How can we help people move from a victim mind-set to flourishing as empowered problem solvers and decision makers?

Enter Susan Fowler and Laurie Hawkins.

When my wife, Margie, and I started our company in 1979 (we now have a U.S. workforce of more than 250 people and affiliates in more than thirty nations), our first consulting partner was Laurie Hawkins. We had worked with him at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in the early 1970s, when I was a fulltime professor and Margie was finishing her doctorate. When we decided to become entrepreneurs, Laurie was ready, willing, and able to throw his hat into the ring. Over the years, Laurie has become one of our best teachers, coaches, and consultants of our core technology: Situational Leadership II.

Recognizing that there is no best leadership styleit all depends on the situationwe have been teaching managers all over the world to be situational leaders in working one-on-one with their people as well as in leading people in teams.

Susan Fowler was already an accomplished trainer when she attended a Situational Leadership II seminar being taught by Laurie Hawkins. She grew excited about how situational leadership can not only be applied to the one-on-one and team contexts, but also to self leadership. She felt that this framework held the answer to helping people take the lead when they didnt have the powerwhen someone else was their manager. Susan got Laurie excited about Situational Self Leadership and he, in turn, introduced me to Susan. The rest is history. With Susans lead, Situational Self Leadership has become one of our three core leadership technologies and an invaluable aid to helping people find the power in em power ment.

With Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager, William Morrow has completed publication of our leadership trilogy, which started with Leadership and the One Minute Manager and The One Minute Builds High Performing Teams.

The parable you are about to read tells the story of a rising ad executive by the name of Steve, who becomes immobilized by his new responsibilities. Sitting in a caf writing his resignation letter, Steve meets Cayla, the essence of Situational Self Leadership. Using magic to underscore her points, Cayla teaches Steve the three tricks of self leadership.

Enjoy the story. I think youll root for Steve as he makes the journey to self-mastery. More important, learn the three tricks of self leadership, because they will help you and everyone you work with. Take charge of your life at work, at home, and in your community.

My biggest fear is that you will read the story and think the revelations apply to someone else. Sure, its Steves story. But isnt it yours, too?

Ken Blanchard

B efore I present you with the television commercials, print ads, and radio scripts that we have prepared for you, let me explain the underlying thinking that went into your advertising campaign.

After months of work, this was the moment Steve had been working so hard forhis first campaign proposal. And he was scared to death.