Summary of the one minute manager meets the monkey-Ken Blanchard, William Oncken Jr. and Hal Burrows

Summary of the one minute manager meets the monkey-Ken Blanchard, William Oncken Jr. and Hal Burrows

This book is part of the “One Minute Manager” collection and gives one great insight and guidelines on how to be time efficient and have a control on your work. This book is told in a narrative way just like the previous review I done. You can add this book to your collection of business books.

The story tells us of a struggling manager who never seemed to have enough time while his people always do. He finally got so frustrated he called his friend the “one minute manager” for some advice. The manager told him that he needed to get rid of the “monkeys” that belonged to other people. Now a monkey is defined as “the next move”. The one minute manager recommended that he goes to Oncken’s Managing Management’s Time seminar. These are the rules of Oncken:

Rule 1-Describe the monkey: The dialogue must not end until appropriate next moves have been identified and specified.

Rule 2-Assign the monkey: All monkeys shall be owned and handled at the lowest organisational level consistent with their welfare.

Rule 3-Insure the monkey: Every monkey leaving your presence on the back of one of your people must be covered by one of two insurance policies:

1.       Recommend, Then act

2.       Act, Then advise

Rule 4-Check on the monkey: Proper follow-up means healthier monkeys. Every monkey should have a check-up appointment.

Using these simple rules you will help you gain more control of your own time. Rather than working on every problem in the office, you will have your employees doing most of the work while you check in now and then to find out how they’re doing. In the long run other people, despite their apparent resistance, will respect you – even love you – if you help bring out the best in them

*The best way to develop responsibility in people is to give them responsibility*

Following Oncken’s rules will not only help you get better at managing your time, but it will also give you credibility as you coach your employees to solve their problems on their own. They will find the work to be more rewarding and in turn it boosts their morale. I hope this short review interests you to get this book and read it if you have still not read it. Its advice is timeless even though it was published quite a few years ago; it’s still as valuable and can benefit you dramatically.