I have this bad habit of picking up books, reading everything but the last chapter or two, and never finishing them. I did that with It and The Shack, both great books, but I started them on short plane flights, got nearly done, and never picked them back up. By now, I’d need to entirely re-read them.

This spring/summer I started The Slow Fade, No Shame in my Game, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience, and Next Generation Leader (for the second time), but with buying a house, moving in, and a busy month at work. Over the past week or so, I finally finished them. Well, not Next Generation Leader, but I’m not counting that one since I’m re-reading it.

I’ll do write-ups on No Shame in my Game and The Slow Fade. I’ve already written about NGL, and I’m not sure I can write about Scandal. The lesson here is not to borrow a book (so you can’t take notes in it) and also take a long break in the middle of it. By the end you won’t remember what you’ve read nearly well enough.

The One Minute Manager talks about how to be an effective manager… in only one minute. It’s actually about how to empower your people to begin to manage themselves, requiring minimal input from you.

According to the authors, there are three keys to being an effective “One Minute Manager.”

1. One Minute Goals – Have employees define the most important aspects of their job through simple, clearly articulated goals. These should be short and to the point, no more than 250 words, and should be reviewed regularly. Don’t try to codify every part of a job in this way, just the most important 20% or so. That’s where 80% of the work will get done anyway. This way, employees will know what is expected of them and how to achieve success.

2. One Minute Praises – When employees succeed, give them praise immediately. Tell them what they did right and how it makes you feel. This will encourage good performance.

3. One Minute Reprimands – When employees fall short, correct them immediately. Tell them exactly what they did wrong and why it upsets you. Then make it clear that you don’t think they are failures, that it is only this task that was not performed up to par, and that you appreciate them and their work. This will discourage bad performance but still ensure an employee knows that he or she is valued. It also avoids leaving an employee feeling dumped on by an end of the year review in which everything he or she has done wrong for the past 12 months is recounted.

While, as the authors admit, effective management is not quite so simple, these do serve as helpful guidelines. Ensure your people understand the definition of success. Pay attention so that you catch them doing things right, and offer gentle but firm correction when they do it wrong.

I don’t have a ton of managerial experience, but it seems to me that the difficult part here is effectively and gently correcting mistakes. It’s certainly something I’m still figuring out how to do, especially in the context of working with a volunteer team.

All-in-all, I give The One Minute Manager a 7 out of 10 and encourage you to check it out.

At 26, I am a young leader. A significant portion of the team that I serve is at least a few years older than me, and yet it is my responsibility to provide guidance, direction, and support to them. I won’t pretend that I am smarter, wiser, or more qualified than than they are. In fact, I sometimes look to them for guidance and advice on how to effectively lead.

One of my goals is to become a better leader, specifically a better leader of volunteers, as nearly everyone on my team is a volunteer or unpaid staff. I asked leadership development guru Mac Lake what resources he would recommend, and he mentioned two books: The Volunteer Revolution by Bill Hybels and Leadership and the One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard. I haven’t had a chance to read these yet, but since Mac recommended them, they’re a pretty safe bet.

I’d add two books of my own to the list. The first is Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley. I reviewed it last year when I first read it and recently picked it back up to re-read it. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. The second is The One Minute Manager by Drs. Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. I read it by accident, thinking it was the book that Mac had recommended, but nonetheless, I can say that it has some helpful advice and will be reviewing it shortly.

What resources would you recommend to a young leader?