Rating: 
Summary: Simple, But Important Steps to Team-Based Success
Review: All of us know and can do more than any one of us. That's the logic that makes everyone understand the potential of teams. Just watch a championship sports team, and imagine trying to overcome them by yourself. Fat chance!Yet when teams gets started, they often work less well than an individual. What's needed to get from here to there? That's what this book is all about. A common problem is putting a team together, giving them a task, and waiting for the good results. That won't work. People have to have the right skills, knowledge, information, tools, and attitude to perform. That includes experience with working together on teams. For example, if you put a bunch of Internet-oriented people together on a team to play basketball against the Lakers, the results might not be too good for your new team. Bill Jenson's book, Simplicity, is a good resource on this point, as well. This book does a good job of showing you how you can help the green team become the great team. If you want to enjoy more success in your enterprise, this book is essential reading.
Rating:
Summary: Simple, But Important Steps to Team-Based Success
Review: All of us know and can do more than any one of us. That's the logic that makes everyone understand the potential of teams. Just watch a championship sports team, and imagine trying to overcome them by yourself. Fat chance! Yet when teams gets started, they often work less well than an individual. What's needed to get from here to there? That's what this book is all about. A common problem is putting a team together, giving them a task, and waiting for the good results. That won't work. People have to have the right skills, knowledge, information, tools, and attitude to perform. That includes experience with working together on teams. For example, if you put a bunch of Internet-oriented people together on a team to play basketball against the Lakers, the results might not be too good for your new team. Bill Jenson's book, Simplicity, is a good resource on this point, as well. This book does a good job of showing you how you can help the green team become the great team. If you want to enjoy more success in your enterprise, this book is essential reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Twenty Minute Bath
Review: I read this while I was soaking in the bathtub last night. It reads a lot like The Tenth Insight series - easy to follow, pretty simplistic. I chose this book because I have been observing the group process in many different contexts and because I am currently struggling with managing a brand new membership committee at church, as well as a new team at work. This book provides a good hook on which to hang team-building concepts.
The team management principles are easy to apply to the church Membership Committee. I have a lot of autonomy in management at church. I can decide without going through the hierarchy (church board) how to conduct this committee. They are very happy for me to decide how leadership is provided and how group meetings will happen.
One Minute Manager's "Group Developmental Stage" concept includes the stages of Orientation, Dissatisfaction, Resolution and Production. These stages make sense to me and dovetail nicely with concepts of human developmental stages. The Membership Committee has only met once under my leadership and is obviously in the Orientation Stage. I wish I could jump over the next two stages and get right to the Production Stage. I am getting a lot of pressure from board members to produce all sorts of results. One Minute Manager has validated what I already knew about managing this team; we have to go through these stages, and I need to work on getting my style of leadership to match the team's developmental stage. It will take some time, and I will have to get some of the "production" done with little help from the team until this team growth happens.
However, management at work is a totally different situation. I am on several teams, but only have one leadership role so far. This is a newly organized group called the RAT (Rapid Assessment Team) charged with the initial emergency response at the District Public Health Level. I share responsibility for leadership of this group with my supervisor. So far we have had two organizational meetings and two training meetings. The One Minute Manager concepts will help me address a couple of issues I have been struggling with.
The first issue has to do with leadership of this group. In the Orientation Stage, a group needs clear messages from a clearly designated leader. I need to take responsibility for delivering these messages. I need to remember to observe the group interaction, including the content and process, so my leadership style can change with the group's changing needs.
I will also need to figure out how to balance my leadership style with my supervisor's leadership style. I tend to be more the "Low Supportive and Low Directive" type of leader. She tends to be a "High Supportive and Low Directive" type. In the Orientation Stage that this team is in, we need to provide High Directive and Low Supportive Behavior. Providing High Directive isn't a difficult change for me to make because as the trainer, I am responsible for teaching what and how to. As this group moves into the Dissatisfaction Stage, I need to encourage my supervisor to provide the High Supportive Behavior that she is good at. As we work together and make progress with this group, the One Minute Manager concepts will help us coordinate and balance our leadership.
Rating:
Summary: Twenty Minute Bath
Review: I read this while I was soaking in the bathtub last night. It reads a lot like The Tenth Insight series - easy to follow, pretty simplistic. I chose this book because I have been observing the group process in many different contexts and because I am currently struggling with managing a brand new membership committee at church, as well as a new team at work. This book provides a good hook on which to hang team-building concepts.
The team management principles are easy to apply to the church Membership Committee. I have a lot of autonomy in management at church. I can decide without going through the hierarchy (church board) how to conduct this committee. They are very happy for me to decide how leadership is provided and how group meetings will happen.
One Minute Manager's "Group Developmental Stage" concept includes the stages of Orientation, Dissatisfaction, Resolution and Production. These stages make sense to me and dovetail nicely with concepts of human developmental stages. The Membership Committee has only met once under my leadership and is obviously in the Orientation Stage. I wish I could jump over the next two stages and get right to the Production Stage. I am getting a lot of pressure from board members to produce all sorts of results. One Minute Manager has validated what I already knew about managing this team; we have to go through these stages, and I need to work on getting my style of leadership to match the team's developmental stage. It will take some time, and I will have to get some of the "production" done with little help from the team until this team growth happens.
However, management at work is a totally different situation. I am on several teams, but only have one leadership role so far. This is a newly organized group called the RAT (Rapid Assessment Team) charged with the initial emergency response at the District Public Health Level. I share responsibility for leadership of this group with my supervisor. So far we have had two organizational meetings and two training meetings. The One Minute Manager concepts will help me address a couple of issues I have been struggling with.
The first issue has to do with leadership of this group. In the Orientation Stage, a group needs clear messages from a clearly designated leader. I need to take responsibility for delivering these messages. I need to remember to observe the group interaction, including the content and process, so my leadership style can change with the group's changing needs.
I will also need to figure out how to balance my leadership style with my supervisor's leadership style. I tend to be more the "Low Supportive and Low Directive" type of leader. She tends to be a "High Supportive and Low Directive" type. In the Orientation Stage that this team is in, we need to provide High Directive and Low Supportive Behavior. Providing High Directive isn't a difficult change for me to make because as the trainer, I am responsible for teaching what and how to. As this group moves into the Dissatisfaction Stage, I need to encourage my supervisor to provide the High Supportive Behavior that she is good at. As we work together and make progress with this group, the One Minute Manager concepts will help us coordinate and balance our leadership.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book
Review: I think this is a wonderful book. It belongs on the bookshelf over every manager and should be read by everyone who is or aspires to be a manager. We must learn to turn groups of individuals into teams. This book offers solid concepts and practical advice on how to do it.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book
Review: I think this is a wonderful book. It belongs on the bookshelf over every manager and should be read by everyone who is or aspires to be a manager. We must learn to turn groups of individuals into teams. This book offers solid concepts and practical advice on how to do it.
Rating: 
Summary: A useful resource for team development
Review: I was referred to the One Minute Manager series when I asked someone I considered an excellent manager if he could recommend some management resources. The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams was my first introduction to the series.
The book is written as a conversation between the One Minute Manager (a nameless, faceless character), a curious manager named Dan, and a human resource manager named Maria who brought up the question of how to manage teams versus individuals.
The print is large and there are only a few paragraphs per page, making it quick and easy reading, especially for those who only have time to read a small segment at a time. The dialogues are occasionally dull and a bit pedantic, but the messages come through clearly. And these messages, how to diagnose the development stage a team is currently in and which management style is appropriate for each stage of development, are usual analysis tools for anyone leading a group. The messages from the book can also easily be identified and passed on to group members through a short presentation.
A worthwhile book to look at for anyone wanting to improve team motivation, productivity and functioning.
Rating:
Summary: BUST YOUR STALLS ABOUT DEVELOPING TEAMS AT WORK
Review: If you are like me, you have been frustrated with the difficulty in getting new teams to perform. The books are full of examples of how you just turn people loose, and great results quickly follow. In fact, when teams first start, they are unsure what to do and often work less well than when there were no teams. THE ONE MINUTE MANAGER BUILDS HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS points out that this is to be expected, and gives you step-by-step guidance in how to assist new teams to be effective towards the world beating performance that we all crave. Although it is a slim and simple volume, it speaks tomes about what you really need to do. If you like people and want to help them do better, you MUST read this excellent book. Although the authors did not mention it, I also say that you should give each member of the team training in THE 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTION problem-solving process if you want the best results. This book is great at isolating the reasons for stalled progress, and quickly overcoming them.
Rating:
Summary: BUST YOUR STALLS ABOUT DEVELOPING TEAMS AT WORK
Review: If you are like me, you have been frustrated with the difficulty in getting new teams to perform. The books are full of examples of how you just turn people loose, and great results quickly follow. In fact, when teams first start, they are unsure what to do and often work less well than when there were no teams. THE ONE MINUTE MANAGER BUILDS HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS points out that this is to be expected, and gives you step-by-step guidance in how to assist new teams to be effective towards the world beating performance that we all crave. Although it is a slim and simple volume, it speaks tomes about what you really need to do. If you like people and want to help them do better, you MUST read this excellent book. Although the authors did not mention it, I also say that you should give each member of the team training in THE 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTION problem-solving process if you want the best results. This book is great at isolating the reasons for stalled progress, and quickly overcoming them.
Rating:
Summary: Simple, fun superficial read
Review: Kenneth Blanchard turns his attention to small group dynamics and group performance in this, on of the stable of One Minute Manager books. Academically, the two principal concepts that Blanchard and his co-authors use, are the stages of group development and Situational Leadership. The familiar stages of forming, storming, norming and performing are termed orientation, dissatisfaction, integration and production. Situational Leadership in this context refers to changing leadership styles according to the stage of the group, thereby filling in for process tasks that the group is unable to accomplish for itself.
Groups tend to start in a high-energy, high motivation but low skills and understanding mode of operation. In this stage, directive leadership provides the structure necessary to move forward. The second stage is one of dissatisfaction, questioning of leadership and clarification of roles. As unpleasant as this stage is, we are reminded that conflicts cannot be resolved if they are avoided. A resolving attitude on the part of the leader is exactly what is needed. As confidence and morale return to the group members, they pass hesitatingly into a third stage, termed integration. In this stage, commitment on goals, roles and tasks increases, as well as to the norms, values and processes of the group. A collaborating leadership style that allows control to be shared and facilitates the surfacing of disagreements is critical to the group's continued growth. Finally, the production stage is characterized by high levels of trust, morale, energy and empowerment. The team can pretty much function autonomously, without a leader whose primary purpose is to validate. Blanchard's strength is his manner of presentation and clarity of relating ideas from disparate sources. The book is a quick read and yet it presents some fairly profound concepts, connecting the dots in a way that reading a collection of "Harvard Business Review" articles can never accomplish. Most of the book is a conversation between Dan Brockway, the director of training at a chemical company, and his mentor, The One Minute Manger. The coordinator of customer service programs, Maria Sanchez, disagrees with the presentation of material for The Essentials of Management course that Dan is coordinating. Instead of helping Dan convince her that she is wrong, The One Minute Manger allows Dan to observe the functioning of four groups at different stages of development at his own company. The gradual, real-world exposition of the central issues of group dynamics leads into three-way discussions between Dan, Maria and the Manager about the practicalities, pitfalls and variations in group development. The goal is to produce what Blanchard and others have called "Highly-Effective Teams", effectively defined in the early pages. The intent of the book is to teach and, with two educational doctorates as co-authors, the structure and style is simple to read and flows so logically that it is as easy to digest as Jello. A busy manager can read this book in a single New York commute and keep revisiting it as needed, while his teams evolve. Students can learn and integrate new concepts more fruitfully, as they learn how the pieces all fit together. Participants in teams can quickly get a sense of what they need to do to effectively contribute to the tasks at had, which inevitably include the processes that the group uses to get things done. Anyone reading this book is well advised to realize that this is a brief synopsis and oversimplification of group dynamics and leadership styles. Extended discussions of roles played by participants in dysfunctional groups and extensive elaboration of Situational leadership are found elsewhere and should be referenced when necessary. In the end, drawing on all our creativity and individual knowledge and experience is the path to generating value in a knowledge economy.
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