This is our seventh installment of our book reviews project designed to introduce you to books that Cydcor team members find especially valuable.  This review is by Gary Polson, Cydcor CEO, and is fourth Gary has written for us.  Gary has previously reviewed other books for us, including Wooden: A lifetime of observations and reflections on and off the court and The Effective Executive.

Title: Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager

Author: Ken Blanchard, Susan Fowler, and Laurence Hawkins

Description of the book: Ken Blanchard uses situational leadership to discuss building entry level people's confidence in his One Minute Manager series. Briefly, if someone is new at a skill or goal, he or she needs to be patiently shown how to do it. The person needs direction and frequent follow-up for feedback.

Once the person has learned the skill fairly well, he or she needs little direction and more support. If they are frustrated, they may need to vent and hear another’s perspective for support.

Why should you read this? As managers, when someone is new at a skill we often do not give enough direction or appropriate follow up. We show them one time and expect them to know it. When they feel frustrated, we either shame them for not getting it right or give them support rather than more direction. We should observe them doing the skill and then show them how to do it better.

This is our third installment of our book reviews project designed to introduce you to books that Cydcor team members find especially valuable.  This review is by Edvil, a Cydcor DM Lead. This is the first review that Edvil has done for us.

Title: The One Minute Manager

Author: Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson

Description of the book: Story is about a young man who wants to find out what makes a great manager. He meets a manager that everyone talks about in a company and how amazing he is at managing people. He talks to several people about this manager and finally speaks with the manager himself. He gives him some tools on how to become a good "one minute manager".

Why should you read this? If anyone is new at managing this would be a good book to start out with on how to manage people. It's a very easy read and easy to understand the logic behind the tips/tools given to become a good manager.

My favorite part: Favorite part for me was on how to make the people you manage lead the meetings we have and come up with their own ideas/goals. Making them feel like they came up with them instead of me "telling" them what to do. Makes them manage their own notes and prepare better before the meetings.