Managing expectations for one minute

''One minute goal, one minute praisings and one minute reprimands' --- does this sound like a formula to make millions of dollars?

One of the most widely read management books ever written is 'The One Minute Manager' by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. 'Goal, praise, reprimand' is their recipe for success. Quite frankly, many intelligent people would regard 'The One Minute Manager' as an insult to their intelligence. Intellectually, there's not much to it. The best way to describe it's message is 'not too nice, not too nasty'.

I have managed a number of businesses. Like most line managers, I'm not interested in reading about management, I'm interested in getting the product out the door. Especially when the authors of such texts seem to be credulous people who have never had profit centre responsibility.

My first major assignment was managing a business information service that hadn't  made a profit in its entire existence. I noticed the so-called coffee break was lasting half an hour. The first thing I did was cut out coffee breaks, and told staff they could have a cup of coffee whenever they wanted it, as long as they had it as their desks.   A week later, one of the staff said 'It's 'Karen's' birthday tomorrow, we're going to have a cake.'  I said 'Fine, as long as you have it after work, this is private enterprise not the public service, we're not stopping work for three quarters of an hour to eat cake.' We've come here to work, not eat cake.'

Within three years, the business was making healthy profits and was sold to form the basis of a dotcom float. The business is still in existence.

I have worked as a self employed consultant, teacher and writer but my biggest assignment was as chief copy editor for the China Post in Taipei. We ran a very tight ship. One of the  idiosyncracies associated with working for a Chinese firm is that no one is ever praised.

 Newspapers have deadlines. The presses have to run, the trucks have to run, the planes have to fly, the deliverymen have to be on the street. There are only two rules in the newspaper world  -- first, you will meet the deadline, second, you will meet the deadline. With very little fat, if someone was sick, we were in trouble. When staff rang in sick, I'd ask 'How sick are you? Can you get out of bed? You got out of bed to make a phone call, didn't you? Then you're not sick, because if you can get out of bed, you're not sick.' This line of questioning only failed once. I'm afraid one minute or two minutes, in a business the only line that mattes is the bottom line.