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Empowerment Takes More than a Minute
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Empowerment Takes More than a Minute

Ken Blanchard, Didier Cossin and Alan Randolph
Berrett-Koehler, 2000
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Editorial Rating

8

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Recommendation

The author of The One Minute Manager switches gears and tells you not to manage your employees minute-by-minute. Instead, Ken Blanchard, along with John P. Carlos, and Alan Randolph, advocates and explains the notion of empowerment – giving your employees the information and authority to act and make decisions on their own, within a structured set of organizational goals and values. Presented as the story of a turnaround manager getting tutored by an empowerment mentor, the book establishes the fundamentals of the theory of empowerment in a conversational and enjoyable style. This quick, informative read will expand your management horizons in only a few short minutes.

Summary

Introducing Empowerment

A year ago, manager Marvin Potts, known as a turnaround manager, took over a new company. His strategy of centralizing all decision making wasn’t working. He realized that management thinking had to change. He saw that his company needed to be customer-driven, cost-effective, fast and flexible, and continually improving. These principles for success are fundamental, because:

  1. You must be responsive to your customers’ wants and needs.
  2. To survive in a highly competitive environment you must do far more with far less.
  3. Your frontline employees must be able to respond quickly to customers, make decisions, solve problems and act immediately.
  4. Your organization must work constantly toward improvement.

You need to be leaner and meaner, with fewer management layers. Yet to do so, you must know how to release the untapped creative energy of your people. Invite all of them to use their skills and abilities fully, and to take responsibility for doing so. Making everyone feel empowered gives them the ability to work to make the company financially sound and more responsive...

About the Authors

Ken Blanchard’s One Minute Manager Library series has sold more than seven million copies. These books include The One Minute Manager, Putting the One Minute Manager to Work, and The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams. He co-authored Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Services. He chairs Blanchard Training and Development, a consulting and training company. John P. Carlos is a management consultant, trainer, and motivational speaker. Alan Randolph , a management educator and consultant, is a professor of management at the University of Baltimore’s Merrick School of Business.

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