Do you ever feel like you have an important issue to talk through with an employee but you don't really have enough time to fully go through it with them? Or do you wish that you knew more about how to manage and lead people but you don't really know where to start or how you'll find the time to do it because you're just swamped running your business? Well, I know. I felt that way until I started implementing something that I'm going to share with you in today's episode from one of my favorite books.
Now, if you're a landscaper watching this during spring time, you might be thinking, "Jack, I don't have time to read a book during springtime. Are you nuts?" Well, I bet that you could make time for it because this book is tiny and it's a quick read. I'm going to share some of the highlights with you today from one of my favorite books, The New One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. So if you're a lawn and landscape business owner, or really any kind of small business owner or a manager looking to learn how to manage your people better, check out today's episode.
The Mistake That Led Me To The New One Minute Manager
Hey everyone, it's Jack Jostes and welcome to the Landscapers Guide to Modern Sales and Marketing Podcast. This show is all about helping you grow your business and get found by the right customers and enjoy a better lifestyle. And part of that, you've got to have people on your team and you're going to need to learn how to manage them. Now, managing and leading people is something that kind of came naturally to me, but also, I had a lot of stress, a lot of anxiety about it. There have been a lot of times where I haven't known what to do. And it's one of the reasons why I'm always reading personal development and business books. Now, this one came to me in a moment where I really screwed up with a huge client. Okay. I want to give a shout out to Jared Minor for literally bringing me this book after I made a huge mistake on your project.
Jared and I were building a website together for his property management company. We had a big miscommunication. It was my fault ultimately. And we needed to meet with him and own up to that, and we did. It was amazing that we did because we finished the project and walked away stronger individually. His business really benefited from it. My business benefited from it. That was years ago and we still work together. But he brought me this book, The New One Minute Manager. Now, a lot of people have recommended it to me, but it was ultimately Jared who finally gave it to me.
One Minute Praising
The book shares a really simple, fast framework for managing your people in one minute. One of the concepts in the book that I absolutely love is the One minute praising, which is telling people, "Good job" but being specific about the behavior that they're doing in your company. And what I've found in running Ramblin Jackson is, we've really created a positive culture where there's a lot of deposits in the bank account where we have an actual beef jerky club where people are nominating other Ramblers telling them good job.
One Minute Redirect
So, positive praise, once we really started making that part of our culture here, what I found is people continue doing the things that you praise them for. And by building up that relationship with people telling them good job for specific things, not only are you going to continue doing that, but then when you need to have what's in the book, which is a One minute redirect, you're not operating at a deficit. Meaning if all people ever hear from you is the One minute redirect, the bad things that they need to do better, it's not going to feel very good. And so, this book gives some actual scripting, like a framework for doing these things that basically everyone at my company who is managing other people has read this book and has found that it works for them too.
One Minute Goal
Another key point in this book that works really well is called the One-minute goal where you're outlining a specific goal with your employee where they're creating it. This helps people get on the same page about... You're both literally on the same page because it's on paper, what it is they need to do. The paper method has been another thing that has worked for us that came from this book and our coach, Wayne Herring, has shared it with us where when there's an issue, you literally put it on a piece of paper and now you can talk about the paper, the issue, or if it's the One minute goal and why this goal or this paper or this issue isn't where it needs to be, instead of you aren't where you need to be, right? That feels very different when somebody who's managing you was coming at you versus working with you on an issue that you've agreed to. It's kind of a way that neutralizes those otherwise really uncomfortable situations because you can put it on the paper, or in our case, a Google doc or whatever it is.
I know it's spring time and many of you are asking us about recruiting. We have a whole section on our website. If you go to landscapersguide.com/podcast, there's a whole tab for recruiting podcasts. But what I would ask you is what can you do to retain your people? What can you do to build them up to be the best employees and team members possible? And what would happen if you read this book? And more importantly, what if you read it with some of the managers on your team and you help them adopt this framework? My guess is that you'd be able to retain some of those people who are maybe going to leave your company otherwise. And if you build in this culture of positive praise, you'll be grooming up people who then continue to manage and grow your company.
Thanks so much for listening to today's episode of the Landscaper's Guide to Modern Sales and Marketing Podcast. My name's Jack Jostes. I hope you got some value out of today's podcast. And I'd love to hear from you. What books are you reading that have helped you lead and manage your company? I recently did a podcast where I recommended the top three business books for landscapers. If you look in the show notes of this, you can link to that episode. So, check out our website, landscapersguide.com/podcast. You can see a transcript of today's podcast, links to other episodes and books and things. And I look forward to talking with you next week.