Ken Blanchard’s The One Minute Manger, if applied consistently by a manager, is going to absolutely shock fast food employees. They aren’t going to know what to do or how to think.
Why?
Because the education system and the parenting trends in this nation run seriously counter to the techniques practiced by a One Minute Manager. Truly ahead of its time, the book sagely warns you to be up front with employees that you will always say what you think of them.
Children of the 90s and the 00s are no longer disciplined, at least not in the old ways of spankings or going to bed hungry. Instead, they are validated no matter what they do or how wrong their behavior is. This is because of the popular philosophical trend of postmodernism, where no one is wrong, everyone’s opinion is valid and worth considering, and truth is relative.
This means that when you, the One Minute Manager, come along, the teenagers of your workforce will receive discipline if they do something wrong. Perhaps for the first time! They’re used to being encouraged no matter what. Now, here you are saying, “You did the wrong thing, this is how it affected me, this is how it affected performance.”
Granted, next you’re supposed to validate them as a person while repudiating the behavior, but chances are you’ve lost them already and they’ve shut you down.
Solutions? Following the trend of validation isn’t the answer. Staying the course is the only real option, and that means not being afraid of losing staff because you dared to discipline.
