Mick Jones outlines his management philosophy which focuses on simplicity, transparency, and inclusion. He advocates for an open and creative culture where all employees are encouraged to contribute ideas freely without fear of repercussion. Jones also discusses using a one minute manager approach to set clear goals, provide praise and feedback, and meet regularly with direct reports. Finally, he emphasizes continuous process improvement and embedding quality at all levels of the organization.

1. A Management Philosophy
• SUMMARY
• MANAGEMENT
• THE CREATIVE ENTERPRISE
• PROCESS & QUALITY
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2. My Philosophy in Summary
• In a few words Simplicity, Transparency, Inclusion.
• Whilst it may sound like "Motherhood & Apple Pie", Whenever I have had the
opportunity to apply these, I have always had success in growth & profitability.
Often companies publish their Values but they are more for external "PR"
consumption.
• It takes a high level of involvement, and confidence, and I have found that it
can be too threatening, particularly for those who have had their management
experience in large Head office environments.
• It is sometimes easier to stay focused on the goals, the closer an employee is to
the field operations, that is where, after all, the products are sold, installed and
repaired. It is the function of Head Office to help that process, and in some
cases, ensure legal and ethical compliance.
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3. MANAGEMENT APPROACH
• One of the simplest, and most effective approaches I have used has been based on the
original One Minute Manager. it was co-written by Kenneth H. Blanchard & Spencer
Johnson in the early eighties, and I would encourage you to invest in a copy. It works
because is it easily understood by the people who work for you. You should share your
approach with them, even to the point of encouraging them to read the book. It is not
a secret, plus your employees will keep you honest. It is also easy to train new
supervisors and entry-level managers in a growing team.
– People Who Feel Good About Themselves - Produce Good Results
– Philosophy of no surprises
– Help people reach their full potential, Catch them doing something right
– Create an Environment to succeed
– Regular two way communications 1 on1
– Clear Goals & Directions
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4. One Minute Manager - principle
elements
• One Minute Goal
– A written goal that can be initially communicated in a minute
• One Minute Praising
– Specific and deserved, once again it should be delivered
succinctly
• One Minute Reprimand
– A private and very focused discussion, dealing with behavior,
not the individual.
• Meet with Key people once a week
– Make binding Decisions and commitments, as a team
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5. THE CREATIVE ENTERPRISE
• Encourage creative suggestions
• Encourage contributors to do homework
• Inclusive - all Staff can & should contribute
• No recrimination if an idea is not successful
• No turf-protection
• Collaborate, test ideas to validate and refine
• It takes strength, self confidence and an open minded
attitude. The CEO should be ready to listen to criticism and
ideas from the janitor up, and should encourage all levels of
management to do the same.
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6. THE CREATIVE ENTERPRISE : How
will Enterprise take advantage..
• How does a corporation or Enterprise "cash-in" or benefit
from creative thinking??
– You will embed quality & continuous improvement, every
employee will be reviewing their processes on an ongoing
basis.
– You will take advantage of a much wider pool of intellect
& experience
– Buy-in for process changes and developments will to
some extent be intrinsic, since often the stakeholders will
be the authors of the change.
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7. THE CREATIVE ENTERPRISE :
Culture Of Openness - DO
– BE OPEN ;
• to new ideas
• to modifications/refinements to current programs
• if someone raises a shortcoming or challenges the status quo, encourage them
to propose an alternative or a solution
– Management trained and rewarded to recognize good ideas, to encourage and
develop them
– Encourage "brainstorming" sessions, don't be constrained by reporting structures or "turf wars"
– Take all input - focus on direction then COMMIT
– Give Appropriate Tools to succeed, training/time/resources/support
– Use "One Page Management"
• Refining/focusing Information
• +ve and -ve personnel and performance issues
• Passing good ideas and creative thinking up/down the management chain
• every meeting should have a "creative" element
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8. THE CREATIVE ENTERPRISE :
Culture Of Openness - DON'T
– Create "culture of fear"
– Challenge/reprimand original thought
– Jealously guard turf or fight for control
– label individuals who question as
• Disloyal
• troublemakers
• Negative
– Confuse Openness with Consensus Management
• Responsibilities don't change, cannot be abdicated
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9. THE CREATIVE ENTERPRISE :
IDEAS & TEAMS
• Thoughts
– Everyone has thoughts, ideas and abstract concepts, "flashes of
brilliance".....What makes a genius?
– A genius records ideas, then makes them available to share or
communicate
– Supportive management.... management is there to give the creators,
the "doers" the skills, tools, knowledge and will
• Virtual teams
– Project based
– problem resolution
• no "finger-pointing"
• give people the courage to admit mistakes
– if you didn't make a mistake, you didn't do anything
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10. PROCESS & QUALITY : PROCESS
DEVELOPMENT APPROACH
• I have broadly used the principles outlined by William Edwards
Deming, in his publication, Out of the Crisis (1986). There has been
much development in thinking about Quality, but the broad concepts
stand the test of time.
• If I were to Summarize such a comprehensive approach it would
probably be:
– Simplify the Processes
– Embed Quality within the process, don't rely on QA at the back end
– Avoid spurious or arbitrary goals
– Corporate view.. no fences, all levels of the Corporation must be
committed
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11. Mick Jones
• Philosophy
– SUMMARY
– MANAGEMENT
– THE CREATIVE ENTERPRISE
– PROCESS & QUALITY
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