First Break All The Rules

Lesson 1: The Defining Dozen Buckingham and Coffman spent a significant amount of time interviewing great managers and researching leading companies to distil the essence of a great workplace. What did they find? By considering the answers to twelve questions, an organisation can measure where it is on the scale regarding their ability to attract and retain talent. These questions don’t necessarily give a recipe, but what they do is cover the key elements. The questions are: Do I know what is expected of me at work?           

Do I have the right materials and equipment I need to do my work properly? At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day? In the last 7 days have I received recognition or praise for good work? Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person? Is there someone at work who encourages my development? At work, do my opinions seem to count? Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important? Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work? Do I have a best friend at work? In the last 6 months, have I talked with someone at work about my progress? At work, have I had opportunities to learn and grow?

By considering these twelve questions alone we have probably enough to focus on and start revising our talent retention strategy. But that’s only the first 30 pages of the book. Buckingham and Coffman offer much more. Let’s press on.

Lesson 2: Climb Every Mountain Buckingham and Coffman don’t suggest that we are going to be in a position to address all of the 12 challenges in one go. They compare progress towards creating positive answers for the 12 questions to climbing a mountain, and that aligning our companies to the questions is a journey. The first stage is Base Camp and fundamentally helping our staff understand what the expectations of working for us are. What are they expected to do? How much can they expect to earn? Can they expect an office, a desk, a workstation? Effectively they ask: “What do I get?”, aligning to the first two questions.

The second stage is Camp 1. Having settled into the role, staff begin to ask different questions. Are they doing good work? Are they in a job where they can excel? Do others recognise this? Will others help them get better? They focus on their individual contribution. This aligns to questions 3, 4, 5 and 6. Next it’s Camp 2. It’s all about belonging. They are comfortable with their contribution but does this really align to the company? Are co-workers similarly committed? Can the company offer support for the long game or do they need to move on? Here questions 7,8, 9 and 10 are addressed. Camp 3 beckons and the summit is in sight. Here it’s all about teamwork - pulling together in the same common and forward moving direction. It leads to innovation, building in growth for self and company. The last two questions, 11 and 12 are raised. With positive answers to all 12 questions the summit has been reached. Focus is clear. Staff feel a sense of achievement, of belonging, of being “in the zone” at work. It’s a great place to work, with a great manager. So how does a great manager create this feeling? According to Buckingham and Coffman they apply four skills, four rule-breaking actions.

Lesson 3: Key #1: Select for Talent Traditional managerial convention says that when we are recruiting we should select a person based on their experience, intelligence and determination. Buckingham and Coffman say: BREAK THIS RULE! Great managers select for talent. Great managers disagree with the common definition of talent. It is too narrow. In their mind, talent is a recurring pattern of thought, feeling or behaviour that can be productively applied. The right talent is fundamental – much more than experience, much more than brainpower, much more than will power. We need to nurture talent to succeed. Skills and knowledge can be easily taught. Talent cannot. Skills are the how-to’s of a role. They are traits that can be passed from one person to another. Buckingham and Coffman break talent into three categories. Striving talents – the “why” of a person. Why they do things, their drive, why they are who they are. Thinking talents – the “how” of a person. How they think, how they rationalise decisions, their values. Relating talents – the “who” of a person. Who they trust, who they confront, who they ignore. As a manager we need to know the talents we want. At selection time we need to look beyond the job title and description. Which talent is more aligned to our needs? Are we looking for drive – then striving talent is our target. Are we looking for logic? Thinking talent is best. Are we looking for communication? Choose someone with relating talent. We need to think about how the person will fit into our organisational culture. Different companies require different talent types. We need to think of our team. Where is their talent alignment? Where is the talent gap? It’s not easy. Talent spotting is a talent itself. To help, Buckingham and Coffman suggest we identify the one critical factor relating to each of the three talent categories and focus on them

during selection. We should structure our interview technique around seeking out those who hold the right blend.

Lesson 4: Key #2: Define the Right Outcomes Managerial convention also states that when setting expectations we should first define the right steps. Break this rule, too. Great managers define the right outcomes. As a manager we may think we are in control, but we’re not. Our staff, the people who report to us have more. They can ultimately decide what they will do and how they will perform. So how can we maintain direction and performance? Buckingham and Coffman tell us that great managers define the outcomes – what they want to happen – then let their staff decide how to get there. A side benefit of this approach is that staff take on responsibility. By making the choice of how things will be done they are accountable for the outcomes. Letting staff take on responsibility does not mean we have to relinquish everything. Buckingham and Coffman give us “Rules of Thumb” to follow. Rule of thumb #1: Don’t risk it. Employees must follow certain required steps for all aspects of their role that involves accuracy or safety. Rule of thumb #2: Standards rule. Employees must follow required steps when those steps are a part of a company or industry standard. Rule of thumb #3: Don’t let creed overshadow the message. Required steps are useful only if they do not obscure the desired outcome. Rule of thumb #4: There are no steps leading to customer satisfaction. Required steps only prevent dis-satisfaction. They cannot drive customer satisfaction. All of these rules create a framework to allow a focus on outcomes. They identify what must remain and what can be given away in the process of achieving the desired outcome.

Lesson 5: Key #3: Focus on Strengths Managerial convention states that when motivating a person we should help them identify and overcome their weaknesses. Break this rule. Great managers focus on strengths. Good managers don’t try to fix weaknesses. Good managers have recognised the unique talents of individuals and therefore focus on the strengths these bring and work around the weaknesses. Great managers build roles for people around their strengths, not around organisational hierarchies. This means that staff can focus on what they are wired to do. If we want to be a great manager we must openly discuss ‘strength exploitation’ with our staff. We need to sit down

with them and say things like: “Bob – you are good with words, I want you to be our marketing copywriter”. Treat people as you want to be treated. We’ve all heard that guidance many times. Great managers ignore it. They recognise that behind the statement is conformity. Making everyone similar. It also implies that we know best. But are we better than everyone else in each of their roles? I doubt it. Great managers treat staff as the staff wants to be treated. When a great manager sits down with a staff member, they are not fixing or correcting, they are looking for ways to further exploit the individual’s talent. They seek to highlight and perfect the individual’s unique style. They seek to create ways to help the individual avoid interference and help them focus on their strengths.

Lesson 6: Key #4: Find the Right Fit Managerial convention states that when developing a person we should help them learn and get promoted. Break this rule. Great managers help find the right fit. At some point in their employment a staff member will ask their manager: “What’s next for me? Where do I go from here?” Great managers help staff find roles that further expand what they are good at. What a manager should not do is promote to fill gaps in an org chart. Frequently, good workers don’t make good supervisors. Great managers are good at feedback. They don’t leave it to an annual performance review. After all, they are always on the lookout for better ways to exploit strengths so feedback is constant. As a result, great managers are always aware where the next opportunity will come. Their role is not to protect the organisation by pigeon-holing staff. What they strive to do is better the best. A great manager puts their staff on the right path and simply gets out of the way.

What Great Managers Know Companies don’t have one culture. Companies have as many cultures as it does managers. Great managers don’t bemoan differences and try to grind them down. Instead they capitalise on them. They try to help each person become more and more of who he already is. People don’t change that much. Don’t waste time trying to put in what was left out. Try to draw out what was left in. That is hard enough. Great managers look inward. They look inside the company, into each individual, into the differences in style, goals, needs, and motivation of each person. These differences are small, subtle, but great managers need to pay attention to them. These subtle differences guide them toward the right way to release each person’s unique talents into performance. Great leaders, by contrast, look outward. They look out at the competition, out at the future, out at alternative routes forward. They focus on broad patterns, finding connections, cracks, and then press home their advantage where the resistance is weakest. They must be visionaries, strategic thinkers, activators.

Conventional wisdom encourages you to:    

Select a person… based on his experience, intelligence, and determination Set expectations… by defining the right steps Motivate the person… by helping him identify and overcome his weaknesses Develop the person… by helping him learn and get promoted

What great managers do:    

When selecting someone, they select for talent… not simply experience, intelligence, or determination When setting expectations, they define the right outcomes… not the right steps When motivating someone, they focus on strengths.. not on weaknesses. When developing someone, they help him find the right fit… not simply the next rung on the ladder

The First Key: Select For Talent

The power of skills and knowledge is that they are transferable from one person to another. Their limitation is that they are often situations-specific – faced with an unanticipated scenario, they lose much of their power. In contrast, the power of talent is that it is transferable from situation to situation. Given the right stimulus, it fires spontaneously. The limitation of talent, of course, is that it is very hard to transfer from one person to another. You cannot teach talent. You can only select for talent.

The Second Key: Define Right Outcomes Define the right outcomes and then let each person find his own route toward those outcomes. In your attempts to get your people to perform, never try to perfect people. The temptation may be captivatingly strong, but you must resist it. It is a false god. What looks like a miraculous cure-all is actually a disease that diminishes the role, demeans the people, and weakens the organisation.

Levels of Customer Satisfaction  

Accuracy (easy to meet, easy to steal) Availability (easy to meet, easy to steal)

Both are easy to meet and easy to steal. Both can only prevent customer dissatisfaction. Accuracy is demanded and expected.  

Partnership Advice

These are harder to meet and harder to steal. Forcing employees to follow required steps only prevent customer dissatisfaction. You must select employees who have the talent to listen and to teach, and then you must focus them toward simple emotional outcomes like partnership and advice.

Manage by Exception Remember the Golden Rule? “Treat people as you would like to be treated.” The best managers break the Golden Rule every day. The would say don’t treat people as you would like to be treated. Instead, treat him as he would like to be treated. Just ask your employee about her goals: What are you shooting for in your current role? Where do you see your career heading? What personal goals would you feel comfortable sharing with me? How often do you want to meet to talk about your progress?

Spend the most time with your best people Investing in your stragglers appears shrewd, yet the most effective managers do the opposite. They spend the most time with their most productive employees. They invest in their best. For great managers, the core of their role is the catalyst role: turning talent into performance. So when they spend time with an employee, they are into fixing or correcting or instructing. Instead they are racking their brains, trying to figure out better and better ways to unleash that employee’s distinct talents:   

They strive to care out a unique set of expectations that will stretch and focus each individual They try to highlight and perfect each person’s unique style. They draw his attention to it. They help him understand why it works for him and how to perfect it. And they plot how they, the manager, can run interference for each employee, so that each can exercise his or her talents even more freely. Grease the administrative wheels so that nothing gets in their way.

“No News” kills behaviour Great managers know that the less attention they pay to the productive behaviours of their superstars, the less of those behaviours they will get. Since human beings are wired to need attention of some kind, if they are not getting attention, they will tend, either subconsciously or consciously, to alter their behaviour until they do.

Investing in your best is the only way to achieve excellence Don’t use average to estimate the limits of excellence. You will drastically underestimate what is possible. Focus on your best performers and keep pushing them toward the right-hand edge of the bell curve. It is counter-intuitive, but top performers, have the most potential for growth.

The difference between a non-talent and a weakness Great managers don’t ignore weaknesses. As soon as they realise that a weakness is causing poor performance, they switch their approach. There are only three possible routes to helping the person succeed:   

Devise a support system (eg Rolodex for the forgetful, chicken in packs of 6 for intellectually disabled KFC worker) Find a complementary partner (eg if Bob is crap at paperwork, give it to a peer who is the best and fastest and likes it) Find an alternative role

The Fourth Key: Find the right fit Broadbanding for pay. For each role, you define pay i broad bands or ranges, with the top end of the lower-level role overlapping the bottom end of the role above

Talents Striving Talents           

Achiever: A drive that is internal, constant, and self-imposed Kinesthetic: A need to expend physical energy Stamina: Capacity for physical endurance Competition: A need to gauge your success comparatively Desire: A need to claim significance through independence, excellence, risk, and recognition Competence: A need for expertise or mastery Belief: A need to orient your life around certain prevailing values Mission: A drive to put your beliefs into action Service: A drive to be of service to others Ethics: A clear understanding of right and wrong which guides your actions Vision: A drive to paint value-based word pictures about the future

Thinking Talents              

Focus: An ability to set goals and to use them every day to guide actions Discipline: A need to impose structure onto life and work Arranger: An ability to orchestrate Work Orientation: A need to mentally rehearse and review Gestalt: a need to see order and accuracy Responsibility: A need to assume personal accountability for your work Concept: An ability to develop a framework by which to make sense of things Performance Orientation: A need to be objective and to measure performance Strategic Thinking: An ability to play out alternative scenarios in the future Business Thinking: The financial application of the strategic thinking talent Problem Solving: An ability to think things through with incomplete data Formulation: An ability to find coherent patterns within incoherent data sets Numerical: An affinity for numbers Creativity: An ability to break existing configurations in favour of more effective/appealing ones

Relating Talents              

Woo: A need to gain the approval of others Empathy: An ability to identify the feelings and perspectives of others Realtor: A need to build bonds that last Multi-relator: An ability to build an extensive network of acquaintances Interpersonal: An ability to purposely capitalise upon relationships Individualised Perception: An awareness of an attentiveness to individual differences Developer: A need to invest in others and to derive satisfaction in so doing Stimulator: An ability to create enthusiasm and drama Team: A need to build feelings of mutual support Positivity: A need to look on the bright side Persuasion: An ability to persuade others logically Command: An ability to take charge Activator: An impatience to move others to action Courage: An ability to use emotion to overcome resistance