FI RST, B REAK A LL

THE RULES
Wh a t t h e Wo r l d ’ s Gr e a t e st
M a n a g e r s Do Di f f e r e n t l y
M ARCUS BUCK I N GHAM & CURT COFFM AN
 First, Break All The Rules - Page 1

MAIN IDEA
Managing employees productively is exceptionally hard to achieve. It takes a deft touch to be able to balance all the competing
interests -- the company’s, the customer’s, the employee’s and the manager’s own interests to name just a few. Yet some managers
consistently do just that, while others flounder and fail.
Over a 25-year period, the Gallup Organization surveyed employees and managers to try and identify the patterns of success great
managers use. This analysis showed:
- Great managers do not believe that every person, given enough training, can do anything they set their mind to.
- Great managers do not, in fact, try and help people overcome their weaknesses.
- Great managers play favorites, and treat their employees quite differently.
In fact, there emerged four keys that great managers use to draw exceptional performance from those they are responsible for:
1. Great managers select employees for their talents, not for their skills or experience.
2. Great managers set specific and high expectations -- they define the right outcome and leave the method up to the employee.
3. Great managers motivate by building on strengths rather than dwelling on or trying eliminate weaknesses.
4. Great managers find the appropriate career path -- the next rung on the corporate ladder -- for each employee.
If these keys to unlocking world-class performance work for the great managers, it makes sense for everyone interested in producing
similar results to study these keys and implement them in the context of their own business requirements.

Background 1 -- The 25-Year Gallup Survey of Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 2

Front-line managers and their association with the employees with whom they work has a far greater
impact on business performance than any other factor. The companies that achieve the most have
managers that succeed in building the strongest and most robust associations with their employees.
Background 2 -- The 25-Year Gallup Survey of Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 3
The conventional wisdom is that good managers:
1. Select new employees by their experience and intelligence.
2. Set them targets.
3. Provide motivation.
4. Develop employees to become future managers.
The Gallup survey, however, found that in reality, the best and most effective managers:
1. Select new employees on the basis of existing talent.
2. Specify outcomes -- leaving employees to use initiative.
3. Focus on building strengths.
4. Help employees find the right fit rather than the next rung.
The Four Keys of Great Managers
Key #1 -- Select Employees For Talent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 4
Talent, in this context, is not genius. It’s a recurring pattern of successful behavior that can be productively
applied. Good managers believe talent is more important than experience, intelligence or willpower.
Therefore, talent in a particular field is the only criteria on which great managers select new employees.
Key #2 -- Define The Right Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 5
Defining the right outcome is all about setting expectations of what should be achieved rather than
specifying how it should be done. Great managers articulate precisely what should be achieved, and then
trust in the abilities of their people to find the best way to achieve that goal.
Key #3 -- Focus on Building Strengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 6
The emphasis here is on helping people become more of what they already are rather than trying to iron
out their rough spots. Great managers do everything they can to help their people cultivate their talents
even further, and manage around their weaknesses. It’s an individualized rather than a generalized
approach.
Key #4 -- Find the Right Fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 7
Great managers realize that not every employee wants to --or should -- move onwards and upwards in
the company, particularly if they are currently positioned precisely where their talents are used to best
effect. Therefore, great managers create alternative career paths that more accurately match their
employee needs.
Putting the Four Keys Into Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 8
The four keys are not a structured series of steps that every manager should take. Rather, they are a
way of thinking that you can adapt to meet your main objective as a manager -- to find effective ways to
turn each employee’s talents into real-world performance.

Background 1
The 25-Year Gallup Survey of Employees
Main Idea
Front-line managers and their association with the employees
with whom they work has a far greater impact on business
performance than any other factor. The companies that achieve
the most have managers that succeed in building the strongest
and most robust associations with their employees.
Supporting Ideas
Over a 25-year period, the Gallup Organization interviewed more
than 1 million employees to try and analyze why some
companies succeed while others fail. From patterns in these
interviews, it was proposed the strength of any work place could
be measured statistically by 12 key questions.
When employee answers to these 12 questions were analyzed
over 2,500 business units in twelve distinct industries, it was
shown there was a strong statistical correlation between positive
answers to these questions and four kinds of positive business
outcomes:
1. Productivity
2. Profitability
3. Employee retention.
4. Customer satisfaction
The 12 key questions developed by the Gallup Organization are:
1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the resources, the materials and equipment I need
to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every
day?
4. In the last seven days, have I received praise or recognition
for good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone else at work, seem to care
about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like
the work I do is important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, have I talked with someone about my
progress?
12. At work, have I had opportunities to learn and grow?
More than 105,000 employees from the 2,500 business units
were asked to evaluate their answers to these questions on a
scale of 1 to 5, with "1" being strongly disagree and "5" being
strongly agree.
Some of the conclusions to emerge from this study are:
While how the company is set up is important to employees,
of more significance is the association between the employee
and their immediate manager. Most employees would rather
work for a great manager in an old-fashioned company than
for a terrible manager in a go-ahead company.
Startling differences may exist between the ratings obtained
by different branches of the same company in different
geographical locations. In other words, some companies
don’t have just one culture right throughout -- they have as
First, Break All The Rules - Page 2
many cultures as they do managers. The top 25-percent of
stores consistently out performed the bottom 25-percent in
terms of profitability, achievement of targets and retention of
employees.
The 12 questions fall into four natural groupings:
1. The basics -- questions 1 and 2
The key emphasis here is ‘‘What do I get as an employee?’’
and the focus is on finding out what is expected.
2. Your own expertise -- questions 3 - 6
An emphasis on ‘‘What do I give as employee?’’ and a focus
on your individual contribution and other’s opinions of it.
3. How others will react to your work -- questions 7 - 10
An emphasis on, ‘‘Am I in the right place to make the greatest
possible contribution?’’ and a focus on being surrounded by
people who are just as anxious to push the envelope
outwards.
4. How new ideas can be introduced -- questions 11 and 12
The emphasis here is on, ‘‘How can we all grow as a group?’’
Similarly, the focus now falls on innovation -- the actual
application of novel and beneficial ideas.
Managers should focus on meeting employee needs in group
1 and group 2 before trying to move on to group 3 or group 4
needs. Otherwise, any efforts to improve group 3 or group 4
performance standards will be wasted.
Key Thoughts
‘‘The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two
opposed ideas in mind at the same time, and still maintain the
ability to function.’’
-- F. Scott Fitzgerald
‘‘It is very hard to manage others well. The essence of the role
is the struggle to balance the competing interests of the
company, the customers, the employees and even your own.
You attend to one, and you invariably upset the others. If you
have just intervened between a rude customer and a
stammering employee, it is hard to find the right words to placate
the customer and yet save face for the employee. If you have
just assumed responsibility for a team of thirty jaded veterans, it
is hard to know how to gain their trust while still pushing them to
perform. If you have just realized that the new employee, whom
you so carefully selected, does not, in fact, have the talent to
perform, it is hard to know how to break the news without
demoralizing him and alarming his colleagues. No matter which
way you spin it, it’s hard being the middleman. These four keys
offer you a vantage point. They offer you a way to gain a clearer
perspective on what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how
to do it better. This perspective won’t tell you what to do in every
situation, but it will guide you toward sound action. It will help you
know how to start laying the foundations for an enduringly strong
work place. We cannot promise miracles overnight. And you
wouldn’t believe us if we did. You know that at work tomorrow
you are going to see a lot of people cast in the wrong roles. You
know you’re going to see many managers marching in lockstep
with conventional wisdom. And you know the limits of what you
can change on your own. We can only promise these four keys
are an extraordinarily powerful beginning.’’
-- Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
 First, Break All The Rules - Page 3

Background 2 Managers are not, however, leaders-in-waiting. Strong leaders

The 25-Year Gallup Survey of Managers look outwards at the competition, the needs of the future and all
the alternative paths that can be taken to get there. They require
Main Idea an entirely different skill set to good managers. It is extremely
rare in the business world for good leaders to also be great
The conventional wisdom is that good managers: managers, and companies should never confuse the relative
1. Select new employees by their experience and intelligence. strengths of each role.
2. Set them targets.
3. Provide motivation. The catalyst role accurately describes what great managers do.
4. Develop employees to become future managers. It tells nothing, however, about how they release the potential
energy of employees. To do that, great managers ignore
The Gallup survey, however, found that in reality, the best and conventional wisdom and take a revolutionary approach:
most effective managers:
1. Select new employees on the basis of existing talent. Key #1 -- How to select employees
2. Specify outcomes -- leaving employees to use initiative.
3. Focus on building strengths. Conventional Wisdom Great Manager Approach
4. Help employees find the right fit rather than the next rung.
Select a person based on When selecting someone,
Supporting Ideas
experience, intelligence and select for talents they
In parallel with the survey of employees, the Gallup Organization determination already possess.
also surveyed the best managers in the world, and
systematically compared their answers to the answers given by
average managers. More than 80,000 managers were Key #2 -- How to set expectations
interviewed, with each interview taking about an hour-and-a-half.
While there was an impressive amount of diversity in the Conventional Wisdom Great Manager Approach
methods used by these managers, almost all of these managers
shared one common insight: Set expectations by defining Define the outcome clearly,
the right steps that must be and then let employees
People actually don’t change all that much.
taken to produce results. come up with the best way
Therefore, don’t waste time attempting
to achieve that result.
to put in whatever has been left out.
Focus instead on trying to draw out what’s there.
That’s hard enough to achieve. Key #3 -- How to motivate employees
This simple insight laid the philosophical foundation on which the
four keys are built.
Conventional Wisdom Great Manager Approach
It’s interesting that managers should come up with this insight,
because to the conventional way of thinking, managers are Motivate people by Focus on the person’s
deadwood in any company. Current thinking suggests identifying and then helping current strengths, and find
companies need charismatic leaders and self-directed teams them overcome their ways to further enhance
made up of self-reliant employees to be able to move quickly weaknesses one by one. them. Don’t even worry
enough to take advantage of new business opportunities that are about their weaknesses.
opening up.
Yet the reality is the need for the manager role is increasing Key #4 -- How to develop the person
rather than decreasing -- because only managers working
one-on-one can reach inside each employee and find an
effective way to turn unique talents into performance. To use a Conventional Wisdom Great Manager Approach
computer analogy, the manager is the power supply for the
Help each person learn Help each employee
business organization. If the business is to survive, it needs to
whatever they need to know identify the right fit -- the
be robust enough to focus and flex without breaking.
to get promoted to the next part of the organization
In other words, great managers are "catalysts" -- they speed up layer in the hierarchy. where they add the most
the conversion of each employee’s talents into whatever product value -- and help them
or service meets the customer needs, thereby achieving the maximize their contribution
company’s goals. in that role rather than move
As a catalyst, great managers have four core activities: on to another position they
1. Select the people who will be involved. may feel less affinity for.
2. Specify and set expectations.
3. Motivate the people to action.
4. Develop each person’s individual qualities. The great leader approach to management has been labeled
‘‘The Four Keys of Great Managers’’.
Great managers focus on the internal operations of the
company. They provide an essential resource. Healthy and
robust companies cannot exist without a core of managers who
develop strong bonds with the employees.

The Four Keys of Great Managers
Key #1 -- Select Employees For Talent
Main Idea
Talent, in this context, is not genius. It’s a recurring pattern of
successful behavior that can be productively applied. Great
managers believe talent is more important than experience,
intelligence or willpower. Therefore, talent in a particular field is
the only criteria on which great managers select new employees.
Supporting Ideas
This emphasis on talent is in direct contrast to conventional
wisdom which suggests:
Experience is important -- therefore, past roles should be
carefully analyzed. The ‘‘past is the window to the future’’
approach.
Brainpower is important -- therefore, hire the most intelligent
people available. This is the ‘‘smart people can figure out
anything’’ approach.
Willpower is important -- therefore, hire whomever seems
most determined to succeed. This is the ‘‘success is
10-percent inspiration and 90-percent perspiration’’
approach.
Great managers, on the other hand, realize:
Talent cannot be taught. Therefore, you have to select people
who have the talents needed for their job, rather than hoping
they can grow into it.
Talent is actually the sole driving force behind superior job
performance -- far more important than experience,
brainpower or willpower. People with different talents react to
the same business situation differently -- irrespective of the
training they’ve been given.
Instead of trying to change people by making them develop
new talents, the emphasis should be placed on helping
employees discover and use the hidden talents they already
possess.
While skills (the how-to’s) and knowledge (what you are
aware of) can be taught, talent cannot -- you have to work with
what you find.
From this perspective:
Competencies -- are part skills, part knowledge, part talent.
Habits -- are usually talent based.
Attitudes -- are also generated from talents.
Drive -- is also directly linked to talent.
Clearly, then, there is more than one type of talent. There are,
in fact, three distinct categories of talent:
1. Striving talents
Why a person is motivated to get into action, to seek success
and to move forward in his or her career.
2. Thinking talents
How a person weighs up alternatives and comes to decisions,
and all the preferences involved in that entire process.
3. Relating talents
Who the person trusts, whom he or she chooses to build
relationships with, who is ignored and who is actively
confronted when necessary.
First, Break All The Rules - Page 4
Great managers see the fallacy in two of business’s most
pervasive myths:
1. ‘‘Talent is rare and special.’’
In reality, everyone has talents of one kind or another. The
trick lies in finding a good match between what the employee
is talented at and where they are positioned in the company.
2. ‘‘Some roles are so easy they don’t require talent.’’
In reality, not everyone wants to be promoted out of their
current position and onwards and upwards in the hierarchy
of the organization. Many people derive immense amounts
of satisfaction filling the roles they currently have, and
wouldn’t actively seek another role in the company. Every
role -- performed with exactness and excellence -- demands
respect.
So how do great managers go about finding the talented people
they need?
1. They realize people often haven’t taken the time to analyze
their own personal talents. Therefore, great managers are
prepared to dig a little to unearth talent.
2. Great managers realize that human nature dictates potential
employees will be on their best behavior during the selection
process. Thus, great managers there will be a gap between
how people seem during the selection process and what they
turn out to be like day-in and day-out.
3. Great managers know exactly which talents they need --
going beyond job descriptions or titles and taking into
account company culture, expectations, other team
members and other variables. They look for a specific blend
of striving, thinking and relating talents.
4. Great managers know that excellence isn’t the absence of
failure, but the synergy created by a host of different factors.
Therefore, instead of studying failures for things to avoid or
invert, they study success stories for clues and insights that
can be cloned and adapted. They take the time to learn the
whys-, hows- and whos- of the best in the company, and then
look for similar talents in the people who they interview for
new positions
Key Thoughts
‘‘No matter how you total success in the coaching profession, it
all comes down to a single factor ---- talent. there may be a
hundred great coaches of whom you have never heard in
basketball, football or any sport who will probably never receive
the acclaim they deserve simply because they have not been
blessed with the talent. Although not every coach can win
consistently with talent, no coach can win without it.’’
-- John Wooden
‘‘Even today, remarkably few Americans are prepared to select
jobs for themselves. When you ask, "Do you know what you are
good at?" Do you know your limitations?", they look at you with
a blank stare. Or they often respond in terms of subject
knowledge, which is the wrong answer.’’
-- Peter Drucker
‘‘In the minds of great managers, every role performed at
excellence deserves respect. Every role has its own nobility.’’
-- Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman

The Four Keys of Great Managers
Key #2 -- Define The Right Outcomes
Main Idea
Defining the right outcome is all about setting expectations of
what should be achieved rather than specifying how it should be
done. Great managers articulate precisely what should be
achieved, and then trust in the abilities of their people to find the
best way to achieve that goal.
Supporting Ideas
Why do more managers focus on methods rather than results?
Because there is an illusion there is ‘‘one best way’’ to do
anything, when in reality the ‘‘best way’’ will actually reflect the
personality and talents of the individual person.
Because of the fallacy that some jobs are so simple they don’t
require talent -- anyone can do them if they are just given
specific enough directions. A far better approach is to respect
the job enough to acknowledge the talent required to excel at
it, irrespective of the role.
Because of the belief trust is precious -- it must be earned
rather than dished out to everyone. Thus, to avoid being taken
advantage of, an elaborate set of rules have to be put in place.
Great managers, by contrast, realize that at some point, you
have to trust the people who work for you -- and the earlier
this point is reached, the better for all concerned.
Because the outcome is so difficult to describe, it’s better just
to stick to specifying the steps to take. Great managers know
that simply because something is difficult to describe, it
shouldn’t be avoided -- it just requires more work, but it’s worth
the effort.
Great managers follow their instincts to trust the people they hire
to do a good job. They have a few rules of thumb they use to
drive performance standards higher:
1. ‘‘Don’t break the bank.’’
While flexibility is allowed in many aspects of the job, where
accuracy or safety are required, certain steps must be
followed and creativity is not permitted.
Great managers explain to their employees which steps are
regulatory in nature or must be fulfilled. There can be no room
to maneuver on these specific steps, or the company could
become liable for damages that could exceed the value of
the company.
2. ‘‘Standards rule.’’
Similarly, flexibility cannot exist where industry- or
company-standards are involved. A standard is simply a set
of agreed upon conventions. They make comparisons
possible. Standards are the basis for collaborative action to
take place. Employees cannot change the standards -- they
can express their creativity and individuality through use of
the standard.
3. ‘‘Never let the mechanics of the situation overwhelm the
desired outcome.’’
At times, policies and procedures can be so restrictive that
they end up diluting the possibility of realizing the outcome
rather than helping the process. Therefore, great managers
encourage employees to use established procedures when
appropriate, but also encourage them to move outside
established procedures when the situation warrants. They
trust in the good judgment of their employees.
First, Break All The Rules - Page 5
4. ‘‘There no steps which always produce a satisfied customer.’’
After interviewing more than 1 billion customers, the Gallup
Organization found satisfied customers have four
expectations on distinct levels:
1. To enjoy accurate transactions.
2. To have availability and access to solutions.
3. To be listened to and responded to -- becoming a partner
4. To learn something useful and beneficial
In line with this, great managers allow their employees the
freedom to meet these demands thus creating satisfied
customers.
These rules of thumb are designed to help great managers
decide what should be structured and what should be left up to
their employee’s discretion, without losing sight of the fact the
emphasis is on the outcome rather than the actual methods
used.
Of course, being focused on delivering good outcomes is one
challenge. Deciding which outcomes are the right ones from all
the possibilities available is quite another.
Great managers use these guidelines to select the right
outcomes on which to focus:
1. What’s right for the customer?
The customer is the ultimate judge of value for any
company’s products or services. Therefore, the most
important aspects of the targeted outcome should be closely
linked with the emotional measures determined by the
customer -- how they see things.
2. What’s right for the company?
The company’s mission can remain steady, but the strategy
for delivering that outcome should change according to the
evolving demands of the business environment. In this
contact, great managers constantly translate the company’s
strategy into clearly defined performance outcomes that are
consistent with the long-term interests of the company -- and
communicated to the front-line employees.
3. What’s right for the individual employee?
Great managers consistently:
1. Identify their employees strengths.
2. Specify outcomes that take advantage of those strengths.
3. Develop effective ways to rank performance.
4. Get out of their way and let them perform.
The challenge for every manager lies in finding preferred
outcomes that simultaneously meet the needs of the customer,
the company and the employee. Achieve that and genuine
blockbuster performance can be realized.
Key Thoughts
‘‘The best managers know that the manager’s challenge is not
to perfect people, but to capitalize on each person’s
uniqueness.’’
-- Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
‘‘You can’t draw up plays and then just plug your players in. No
matter how well you have designed your play book, it’s useless
if you don’t know which plays your players can run. When I draw
up my play book, I always go from the players to the plays.’’
-- Bud Grant, coach, Minnesota Vikings

The Four Keys of Great Managers
Key #3 -- Focus on Building Strengths
Main Idea
The emphasis here is on helping people become more of what
they already are rather than trying to iron out their rough spots.
Great managers do everything they can to help their people
cultivate their talents even further, and manage around their
weaknesses. It’s an individualized rather than a generalized
approach.
Supporting Ideas
People draw their identity not only from what they do -- their
profession -- but also how they do it -- their personal style. Smart
managers work with that trend, rather than attempting to "fix"
people to conform with the masses.
In fact, conventional wisdom goes even further:
Many people believe that to advance, they must "broaden"
their skills set rather than specializing in whatever they
already excel at.
Many believe they can be ‘‘anything they want to be’’ if they’re
willing to work hard and pay the price -- that everyone has the
same potential.
Many managers honestly believe they help employees by
focusing on their weaknesses rather than taking a positive
approach building on their strengths.
So how do great manager’s help their people build on their
strengths? By following three rules:
1. Focus on casting rather than remedial work.
Everyone can do something better than the masses. The
key, therefore, becomes casting -- putting the right people in
the right place where their unique talents can be of most
value. To achieve this, great managers focus on what’s
inside the person as opposed to external appearances, skills
or knowledge.
To cast an employee correctly, great managers take the time
to learn their strengths, weaknesses, goals and dreams.
They observe the choices employees make. They watch out
for signs of talents. And they move people to positions that
exploit their strengths, thereby turning talents into
performance for the organization.
2. Manage by exception.
The golden rule states that you should treat everyone the
way you’d like to be treated. Great managers totally ignore
the golden rule, and focus instead on treating each individual
employee the way that provides the most motivation for that
specific employee -- the way they want to be treated.
Getting to know employees takes loads of time, and great
managers find ways to capture and organize this information
so they can keep track of who needs what. But once
captured, managers are then armed to treat each person as
an exception -- to provide precisely and specifically whatever
is needed in the style which will be most applicable to that
person’s personality. That’s smart, and productive.
3. Spend the most time with the best people, not the worst
people.
The conventional tendency is to spend the most time with the
employees who are struggling. Great managers, however,
do the opposite -- they invest their time in their best
employees, driving them on.
First, Break All The Rules - Page 6
Why? Because great managers act as a catalyst -- turning
talent into exceptional performance. The central
management focus shouldn’t be on trying to control
employees that are marginally productive. Instead,
concentrate on finding newer and better ways to unleash the
performance of the greatest producers.
In fact, focusing on high producers:
1. Is actually the fairest thing to do for the organization.
2. Is the best way to learn what is productive.
3. Is the only way to stay focused on excellence.
4. Brings to center stage the most productive habits.
It’s somewhat counter-intuitive, but there’s usually another
very sound reason for focusing on the highest producers --
they have the most potential for growth, and the most
potential to increase their performance still further.
Therefore, spending time with them is time well spent from
the perspective of achievement of results.
Realistically, though, building on strengths does not mean totally
ignoring non performance in other areas. Great managers ask
two critical questions:
1. Can poor performance in other areas be corrected by more
training?
2. Is the poor- or non-performance being caused by the
manager tripping the wrong trigger for that employee?
If the answer to the first question is "no", it’s not a
skills/knowledge issue. Similarly, a "no" to the second eliminates
the possibility it’s a trigger issue. Therefore, it can only be a
lack-of-talent issue. Great managers then develop ways to
manage around that lack of talent by:
1. Devising a support system which is appropriate to the need.
That way, the lack of talent in any area does not evolve into
a weakness that impedes overall performance.
2. Finding a partner with whom the employee can work, who
will offset that lack of talent. Many successful people succeed
only because they have partners that are sharp in areas
where they personally are weak.
3. Finding an alternative role within the company. Usually the
course of last resort when all else has failed, sometimes
great managers admit they may have mad a casting mistake
and move the employee on to somewhere better suited to
their needs.
Key Thoughts
‘‘I am going to be very consistent with every one of you because
I’ll treat every one of you differently. that’s the way it is. The
harder a guy works, the better he performs, and the more he
meets my guidelines, the more leeway he is going to have with
me. By the same token, if a guy doesn’t work hard or if he’s not
a good player, he’s not going to be around for very long.’’
-- Jimmy Johnson, coach, Dallas Cowboys
‘‘Simply out, everyone can probably do at least one thing better
than ten thousand other people. However, each person is not
necessarily in a position to use her talents. If you want to turn
talent into performance, you have to position each person so that
you are paying her to do what she is naturally wired to do. You
have to cast her in the right role.’’
-- Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman

The Four Keys of Great Managers
Key #4 -- Find the Right Fit
Main Idea
Great managers realize that not every employee wants to --or
should -- move onwards and upwards in the company,
particularly if they are currently positioned precisely where their
talents are used to best effect. Therefore, great managers create
alternative career paths that more accurately match their
employee needs.
Supporting Ideas
Conventional wisdom states:
1. Each higher rung on the corporate ladder is just a slightly
more complicated version of the rung below.
2. That employees must strive to climb to the higher rungs for
their careers to be considered as successful. (The only
problems is there are less places -- therefore, there must be
more losers than winners.)
3. That a wider variety of experiences make employees more
valuable to the company.
Great managers know the conventional wisdom is flawed.
Therefore, to help their people manage their careers, they do the
following:
1. Create levels of achievement in every role.
Instead of having to change jobs to move up in the company,
make it possible for employees to move to a higher level of
achievement in the position they currently hold. You might
change their title from junior associate to associate to senior
associate as they become more accomplished. That way,
you can recognize their acquisition of more expertise without
having to move them off to another rung on the corporate
ladder.
2. Broadband salaries.
In conjunction with changes in level of achievement, salaries
should also increase. The best way to do this is to increase
the range within which salaries can be set for each position.
In some financial services companies, for example, the top
financial consultants earn around $500,000 a year. The
starting salary for a branch manager is $150,000, so moving
to that position means a 70-percent pay cut for a top financial
consultant. However, offsetting that is the fact the top
managerial salaries run into the millions.
Broadbanding allows employees to be paid more as their
skills increase. It also offsets the tendency to have to climb
the corporate ladder to earn more. And it demonstrates
definitively that excellence will be valued highly within the
company.
3. Practice creative acts of revolt.
Many companies have rigid corporate structures and well
defined rules for moving people through that structure. Great
managers, though, always find ways to bend the system to
help their people -- often by creating hybrid positions (like
mentor graphic artists, master engineer and so on) which can
then be structured in a way that fits the needs of the moment.
4. Help employees discover more about themselves.
Great managers know the best driving force for any career
is not determined by some little squares on an organizational
chart, but by people discovering the talents they possess and
finding creative ways to use those talents. Great managers
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help their people to look in the mirror and act on what they
see, rather than trying to develop a resume full of wide and
varied experiences.
To help employees in this process, great managers:
1. Give constant, ongoing feedback.
2. Provide continuity from one session to the next.
3. Always give feedback in private.
5. Level the playing field.
By showing employees they can earn more money and
prestige within the company by developing world-class
expertise in their own specific area of interest rather than
having to move up the corporate ladder, they create more
options for their people. They also have the effect of
spreading money and prestige throughout the entire
organization.
6. Create a safety net.
To encourage career learning and active self-discovery,
great managers often use trial periods. That way, employees
are free to try out new roles within the organization for a
designated period, without burning their bridges behind
them.
Trial periods have to be a two-way street to be effective.
Either the manager or the employee can, if they decide to,
end it and go back to where they previously were -- without
any hard feelings or recriminations of any kind.
7. Deliver bad news when required.
Great managers employ tough love in their roles -- they
confront poor performance early and directly, focus on
excellence and balance it with genuine feelings for their
employees.
If an employee is not performing to the standard required,
great managers know it’s better to make them aware of this
earlier rather than later. Therefore, they are pro-active and
sit down with their people and let them know exactly how they
are measuring up.
Similarly, great managers don’t blame the employee when
things haven’t panned out as anticipated. They focus instead
on the unique blend of talents, interests and experience each
employee has to offer. There’s no blame -- just a focus on
finding another role that makes better use of the employee’s
natural strengths and abilities.
This is easy to describe but hard to achieve in practice. Great
managers find a way.
Key Thoughts
‘‘Many companies still think the most creative way to reward
excellence in a role is to promote the person out of it. Many
companies still tie pay, perks and titles to a rung on the ladder:
the higher the rung, the greater the pay, the better the perks and
the grander the title. Every signal we send tells the employee to
look onward and upward. These signals, although well intended,
place every employee in a precarious position. To earn respect,
he knows he must climb. And as he takes each step, he sees
the company burning the rungs behind him. He cannot retrace
his steps without being tarred with the failure brush. So he
continues his blind, breathless climb to the top and sooner or
later overreaches. And there he is trapped. Unwilling to go back,
unable to climb up, he clings to his rung until, finally, the company
pushes him off.’’
-- Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman

Putting the Four Keys Into Action
Main Idea
The four keys are not a structured series of steps that every
manager should take. Rather, they are a way of thinking that you
can adapt to meet your main objective as a manager -- to find
effective ways to turn each employee’s talents into real-world
performance.
Supporting Ideas
Some ideas on how to put the four keys into action:
1. Key #1 -- Job Interviews
When recruiting, interview for talent. In its purest form, that
requires identifying recurring patterns of thought, feelings
and behavior.
To interview for talent:
1. Ask open ended questions and listen carefully.
2. Listen for specifics rather than generalities.
3. Look for clues of ability to learn quickly.
4. Look for hints on what motivates that person most.
5. Ask questions about feelings and intentions.
Great managers know the way top performers will respond
to the questions they ask, and watch out for clues and hints.
They know what to listen for, because they keep records of
how potential employees respond to their questions
compared with how they ended up performing.
2. Keys #2 -- #4 -- Annual Strengths Interview, Regular
Performance Appraisal Interviews and Career Option
Discussions
Ideas on how to put these keys into action:
1. Develop simple routines, free of complicated forms, etc.
2. Interact frequently -- at least every 3 months.
3. Focus on the future instead of doing a post-mortem.
4. Help the employee be active in tracking his performance.
Annual Strengths Interview
Most managers set up an annual strengths interview, at
which the following questions will be discussed:
1. What did you enjoy most about your previous job?
2. What brought you here to work with us?
3. What keeps you here now?
4. What do you think your strengths are?
5. What are your weaknesses?
6. What are your goals in your current role?
7. How often would you like to meet to discuss progress?
8. What personal goals of yours should I be aware of?
9. What was the most meaningful praise you ever received?
10. Have you ever been in a productive partnership?
11. Why were those partnerships productive for you?
12. What are your long-term career goals?
13. What new skills are you keen to develop?
14. Are there any challenges you’d like to experience?
15. How can I help your career to move forward?
16. Is there anything else you’d like to talk about?
The objective of the strengths interview is to gain some
insight into the employee’s strengths, goals and needs as he
perceives them. It’s fine for the employee to disagree with
you -- great managers jot down where these agreements
arise, because the differences between what the manager
sees and what the employee sees can also be illuminating.
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Regular Performance Appraisals
The strengths interview is then supplemented by regular
performance planning meetings held at the agreed upon
intervals.
Before this meeting starts, have the employee write down the
answers to three questions:
1. What actions have been taken over since the last meeting?
2. What discoveries have been made?
3. What partnerships have been made in that period?
In the meeting, you then discuss the answers to those
questions, as well as discussing:
1. What is your main focus over the next months?
2. What new discoveries are you hoping to make?
3. What new partnerships are you planning on building?
This cycle is then repeated, until the time of the next annual
strengths interview.
Career Options Discussion
At some time during the performance interview, the
employee may want to stop and discuss career options. This
discussion should only take place when initiated by the
employee.
The types of questions to focus on are:
1. How do you describe success in your current role?
2. How do you measure it?
3. What do you currently do that is very high-quality?
4. What does this suggest about you?
5. What part of your current role do you most enjoy?
6. What part are you struggling with?
7. What can we do to manage around this?
8. What do you see as your perfect career?
9. If you were in that position, how would your day be set up?
10. What would you be doing day-in and day-out?
11. Why would you like that?
These questions help differentiate whether the employee
wants to grow further in his current role, wants to move to a
new role, and so on. A great manager will provide feedback
on each question, so the employee has a guide to both how
he or she feels about themselves and how others are
perceiving them.
Against this background, a free and frank discussion can
take place which can form the basis around which decisions
about the future can be molded.
Although the key interaction here is between managers and
employees, senior managers of companies can also be
proactive in creating a friendly climate for managers to be
effective. To do that, senior managers can:
1. Keep focusing on outcomes rather than the means used.
2. Respect world-class performance in every job in the company.
3. Study the highest performers for clues and hints.
4. Actively teach the 4 keys and how to implement them.