Book Review – First, Break All the Rules
By Jeff Sharp

This book, written by two Gallup Organization leaders (Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman), is based upon their research concerning what separates a great manager from just a good one. The study spanned across a great many companies and included 80,000 interviews. Conclusions based upon this research challenge conventional wisdom and instruction on how to best manage employees. One of the most prominent tenets in the book states that each employee does not have unlimited potential; you cannot fix employee weaknesses, only capitalize on their strengths. Further, the authors advise managers to “quit trying to be fair to all employees in the time you spend with them, but rather spend the most time with your highest performers”. You should not do unto others as you would like, but rather should ask the employee what they want and how they prefer to be treated. You should then adapt your management style accordingly. Buckingham and Coffman’s findings indicate that the particular company and benefits it offers has much less to do with employee happiness than the way in which direct supervisors treat them.

Conclusions drawn in the book have been consolidated down into 12 questions that managers and supervisors should ask all of their employees. They should then develop action plans based on employee responses aimed at achieving improved scores over a several year period. The five point scoring goes from strongly disagrees to strongly agrees and then may be averaged amongst the department or work group. The authors use a mountain climbing analogy or metaphor to categorize the questions. The base camp of the mountain can be summarized as “What do I get from the job”. The specific questions are “Do I know what is expected of me?” and “Do I have the materials and equipment to do my work right?”.

Camp one type questions can be summarized as “What Do I give?” and include; “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 doing good work?”, “Does my supervisor or someone at work care about me as a person?”, and “Is there someone at work who encourages my development?”.

Camp two questions can be summarized as “Do I fit?”. This is further characterized as; “At work, do my opinions seem to count?”, “Does the mission of my company make me feel that my job is important?”, “Are my co-workers as committed to doing quality work?”, and “Do I have a best friend at work?”.

The final camp three questions can be summarized as “How can we get better?”; “In the last six months, has someone talked to me about my progress?” and “In the last year, have I had opportunities to learn and grow?”.

You will need to read the book to better understand the intent of each question. The authors found that employees place different values on each stage of their job assimilation, but uncertainty pushes us all back down the mountain. You may burn out if level one needs are not met even when higher levels are satisfactory. “Great” employees, meaning those who attain the best company performance metrics, spend a lot of time on the first six questions. Buckingham and Coffman define employee talent as a recurring pattern of behavior that can include striving, thinking, and relating. The authors assert that these are unteachable talents, as opposed to skills.

The book should stimulate new thoughts for all managers and I would recommend it, even if you or your company does not intend to perform the actual surveying of your employees.

Simon & Schuster; 1st edition (May 1999) - 255 pages

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