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Book Commentaries from Reflections, Volume 4
Book Commentary:
First, Break all the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman (1999)
Want to become a great people manager? Read this book.
Skillful managers are different from their less skilled counterparts. Working for a skilled manager is a pleasure. Working for an adequate manager is okay until the next best thing comes along. Working for a bad manager is a disaster.
Buckingham and Coffman wrote an engaging, readable book about what great managers do at work, and how they do it differently from adequate or bad managers. They interviewed thousands of people and came up with these questions for managers:
- Do I know what’s expected of me at work?
- Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
- At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
- In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing 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 count?
- Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?
- Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
- Do I have a best friend at work?
- In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
- This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
This is a great management checklist. If you’re not already talking about these issues this with your staff, consider it. I use this checklist during one-on-ones.
Buckingham and Coffman claim that if you "create the kind of environment where employees answer positively to all twelve questions, then you will have built a great place to work." They report on their research, and offer stories to support that claim. My experience, both as a manager and as a consultant supports these questions as a valid way to assess manager skill, and opportunities to improve.
One of their different discoveries is that great managers spend the most time with their best people. At first, I was surprised. After all, don’t you have to spend time with new staff, with people who need help, with people who may not be able to completely do the work? Yes, you need to choose whom to coach, to teach, to mentor. On the other hand, you probably have successful employees. How much time do you spend with them? If you aren’t taking the time to enhance what your successful staff can contribute to your environment, then maybe you aren’t using your successful staff to their fullest.
When I read this section, I also thought I could use this as a way to ask questions. Where am I, in my management role, spending my time? Is that the most appropriate time investment for me? How much time have I spent with my most productive staff? Is that okay for them and for me?
This is a well-written, practical, down-to-earth management book, that clearly describes many of the necessary how-tos of great people management. Unfortunately, not all the how-tos are described in sufficient depth for many of us to be able to use the advice well. Consider what the book says, and then see how to adapt it to your situation.
First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently, by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York, 1999.