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Interview: Marcus Buckingham

by: Admin on Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 Time: 3:00 PM

Buckingham was a Senior Researcher at The Gallup Organization who set out to break through the preconceptions about achievement and get to the core of what drives success. The result of his persistence, and arguably the definitive answer to the strengths question, can be found in Buckingham’s four best-selling books: First, Break All the Rules (co-authored with Curt Coffman, 1999), Now, Discover Your Strengths (co-authored with Donald O. Clifton in 2001), The One Thing You Need to Know (2005), and Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance (2007) in which Buckingham shares important insights with regard to maximizing strengths, understanding the crucial differences between leadership and management, and fulfilling the quest for long-lasting personal success.

Here is a brief excerpt from my interview of Buckingham.

Morris: How can an organization’s strengths and weaknesses be accurately measured?

Buckingham: There are several ways. In First, Break All the Rules, Curt and I offer a set of 12 quite specific questions to ask of everyone. Their answers are invariably revealing. For example, they will indicate whether or not they understand what is expected of them, whether or not they feel appreciated, whether or not they consistently receive constructive criticism…all of these are key issues indeed. We also offer several specific techniques for helping people perform better on the job. For instance, how to structure a trial period for a new worker and how to create a pay plan that rewards people for their expertise instead of how fast they climb the company ladder. There is no shortage of mechanisms by which to measure almost anything.

The first step is to recognize what you need to know and why you need to know it. What are the pressing questions? For example, do you have a problem attracting and then retaining the people you need? Do your people have a clear understanding of what is expected of them? Do they understand how their performance will be measured…and rewarded? How well do your people communicate, cooperate, and collaborate with those in other departments? Too many of the organizations I have observed resemble a farm in Kansas. They have lots of fences and silos as well as a storm cellar.

All three books offer lots of measurement suggestions, techniques, and tools. Those who are interested are encouraged to read the books, of course, and invited to visit www.marcusbuckingham.com. Also, I helped to develop with Gallup the StrengthsFinder exam (StrengthsFinder.com) which identifies signature themes that help employees quantify their personal strengths in the workplace and at home. That may also be a helpful source of advice on measurement.

About the Author

If you wish to read the entire Buckingham interview, please contact me at interllect@mindspring.com.

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