Now, Discover Your Strengths...

Authors: Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton, Ph.D.
Rating: 7

Very good book for personal development focusing on evaluating strengths and not weaknesses as is common in the typical business environment - you know, those areas needing improvement or areas of "opportunity" that seem to be the defacto of every performance review.

The authors claim that fundamentally the two flawed assumptions are 1) each person can learn to be competent in almost anything and 2) each person's greatest room for growth is in his or her areas of greatest weakness. That managing an organization this way is not development, but is instead damage control and will not lead to a world class organization. Instead the two new assumptions should be 1) each person's talents are enduring and unique and 2) each person's greatest room for growth is in the areas of his or her greatest strength. Managing people on the two new assumptions allows you to look for talent, focus on outcomes, treat each employee uniquely, and spend time with your best people.

The data in the book comes from 2 million interviews done over 30 years from which the Gallup group has extracted 34 patterns which are the fundamental themes of human talent. Much like the how the 88 keys of a piano can play a song, the 34 talents can define our approach to an activity. Therefore, the theory is that your greatest success can be had by focusing your efforts on your top 5 talents.

The first three chapters are a lead-in for taking your strengths test (done on the internet). Some key points from the first three chapters are:

* Strength is defined as consistently being near perfect in an activity.

* Principles for living a strong life:
1. must be able to do it consistently and derive satisfaction
2. don't have to have a strength in every aspect in order to excel - but do the best with your strengths
3. excellence in an activity will come from your strengths and not by fixing your weaknesses

* Use your strengths and manage around your weaknesses

* talents are those themes you possess - they're god given; knowledge and skills can be developed to enhance a talent

* the power of a talent is that it is instinctive - a reaction - you don't need to think or dwell on the decision

Chapter 4 is to be read after taking the test. I was very skeptical that a test could determine my talents. But I've gone from being skeptical to - ooohhh - wow! My results are in order of strength:

1. Achiever - driven to accomplish - must continually achieve in order to feel good
2. Strategic - what ifs driven - evaluation - then strike a direction
3. Learner - love to learn new things - skill mastering - new challenges - new ideas
4. Maximizer - always trying to make it better - searching for excellence
5. Relator - pulled towards known people - easy to entrust - value genuine friendship

Which I find amazing as after taking the test I went through the other 29 themes and only found a couple others which I would consider to be my top 5. Analytical is searching for reasons and causes but Strategic is a better fit. An Arranger is one who organizes and likes to figure out how the pieces fit for maximum productivity but Maximizer is a better fit. And finally - Developer cultivates others - they're your educators, your team players that make everyone else better - however I wouldn't put that in front of the other 5.

Chapter 5 is essentially a giant FAQ. Some interesting tidbits...

* biggest obstacle is yourself by focusing on your weaknesses.

* three basic fears - weakness (we are skewed to focusing on weakness due to fear of criticism), failure (afraid to fail due to fear of being ridiculed), and true self (a feeling of being inadequate - not valuing our strengths)

* 33 million different combinations of top 5 - therefore my combination makes me unique

* weakness should not be dwelt upon, but they should be managed. To overcome you can:
1. get a little better at it - however you won't achieve excellence and the effort will be draining
2. design a support system - creative traditions that can provide support - example would be a commitment to clean your desk at the end of every month for those who lack Discipline (enjoy routine and structure, create order)
3. use a strong theme to overwhelm a weakness - some talents can be so strong they can substitute for a weakness
4. find a partner - be willing to accept your imperfection and find someone who compliments your weakness with strength - good example was a research lawyer and a trial lawyer - together they make a great team
5. just stop doing it - you'll earn greater respect and you'll feel better by not pounding against the same brick wall - great example in the book about lacking the talent of Empathy (I can relate) - I'm declaring that I too am giving up on Empathy - if you want me to know how you're feeling then tell me and remind me often.

* managing around a weakness may be challenging, but it's more creative, purposeful, and effective than trying to pour hours of training into a talent which is weak.

Chapter 6 was good on how to manage people by strengths. Rather than traditional management style of treating everyone the same, it is better to individualize your approach and capitalize on their uniqueness. The remainder of the chapter focused on each talent and how to manage people with those talents.

For example - Achievers like to be busy, they like to be measured, they work all hours - so putting an achiever in an all day meeting won't work - after finishing a task a reward of an easy assignment is the wrong direction - recognize his achievements and then give him a new goal to achieve - ask questions like "how late did you work to get this done"

Chapter 7 is really written towards HR and company executives to challenge the norm and move the company to strengths based measurement. A couple of key points...

* select people based upon talent and not necessarily skills or knowledge as that can be taught but talent can not

* focus performance on outcome not style - less on standardized policies / procedures and more on measuring the desired results - measured results should be the person's impact on the business; impact on the customer; impact on other employees

* focus training on strengths not weakness - so many HR programs focus on what people do wrong instead of building on what they do right

* devise ways to grow a person's career without having to promote the individual to a higher level and potentially out of an area of strength

While I liked the book quite a bit - I gave it a 7 out of 10 - pretty good, but I think more could be done to discuss the development of talents and more of what to do about the mix of your top 5 talents. I've finished the book and I'm waiting for the big finish - so what - I now have a set of defined talents - but again I'll say so what - what do I do with them and how do I put this new knowledge to good use.