This document discusses how to measure the core elements needed to attract and retain talented employees. Gallup research found that business units were more productive when employees answered positively to 12 key questions about their workplace. The questions relate to whether employees know what is expected of them, have the necessary tools and materials to do their work, feel their opinions count, and have opportunities to learn and grow. Business outcomes like productivity, profitability, employee retention, and customer satisfaction are correlated to how employees respond to these 12 questions. The document then discusses how great managers select for talent rather than just experience, set the right outcomes rather than steps, focus on strengths over weaknesses, and find the right fit for employees rather than just promoting them up the ladder.

1. Marcus Buckingham
&
Curt Coffman

2. Measuring strength of Work Place
How do you measure the core elements
needed to attract focus and keep the
attract,
most talented employees?

3. Measuring strength of Work Place
Business
“Business Units were measurably
more productive when employees
answered positively on a scale of 1 to
d ii l l f
5 to the following 12 questions.”
Gallup : Analysis of performance data from over 2,500 business units and over 105,000 employees

4. Four business outcomes correlate to the Big 12
PRODUCTIVITY
PROFITABILITY
EMPLOYEE RETENTION
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

5. 12 Questions
1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials & equipment I need to do my work right?
2 D Ih th t i l & i tI dt d k i ht?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last 7 days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
4. In the last 7 days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
ul Questions
5. Does my supervisor or someone at work seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
Most powerfu
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important?
M
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?
11 I h l i h h I lk d i h b ?
12. At work, have I had opportunities to learn and grow?

6. Mountain climbing
Getting great at what you do
Yes to all
12
12
Questions
Summit
Questions
11 to 12 How can we
H
all grow?
Questions
Q ti Do I belong
Do I belong
7 to 10
here?
Questions
3 to 6
What do I give?
Questions
1 & 2
What do I get?

7. The focus of great managers
Great managers take aim at Base
g
Camp and Camp 1 (Q1 to Q6)
Securing 5’s is their most
important responsibility

8. Managers and Leaders are different
Leaders look OUTWARD
Managers l k INWARD
M look

9. A great manager is a CATALYST

10. CATALYST:
Ability to do four
Ability to do four
key activities
key activities
REALLY well

11. 4 keys of Great Managers
1. Select the
1. Select the Select for TALENT
• Select for TALENT
Person • Not simply experience, intelligence or determination
• Define the right OUTCOMES
Define the right OUTCOMES
2. Set Expectations • Not the right steps
3 Motivate the
3. Motivate the •FFocus on STRENGTHS
STRENGTHS
Person • Not on weaknesses
4. Develop the
4 D l th • Find the RIGHT FIT
Person • Not simply the next rung on the ladder

12. Key 1: select for Talent
Key 1: select for Talent

14. TALENT
A recurring pattern of THOUGHT, FEELING or
A recurring pattern of THOUGHT, FEELING or
BEHAVIOUR that can be productively applied.
FILTER
A characteristic way of responding to the world around us.
It tells you which stimuli to notice and which to ignore;
which to love and which to hate.
It is UNIQUE to you.
Your filter and your recurring patterns of behaviour are
Y fil d i fb h i
enduring.
Your filter more than your race, sex, age or nationality is
YOU.
YOU

15. WHAT GREAT
MANAGERS KNOW
“People don’t change that much. Don’t waste your
time trying to put i what can b l f out. T to d
i i in h be left Try draw
out what was left in. That is hard enough.”

16. Elements of performance
p
• Cannot be taught
Cannot be taught
Talents •
•
4‐line highways of your mind
Recurrent patterns of thought, feeling or behavioural
• Difficult to transfer
• Can be taught by breaking total performance into
Skills steps
• “How to do” of a role
• Transferable
• Can be taught
Can be taught
• What you are aware of
Knowledge •
•
Factual knowledge – things you know
Experiential knowledge – understandings picked up
along the way
along the way
• Transferable

17. 3 basic categories of Talent
1. Striving – the ‘WHY’ of a person
2. Thinking – the ‘HOW’ of a person
3. Relating – the ‘WHO’ of a person

18. “The implication is not that people cannot change.
Everyone can change, can learn. Everyone can get a little better.
The language of skills, knowledge and talents simply helps a manager
identify where radical change is possible, and where it is not.”
y g p

19. How managers find
H fi d
great talent ?
Know what talents you are looking for
Study your best people
S d b l

20. Key 2: define the right outcomes

21. Manager’s dilemma: how
do you retain control and
y
focus people on
performance – when you
know that you cannot force
people to behave in the
same way?
Define the right outcomes and then let each person
find his own route toward those outcomes

22. How to manage by remote control ?
I want perfect people
My people don’t have enough talent
Some outcomes defy definition
Some outcomes defy definition
Trust is precious: it must be earned
the temptation to Control !

23. “Forcing your employees to follow required steps only prevents
customer dissatisfaction.
If your goal is truly to satisfy, to create advocates, then the step‐by‐step
approach alone cannot get you there.
,y p y
Instead, you must select employees who have the talent to listen and to
teach, and then you must focus them towards simple emotional
outcomes like partnership and advice.
If you manage to do this it is something that is very hard to steal ”
this, steal.

24. How do you know if the outcomes are right ?
What is right for
your customers? ?
What is right for
Wh t i i ht f
What is right for the individual?
your company?

25. Four expectations of all customers
Level 4 : Advice
Level 3 : Partnership
y
Level 2 : Availability
Level 1 : Accuracy

26. Key 3: focus on strenghts

28. Let them become more of who they already are
Focus on each person’s strength and
manage around his weaknesses.
Don’t try to fix the weaknesses.
Don’t try to perfect each person.
Focus on each person’s strength and
manage around his weaknesses.
Do everything you can to help each
person cultivate his talents.
Help each person become more of
who he already is.

29. Casting is everything
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.
Everyone has the talent to be exceptional at something. The trick is to
find that ‘something.’ The trick is in the casting.

30. Spend the most time with your best people
‘No news’ kills behaviour
It s the fairest thing to do
It’s the fairest thing to do
It’s the best way to learn
It s the only way to reach excellence
It’s the only way to reach excellence
And the best way to break through the ceiling

31. Managing around a weakness
Devise a support system
Find a complementary partner
Find an alternative role
Determine if poor performance is trainable
Determine if poor performance is trainable
Determine if poor performance is not due to
you as manager tripping the wrong trigger!
Determine if it’s a weakness or a non‐talent

32. Key 4: find the right fit

33. A rung too far
Most employees are
promoted t th i l
t d to their level l
of incompetence. It’s
inevitable. It’s built into
the system.

34. The PROBLEM with climbing the ladder
One rung does not necessarily lead to
g y
another.
The conventional career path is
condemned to create competition and
conflict. Why not create heroes in
every role?
Conventional ‘wisdom’ programmes
employees to hunt for marketable
skills and experience to climb to the
next rung. This thinking is often
flawed.

35. “BEFORE you promote someone, look closely at the striving, thinking and relating
talents needed to excel in the role.
g y y p
After scrutinising the PERSON and the ROLE, you may still choose promotion.
Since each person is highly complex, you may still end up promoting someone into a
position where he struggles. No manager finds the perfect fit every time.
But at least you will have taken the TIME to weigh the FIT between the DEMANDS of
the role and the TALENT of the person”.

36. Create heroes in EVERY role
Set up levels of achievement
for EVERY role
For every role, define
pay in broad ranges,
with top end of lower
top‐end lower‐
level role overlapping
bottom end of role
above
Set up ‘creative
acts of revolt’
revolt
(special projects)

37. What great managers do
Level the PLAYING FIELD
Level the PLAYING FIELD
Hold up the MIRROR
Create a SAFETY NET

38. The art of tough love
“Tough love is a mind‐set. An uncompromising focus on excellence with a
genuine need to care. It focuses great managers to confront poor performance
early and directly. It allows them to keep their relationship with the employee
intact.
intact Even if the employee has to be ‘let go’. Understanding that each person
let go
possesses enduring patterns of thought, feelings and behaviour liberates
managers who have to confront poor performance. Because it frees the
manager from blaming the employee.”

39. The art of interviewing for talent
Ensure talent interview stands alone
Ask a few open‐ended questions and
then try and stay quiet
Listen for specifics
Talent clues: rapid learning
Talent clues: rapid learning
Talent clues: personal satisfactions
Know what to listen for
Know what to listen for

40. The art of performance management
Keep the routine SIMPLE
Meet FREQUENTLY: minimum once a quarter
Meet FREQUENTLY: minimum once a quarter
Focus on the FUTURE
Ask employee to keep track of HIS OWN performance and learnings

41. What great managers expect of every
talented employee
t l t d l
Look in the mirror any chance you get
Muse
Discover yourself
Build your constituency
Keep track
p
Catch your peers doing something right

42. How to operate if your manager is not
quite ‘perfect’
it ‘ f t’
If she’s too ‘busy’, schedule a performance planning meeting
y p p g g
If you are forced to do things ‘her way’, tell her you want to
define your role more by outcome, than by steps
If you receive inappropriate praise, suggest alternative ways
If she constantly intrudes, ask if ‘OK to check in less
frequently than current practice’
If your ‘problems’ are of an entirely different
nature, if your manager consistently ignores you,
distrusts you takes credit for your work blames
you, work,
you for her mistakes or disrespects you… then get
out from under her. You deserve better.

43. What companies can do to create
friendly climate for great managers
friendly climate for great managers
Value world‐class performance in every role
Keep the focus on outcomes
Master keys that senior
management of a company
can use to break through
‘conventional wisdom’s’
barricades
Study your best
Study your best
Teach the language of great managers

44. End thoughts
“Great managers make it all seem so simple.
Just select for talent, define the right outcomes, focus on strengths and then,
as each person grows, encourage him or her to find the right fit.
Completing these few steps with every single employee, your department,
division or company will yield perennial excellence.”

45. End thoughts
NOBODY said all this is EASY!
A great manager sometimes has to STRUGGLE to BALANCE
A great manager sometimes has to STRUGGLE to BALANCE
the competing interests of the company, the customers, the
employees and even her own.

46. “The needs of the COMPANY and
the needs of the EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYEE,
misaligned since the birth of the
corporation over 150 years ago, are
CONVERGING.
The intersection of the company’s
search for VALUE and each
individual’s search for IDENTITY
are forces of change that have
seeded into the corporate
landscape for over 10 years.
The best managers are those who
know how to be CATALYSTS and
speed up these forces of change.”