Book Review: “First, Break All the Rules” by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
The original book by Gallup on employee engagement and management styles launched the StrengthFinders book series and product.
What might be obvious to most people is not so obvious to others – no two employees are the same. Thus, treating employees the same will fail to get the highest level of engagement and performance from them. That’s the main rule to be broken – treating everyone the same.
End of the day – managers matter. Probably more than any other perk, benefit or development program. Great managers attract, retain and grow great people. People tend to quit managers, not jobs.
What We Like About this Book
The book starts off by looking at the 12 questions for employee engagement. We often come back to them again and again when it seems things aren’t going well with employees, or when we’re trying to take someone to the next level.
- 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 seem to 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?
Then the book goes into more rule breaking, like spending the most time with your best people versus equally. Or not making everyone follow the same progression and steppingstones.
Any criticisms?
Hard to criticize this one. The chapters break up well, the examples are great and it’s clearly well researched.
