Do you remember the scene in

Do you remember the scene in “City Slickers” when Jack Palance, playing tough old Cowboy Curly, turns to city bred Billy Crystal, raises a single finger and pronounces:

“I’ll tell you the secret to life. This one thing. Just this one thing. You stick to this and everything else don’t mean s-----!”

Fortunately, Marcus Buckingham is still alive and gives those of us interested in better managing, leading or sustained individual success a big assist in figuring it out in The One Thing You Need to Know (Free Press, 2005). While Buckingham tells us secrets for the big three, this newsletter will confine itself to the first topic: great management.

If you are one of those readers who thinks simple solutions to complex problems are just that – simple – I would encourage you take a second look at Buckingham’s book. Don’t be misled by the title. In fact you can substitute “core concepts” for “one thing”. Further, this is the same Buckingham who co-authored the carefully researched First Break All the Rules (Simon & Schuster, 1999) previously reviewed in this newsletter…..

What sets Buckingham apart, and one reason why you should become familiar with his work, is that his views are anchored in more than opinion or one person’s experiences. For example, he draws upon more than 80,000 interviews spanning more than 400 companies. To us, his research informed perspective is more compelling than those of a retired CEO like Jack Welch (Winning, 2005) or even worse those hideously inane offerings by successful coaches asserting that life is merely a metaphor for sport. (I have always wanted to ask basketball coach Rick Pitino, author of Success is a Choice, why he chooses to lose so often.)

Buckingham starts with a clean and reasonable distinction between managing and leading. Today, it is popular to view leading as superior to merely managing. It is kind of like the superiority of having a career instead of just a job. Indeed, there are those like Michael Useem, director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at the University of Pennsylvania, who contend that “Everybody should be leading, whatever their level in the hierarchy.”

To that, Buckingham asks, if everyone is leading, then who is following? Or, do you really want an organization where everyone is a chief or an aspiring chief and there are no Indians?

Buckingham’s contends that, while great managing has to do with developing each individual, the focus of leadership has to do with the future of the organization as a whole. Great management is done one to one. Conversely, leadership is universal and done organization wide. Organizations need both, and not every great manager should be aspiring to lead. In fact, too many leaders cloud and confuse the core message.

Buckingham asserts that The One Thing You Need to Know about great managing is to discover what is unique to each individual and capitalize on it. He then outlines the four unique characteristics you must know about someone to provide a great management relationship:

1. Strengths- Focus on these when recruiting and selecting. They are accidents of birth and cannot be learned. Skills, on the other hand, can be acquired through training. For Pitino’s sport of basketball, height would be a strength or talent and dribbling would be a skill. Hire for strengths and train for skills.

2. Weaknesses- In First Break All the Rules, Buckingham and his co-author Curt Coffman effectively challenge the conventional management practice of focusing on weaknesses and trying to achieve well roundedness. The core lesson from FBAR is to choose people with natural talents that fit their roles and to manage around weaknesses. If a weakness is due to a lack of natural talent it will never change. Short basketball players cannot learn to be taller.

3. Triggers- Great managers know that different people have different levers to be pulled to unlock optimal performance. However, Buckingham’s treatment of “triggers” is quite shallow. In fact, we have drilled a lot deeper in our Adaptable Leadership¹ program.

In Adaptable Leadership, we rely on the familiar SST personality type model as well as William Schutz’ Fundamental Interpersonal Relationship Inventory (FIRO). This assessment provides concepts and tools for the manager to, first read which of three interpersonal needs (Inclusion, Control or Affection) is preeminent, and then to adapt to meet it.

The word “need” is both powerful and appropriate. When an interpersonal need (Inclusion, Control or Affection) is met by a manager, performance is triggered. For example, those high in needing Inclusion embrace teams and will shut down if they sense they have been excluded or left “out of the loop”.

Conversely, the Control need is an indicator as to whether a staff member requires a lot of direction and guidance or prefers to work independently.

Finally, the need for Affection points to the level of emotional distance preferred by a staff member. While some like to have close family like relationships at work, others are more comfortable compartmentalizing work and private lives.

Our work with Adaptable Leadership complements Buckingham’s notion of “triggers” and provides a template for finding the key to forming the kinds of distinctive relationships to capitalize on the unique qualities of each team member. With it you will know, not be guessing, about which trigger to pull for which person.

Styles of Learning – Buckingham suggest there are three: 1. Analyzing; 2. Doing; and 3. Watching. Here again, Jungian theory, upon which SST is based would provide a more robust learning style theory. But, the point is an important one: developing talent requires teaching and coaching and adapting to the preferred learning style of a team member is the hallmark of a great manager.

What about The One Thing You Need to Know for great leadership and sustained individual success? Well, you’ll just have to figure it out. Or, buy Buckingham’s excellent book.

Arnold J. Tilden, Ed.D.
814-861-5100
www.tildensst.com