Go Put Your Strengths to Work

by Marcus Buckingham (2007)

Reviewed by Marti Benjamin, MBA, CPC

Speaking of strengths, Marcus Buckingham has been since he co-authored the Gallup Management organization book First, Break All the Rules, in 1999. In this book, Buckingham takes the idea of building on strengths, as opposed to working on weaknesses, from the identification to action stage; he lays out a 6-step model for putting strengths to work at work.

Buckingham points out that most of us can shape our work to align with our strengths, without quitting, going back to college, changing careers or finding a new company. Some of us may choose to do one or more of those things but there are many ways to build on our strengths and when we do that, we are more productive and more fulfilled right where we are. Having work that plays to our strengths does not mean that we love every single aspect of our job; it means doing more of what invigorates us and finding strategies for handling the things that deplete us effectively so the drain on our energy is as little as possible.

The 6-step model Buckingham describes in this book begins with confronting the myths that maintain our focus on fixing weaknesses rather than building on strengths. He challenges the myths that our personality changes, that we grow most in overcoming weaknesses and that we do whatever it takes to help the team. Buckingham's perspective is quite different:

1. "As you grow, you become more of who you already are." (Page 43) Buckingham cites several studies to make his point, including studies of identical twins raised apart that shows that over time, the personality of these siblings becomes increasingly similar and the personality groove deepens.
   
   
2. "You will grow the most in your area of greatest strength." (Page 54) It takes less energy to make a strength stronger than to overcome a weakness; if you want to improve performance, start with the momentum that already exists and build on it, as opposed to starting from a deficit and trying to get to good-enough.
   
   
3. "A good team member deliberately volunteers his strengths most of the time. True teamwork occurs only when a complementary set of strengths comes together in a coordinated whole." (page 64) This stance flies in the face of our conditioning to offer to do anything, whether we are competent in that area or not, to support the team. What I've learned is that those things that are not my strengths are strong areas of talent for someone else and the greater good is achieved through each of us responsibly contributing in the area where we add value, not just time and effort.

The second step in the process of putting strengths to work is getting clear on precisely how those talents show up. In this step, we sort through the activities that fill our time and precisely pinpoint the ones that fuel us, as well as those that drain us. Buckingham creates an acronym, SIGN, to describe a method for organizing and remembering our strengths.

• "S is for Success." (Page 77): feeling effective at an activity
  
  
• "I is for Instinct." (Page 81) drawn to an activity, perhaps with no rational accounting for that attraction
  
  
• "G is for Growth." (Page 81) it feels easy, you learn quickly and you don't struggle to concentrate
  
  
• "N is for Need. Some activities just seem to fill an innate need or yours." (Page 83-84)

The assignment for getting clear on precisely how your talents show up is to keep two sets of cards for a week, one in which you note specifically what you are doing when you feel strong and the other what you are doing when you feel weak, drained or bored. Once you have captured those statements, you look for the ones that carry the strong emotional punch, the ones that recreate the feeling you were experiencing. The critical step in this process is to identify very specific activities, such as, "I was conducting staff training on team building for the XYZ office staff, who were excited about learning."

Once clear on specifically what strengths you experience, the next step is to find ways to apply those strengths. Short of leaving your current job and seeking the dream job, which is usually an illusion, try these four steps recommended by Buckingham:

1. "Identify exactly how and where each strength helps you in your current role.
   
   
2. Find the missed opportunities to leverage each strength in your current role.
   
   
3. Learn new skills and techniques to sharpen each strength.
   
   
4. Build your job toward each strength." (Page 121)

Based on your responses to these four steps, develop a Strong Week plan in which you identify ways to expand the use of your strengths during the course of a work week.

Step 4 in the 6-step process of putting your strengths to work is to stop your weaknesses. Begin with boxing them in, identifying them when they appear and find a way to navigate around them or suffer through them for a finite period of time. (Page 156) Secondly, you can see them in their proper perspective as a small portion of the total picture. Your weaknesses feel like the flip-side of the strengths: they produce negative emotional reactions, you look for ways to avoid it, you struggle to concentrate and it leaves you feeling physically tired and emotionally and intellectually drained. (Pages 157-160)

"Now, in step five, you're going to do something that is as tricky as anything you’ve done so far and will require even more faith. You’re going to speak up and get help. Specifically, you’re going to go up to your manager and have strong conversation.” (Page 201) Buckingham offers a sequence of four conversations to help you overcome the fearful prospect of talking to your manager about your strengths.

And, finally, in step 6, the use of strengths becomes a habit as you concentrate on staying with your Strong Week Plan each and every week. A regular schedule of reviewing strengths and putting them to work, accompanied by continual measurement of progress reinforces the use of strengths. The benefits are being, “at your most productive, creative, focused, generous, and resilient when you figure out how to play to your strengths most of the time." (Page 267)

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©2007, Marti Benjamin