There are many conflicting recipes in the art of management, and the best managers in the world stick to their own rules. Are they right, and why are the hiring processes at market-leading companies the way they are and not the other way? Should I try my best to overcome my shortcomings? Why do self-managed teams often fail? On whom should a manager spend more time - on the best or worst employees? What are the weird questions in Google interviews? Is my boss right when he tells me how to do my job? How do I evaluate how good I am as a manager?
If the answers to these questions interest you, then you should read the book First Break All the Rules: What the World's Best Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham and Kurt Coffman. This book could have become a desktop book for me, but there is no time to re-read it, so I made a summary, which I want to share with you.
Book (, ) was born as a result of empirical research conducted by the Gallup Institute for 25 years, in which more than 80 managers took part, and their scientific processing. Time magazine listed the book as .
When citing an edition, I use this style to provide links to other books or materials that intersect with the ideas of this book, as well as some of my conclusions and reasoning. In particular, I found that the book Google Vice President for Human Resources L. Bock is practically an example of the implementation of the ideas from the book in question.
Chapter 1. Scale
Many companies are wondering how to attract the best employees and how to keep them. There are companies where everyone wants to work. Some companies, on the contrary, are not very popular. Gallup has created a tool that allows you to evaluate the advantages of one employer over another.
After years of research, Gallup has identified 12 questions that determine the ability to attract, interest and retain the most valuable employees. These questions are listed below.
- Do I know what is expected of me at work?
- Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my job properly?
- Do I have opportunities at work to do what I do best every day?
- In the past seven days, have I received commendation or praise for a job well done?
- Do I feel like my line manager or someone else at work cares about me as a person?
- Do I have someone at work who encourages me to grow?
- Do I feel like my opinion is taken into account at work?
- Do the objectives (goals) of my company make me feel the importance of my work?
- Do my colleagues (comrades at work) consider it their duty to do quality work?
- Does one of my best friends work for my company?
- In the past six months, has anyone at work talked to me about my progress?
- Have I had opportunities to learn and grow at work during the past year?
The answers to these questions determine employee satisfaction with their workplace.
The authors argue that there is a correlation between the answers to these questions (ie, employee satisfaction) and the commercial success of an organizational unit. The personality of the immediate superior has the greatest influence on these issues.
The order of the questions is important. The questions are arranged in order of increasing importance: first, the employee realizes what his individual tasks and contribution are, then he understands how he fits the team, then he understands how to grow in the company and how to innovate. The first questions satisfy more basic needs. It is possible to satisfy higher needs, but without basic needs, such a design will not be sustainable.
At LANIT, we recently began conducting surveys to assess employee engagement. of these surveys very strongly intersects with what is written in this book.
Chapter 2. Wisdom of the best managers
The foundation for the success of the best managers is the following idea.
People hardly change. Do not waste time trying to put into them what is not given to them by nature. Try to find out what is in them.
The role of a manager consists of four main activities: to select people, to formulate their expectations from their work, to stimulate and develop them.
Moreover, each manager can have his own style. For the company, it should not be important how the manager achieves the result - the company should not impose a single style and rules.
Often you can find the following erroneous recommendations to managers:
- select the right people based on their experience, intelligence and aspirations;
- formulate your expectations, step by step describing all the actions of a subordinate;
- to stimulate a person, helping him to identify and overcome his shortcomings;
- to develop the employee, giving him the opportunity to learn and advance in the service.
Instead, the authors suggest remembering that people don't change and using the following four keys.
- Workers must be selected on the basis of their ability, and not just experience, intelligence or willpower.
- When formulating expectations, you need to clearly define the desired result, and not paint the work in steps.
- When stimulating a subordinate, one must focus on his strengths, and not on his weaknesses.
- A person needs to be developed, helping him find his place, and not climb the next rung of the career ladder.
Chapter 3
What is talent?
The authors write that in the process of growing up in a person up to 15 years old, his brain is formed. During this time, connections between neurons of the brain are formed in a person, and as a result, something like a network of highways is obtained. Some links are like highways, some are abandoned roads. This highway network or mental pathway system becomes the filter through which one perceives the world and reacts to it. It forms patterns of behavior that make each person unique.
A person can acquire new knowledge and skills. However, no training will be able to turn a deserted mental road of a person into a high-speed highway.
Mental filter and determine the talents that are inherent in a person. Talent lies in the things you do often. And the secret of perfect job performance, according to the authors, is that the talents of the employee are suitable for his role.
For any task to be flawlessly executed, talent is necessary, since certain thoughts, feelings or actions are repeated in each work. This means that the best nurses have talent just like the best drivers, teachers, maids and flight attendants. No skill is possible without talent.
Companies often follow the stereotype, evaluating candidates for a position on their experience, intelligence and determination. All this, of course, is important and useful, but it does not take into account the fact that only in-demand talents are the prerequisites for the successful fulfillment of any role. For an NHL striker, you need your own talents, for a priest - others, for a nurse - still others. Given that talent cannot be acquired, it is more important to select by talent.
Can a manager change a subordinate?
Many managers think so. The authors of the book believe that people hardly change, and trying to invest in people what is not characteristic of them is a waste of time. It is much better to bring out in people what is inherent in them. It is pointless to ignore individual characteristics. They should be developed.
The conclusion is that there should be more emphasis on the recruitment process and less hope on training programs. In the book writes in Chapter 3 that Google spends "twice the average company's recruiting costs as a percentage of its HR budget." The author is convinced: "If you redirect resources to improve the effectiveness of recruiting, you will get a higher return than almost any training program."
I heard an interesting idea at DevOpsPro 2020: before you learn something new, you must not only understand the essence of innovation, but also first you must forget (or unlearn how to do) the old. In light of the authors' assumption that we all have "mental roads", the process of relearning can be very difficult, if not impossible.
How to develop a person?
First, you can help discover hidden talents.
Secondly, you can help acquire new knowledge and skills.
Skill is a tool. Knowledge is what a person has an idea about. Knowledge is theoretical and experimental. Experimental knowledge must be learned to acquire by looking back and extracting the essence. Talent is highways. For example, for an accountant, this is a love of accuracy. The authors categorize talents into three types - achievement talents, thinking talents, and interaction talents.
Skills and knowledge help to cope with standard situations. The power of skills is that they can be transferred. However, if there is no talent, in the event of a non-standard situation, a person most likely will not cope. Talent cannot be transferred.
An example of experimental knowledge is the culture of writing postmortems, i.e. honest and open analysis of situations when something went wrong.
For postmortem culture on Google, see и . Writing a postmortem is a sensitive moment for a participant in the process, and only in companies where a culture of openness and trust is truly built, an employee can not be afraid to learn from their mistakes. In companies where there is no such culture, employees constantly repeat the same mistakes. And Google's mistakes are very .
Postmortem Culture at Etsy - .
Competences, habits, attitudes, energy
In life, we use many terms without really understanding their meaning.
The concept of "competence" appeared in the British army during the Second World War to determine the best officers. Today it is often used to describe the characteristics of good managers and leaders. Competencies consist partly of skills, partly of knowledge, partly of talents. All this is mixed with each other, some characteristics can be trained, some cannot.
Most habits are talents. You can develop them, combine them to enhance them, but the power is in recognizing your talents, not denying them.
Life attitudes, such as positivity, cynicism, etc., are talents. These settings are no better or worse than others. For different professions, different attitudes are better suited. But again, we must understand that it is almost impossible to change them.
The internal energy of a person remains unchanged and is determined by his mental filter. Energy is determined by achievement talents.
When describing human behavior, the authors advise focusing on the precise definition of skills, knowledge, and talents. This will avoid trying to change something that in fact cannot be changed.
Everyone can change: everyone can learn, everyone can become a little better. The concept of skills, knowledge and talents will simply help the manager to understand in which case a radical change is possible and in which case it is not.
At Amazon, for example, the entire hiring process revolves around . The interview process is structured in such a way that each interviewer is given the task of analyzing the candidate against one or more of the principles.
It is also very interesting to read the annual Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, where he constantly refers to the basic principles, explains and develops them.
What myths can we debunk?
Myth 1. Talent is a unique (rare) quality. In fact, each person has his own talents. It's just that often people don't find a use for them.
Myth 2. Some roles are so easy that they don't require talent to play. Often managers judge everyone by themselves and believe that everyone is striving for promotion, and some of the roles are considered as non-prestigious. However, the authors believe that many people have talents for non-prestigious professions and that they are proud of them, for example, maids, etc.
How to find talents?
You must first understand what talents you need. Understanding this can be tricky, so we can start by limiting ourselves to the key factors in each of the major talent categories (accomplishments, thinking, interactions). Focus on them during the interview. Find out if the person has these talents when you ask for references. No matter how great a candidate's resume is, don't compromise by accepting a lack of core talent.
To understand what talents you need, study your best employees. Stereotypes may interfere with you. One of the main stereotypes is that the best is the opposite of the bad. The authors believe that this is not the case and it is impossible to understand success by turning defeat inside out. Success and failure are remarkably similar, but the anomaly is a neutral outcome.
The book in Chapter 3, he writes: “The ideal approach to recruiting is not just to hire the best names in your field, the best sales person, or the smartest engineer. You need to find those who will succeed in your organization and make everyone around you do the same.
See also и .
Chapter 4
Remote control
How to make subordinates fulfill their duties if you cannot constantly control them?
The problem is that you are responsible for the work of your subordinates, but at the same time they do the work themselves without your direct participation.
Any organization exists to achieve a specific goal - to get a result. The main responsibility of a manager is to get results, not to reveal the potential of the team, etc.
To focus a person on the result, it is necessary to correctly set goals and strive to achieve them. If the goals are clearly formulated, then there will be no need to “move your legs with your hands”. For example, a school principal might focus on student ratings and grades, a hotel manager on customer experience and feedback.
Each subordinate will better determine the means of achieving the result on the basis of their own characteristics. This approach encourages performers to take responsibility for their actions.
The book the author writes “Give people a little more trust, freedom and authority than you are comfortable with. Are you nervous? So you didn't give enough." L. Bock also believes that, of course, there are examples of successful companies with a low level of freedom, but still in the future all the best, talented and motivated specialists will prefer to work in companies with a high level of freedom. So give freedom - it's pragmatic. Of course, it depends on what planning horizon you have and what categories you think in.
Common misconceptions
Why do so many managers try to define methods rather than goals? Some experts believe that there is only one right way to solve every problem.
All attempts to impose "the only true way" are doomed to failure. First, it's inefficient: "the only way" can conflict with the unique highways in each person's mind. Secondly, it is destructive: having ready-made answers hinders the development of a unique style of work for which the person is responsible. And finally, this approach nullifies learning: every time you set a rule, you save a person from having to choose, and choice, with all its unpredictable consequences, is a source of learning.
Some managers believe that their subordinates are not talented enough. In fact, they are likely to hire without regard to the specifics of the role, and when people start to misbehave, they write volumes of instructions. Such a policy is possible, but ineffective.
Some managers believe that their trust must be earned: they prejudice people.
Many believe that not all goals can be formulated.
Indeed, many of the results are difficult to determine. However, the authors believe that those managers who adopted this approach simply gave up too soon. In their opinion, even the most non-computable aspects can be defined as a result. It can be difficult, but it's better to spend time determining the result than writing endless instructions.
How can you be sure that your goals are correct? Try to answer the questions: what is good for your customers? what is good for your company? Does the goal suit the individual characteristics of your employees?
Chapter 5
How do the best managers realize the potential of each employee?
Focus on your strengths and don't dwell on your weaknesses. Instead of eradicating faults, develop virtues. Help each person achieve more.
Myths about transformations
It is a myth that people have equal potential and that each of us can unlock it if we work hard is a myth. This is contrary to the fact that everyone has an individuality. Another common myth is that one must work hard on weaknesses and get rid of weaknesses. You can't really improve what doesn't exist. People often suffer from relationships when they try to improve them, poke their noses at missteps, etc.
“Not understanding the difference between knowledge and skills that can be taught and talents that cannot be taught, these “mentors” begin to “instruct a person on the true path.” As a result, everyone loses - both the subordinate and the manager, since there will be no result anyway.
“The best managers try to identify the strengths of each subordinate and help develop them. They are convinced that the main thing is to choose the right role for a person. They don't follow the rules. And they spend most of their time on their best employees.”
The main thing is to distribute roles
“Every person can do at least one thing better than thousands of other people. But, unfortunately, not everyone finds an application for their abilities. “Selecting a role according to the most outstanding abilities is one of the unwritten laws of the success of the best managers.”
Good managers, when they join a new team, do the following:
“They ask each employee about their strengths and weaknesses, about their goals and dreams. They study the situation in the team, see who supports whom and why. They notice the little things. Then, of course, they divide the team into those who remain, and those who, based on the results of these observations, will have to find other uses for themselves. But most importantly, they add a third category - "displaced persons." This applies to people who have remarkable, but for some reason unrealized abilities. By moving each of them to a different position, the best managers give these abilities the green light.
Management not by the rules
The best managers break the golden rule every day – treat people the way you want to be treated. "The best managers believe that a person should be treated the way he would like to be treated."
How to identify needs? “Ask the subordinate about his goals, what he wants to achieve in his current position, what career heights he aspires to, what personal goals he would like to share.”
“Feel what kind of encouragement the employee needs: does he like public recognition or expressed privately, in writing or orally? What is the best audience for him? Ask him about the most valuable recognition he has ever received for his success. Why did he remember this? Find out how he evaluates your relationship. How to improve your skills. Did he have mentors or colleagues in the past who helped him. How did they do it?
All this information must be carefully recorded.
About motivation:
Spend more time on your best employees
“The more energy and attention you put into talented people, the greater the return. Simply put, the time you spend on the best is your most productive time.”
Investing in the best is fair, because the best employee deserves more attention based on their performance.
Investing in the best is the best way to learn. failure is not the opposite of success. Wasting time figuring out failures will not lead to a successful solution.
“Learning from the experience of others is certainly useful, but what you really need is to study your own best personnel. How to do it? Spend as much time as possible on your most successful employees. First, ask how they achieve their success.
Don't fall into the trap of average thinking. “Set the bar high when calculating the best result. You run the risk of significantly underestimating the opportunities for improvement. Focus on the best performers and help develop them.”
What are the reasons for poor performance? The authors believe that the main reasons may be the following:
- lack of knowledge (solved by training),
- wrong motivation.
If these reasons are not present, then the problem is the lack of talent. “But there are no perfect people. No one has all the talents that are necessary for complete success in any role.
How to level the shortcomings? You can create a support system or find a complementary partner.
If a person participates in the training, then this, at least, allows him to understand his tasks, to understand which qualities he has developed and which are not. However, according to the authors, it would be a mistake to try to reshape yourself into an exemplary manager. You cannot master talents that you do not have. Instead, try, for example, to find a complementary panther, such as Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Hewlett and Packard et al.
Takeaway: Find a way to capitalize on your strengths, rather than focusing on trying to develop qualities you don't have.
However, such partnerships are often hindered by companies that are aimed at expanding skills, developing weak qualities, etc. One of the significant examples is an attempt to create a self-managed team based on the principle of the importance of the team only and rejecting individual qualities. The authors believe that an effective team should still be based on individuals who understand their strengths and exploit them to the maximum.
Sometimes it happens that nothing happens with a person. Then the only option may be to remove the performer and transfer him to another role.
This section is very similar to chapter 8 of the book. .
Chapter 6
Getting exhausted, blindly climbing up
According to accepted stereotypes, a career should develop along a prescribed path. The employee must constantly climb up. Wages and benefits are tied to career levels. This is the so-called principle of promotion.
“In 1969, Lawrence Peter warned in his book The Peter Principle that if you thoughtlessly follow this path, eventually everyone will rise to the level of their incompetence.”
This career advancement system is based on three false premises.
“Firstly, the idea that each next rung of the ladder is just a more complex version of the previous one is wrong. If a person coped excellently with his duties at one stage, this does not mean at all that he will repeat his success, rising a little higher.
Secondly, the upper steps should be considered prestigious.
Thirdly, it is believed that the more varied the experience, the better.
“Create heroes in each role. Make sure that any role performed with brilliance becomes a profession worthy of recognition.
“If a company wants all of its employees to demonstrate excellence, it must find ways to inspire them to improve their skills. Defining a skill level for each role is a highly effective way to achieve this goal.” The skill level system is an alternative to the career ladder. However, this will not work if the reward system is tied only to the career ladder and ignore the skill level system.
“Before you start developing a payment scheme, consider one nuance. An excellent performance in a simple role is more valuable than a mediocre job at a higher rung of the traditional career ladder. A good flight attendant is more valuable than a mediocre pilot.” “For all positions, you must create a scheme where rewards for high skill levels in lower positions should be the same as rewards for low skill levels in positions higher up the career ladder.”
Given that employees can leave at any time for another company, and that in general the employee himself must take control of his career, what is the task of a manager?
Managers level the playing field
“In order to be successful in their role, managers need methods such as creating new heroes, setting tiered skill levels and reward ranges. These methods allow you to create a working environment where money and prestige are dispersed throughout the company. If every worker knows that many paths are open to them, then monetary wealth and prestige cease to be decisive factors in decision-making. Now anyone can choose a career based on the knowledge of their talents.”
Manager holding a mirror
The best managers communicate with employees regularly, discuss results and plans. "The best managers also use the 360-degree method, employee profiles, or customer surveys."
About feedback:
- chapter 7
The authors identify three main features of such communication: the regularity of conversations, each conversation begins with a review of the work performed, communication is carried out face to face.
From time immemorial, managers have asked the question: “Should I briefly communicate with subordinates? Or does friendship lead to disrespect? The most progressive managers answer yes to the first question and no to the second. “The same applies to spending leisure time with your employees: if you don’t want to, don’t. If it doesn't go against your style, having lunch together and going out to the bar will not hurt the work, provided that "you evaluate your subordinates according to the results of their professional activities."
If an employee does something wrong, such as being late, then the first question of the best managers is “Why?”
In the study Google tried to determine what affects the effectiveness of the team. In their opinion, the most important thing was to create an atmosphere of trust and psychological security in the team. This means that employees are not afraid to take risks and know that they will not be stoned for making a mistake. But how to achieve psychological security? In the article an example is given when a manager tells the team about his serious illness and thereby takes communication to another level. Not everyone, of course, fortunately, has serious illnesses. In my experience, sports are a great way to bring a team together. If you trained together and managed to achieve a result, then you will communicate in a completely different way later in your work (see, for example, how we participated in or ).
Managers provide insurance
The career ladder implies that there is no turning back. This discourages people from learning something new about themselves and experimenting. A good approach to ensure the safety of an employee is a trial period. The employee must understand that the probationary period allows him to return to his previous position if he does not work out in a new role. It should not be ashamed, it should not be regarded as a defeat.
The Art of Demanding Love
It's not easy to fire people. How to behave when a person constantly does not cope with his duties? There is no universal solution.
“The best managers evaluate the work of their subordinates in terms of achieving the best result, so demanding love does not allow for compromise. To the question “What level of performance is unacceptable?” these managers respond: "Any execution that fluctuates around the average without any uptrend." To the question "How long should this level of performance be tolerated?" they reply, "Not very long."
“The best managers don't hide their feelings. They understand that only the presence or absence of talent creates stable patterns. They know that if all methods of dealing with poor performance have been tried, and a person still does not cope with his duties, then he does not have the talents necessary for this work. Constant imperfection is “not a matter of stupidity, weakness, disobedience or disrespect. It's a matter of inconsistency."
Employees may refuse to face the truth. But the best managers should try to give the employee what suits them best, even if that means firing them.
This section is very similar to chapter 8 of the book. .
Chapter 7
“Each talented manager has his own style, but at the same time they all have one goal in common - to direct the talents of subordinates to obtain a commercial result. And the four keys—selecting for talent, finding the right goals, focusing on strengths, and finding the right role—help them do just that.”
How to spot talent in an interview?
The goal is to identify repetitive patterns of behavior. So a good way to identify them is to ask open-ended questions about the circumstances they may face in a new job and allow the person to express themselves through choice. “What is constantly found in his answers reflects the way a person acts in a real situation.”
A very good question is a question of the form: "Give me an example of a situation when you...". In this case, the priority should be given to the answers that first came to the person's mind. "The details are less important than having a specific example that spontaneously came to the candidate's mind." "Therefore, base your conclusions on whether the example was concrete and spontaneous."
“Rapid learning is a key indicator of talent. Ask the candidate what kind of work he was able to quickly figure out.
“What gives a person pleasure is the key to his talents. So ask the candidate about what brings him the most satisfaction, about what situations give him strength, about the circumstances in which he feels comfortable.
Another way is to identify questions that the best employees answer in a special way. For example, teachers should like it when students question their words. You can try to identify these questions in conversations with your most successful subordinates.
At Amazon (and many other top companies), the hiring process is based on the so-called. behavioral issues - see section In-person Interview. In addition, these questions revolve around the values of the company, formulated in the form .
I also recommend the book и for those who want to understand how the process of hiring technical specialists and product managers works at Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others.
Execution management
In order to keep abreast, the authors recommend meeting with each employee at least once a quarter. Such meetings should be simple, they should be focused on the future, achievements should be recorded.
Questions to ask an employee after hiring or at the beginning of the year
- What did you like most about your last job? What brings you here? What keeps you company? (If a person has been working for a long time).
- What do you think are your strengths (skills, knowledge, talents)?
- What about the flaws?
- What are your goals for your current job? (Check the numbers and dates).
- How often would you like to discuss your achievements with me? Will you tell me how you feel about the job yourself, or would you prefer me to ask you questions?
- Do you have any personal goals and plans that you would like to tell me about?
- What was the best promotion you have ever received? Why did you like it so much?
- Have you ever had partners or mentors with whom you worked more productively? Why do you think this collaboration was useful for you?
- What are your career goals? What skills would you like to acquire? Are there any special problems you would like to solve? How can I help you?
- Is there anything else related to the effectiveness of our joint work that we have not had time to touch on?
Further, it is worth holding regular meetings with each employee on the planning of achievements. At the meeting, the following questions are first discussed (10 minutes).
«A. What actions did you take? This question asks for a detailed description of the work done in the last three months, including numbers and timelines.
AT. What new things have you discovered for yourself? Here, new knowledge acquired at trainings, during the preparation of a presentation, at a meeting, or simply from a book read can be noted. Wherever this knowledge comes from, have the employee track their own learning.
C. With whom have you managed to build partnerships?
Then future plans are discussed.
D. What is your main goal? What is the employee going to focus on over the next three months?
E. What new discoveries are you planning? What new knowledge is the employee going to acquire in the next three months?
F. What partnerships do you want to build? How is the employee going to expand their connections?
Answers to the question should be recorded and checked at each meeting. “When discussing successes, challenges, and goals, try to focus on strengths. Formulate such expectations that will suit this particular person.
Further, the employee may want to discuss alternative career paths.
“To do this, use the five career development questions.
- How would you describe your success in your current job? Can you measure it? Here's what I think about it (your comments).
- What is it about your job that makes you who you are? What does this say about your skills, knowledge, and talents? My opinion (your comments).
- What attracts you the most in your current job? Why?
- What work moments cause you the most problems? What does this say about your skills, knowledge, and talents? How can we deal with it?
- Do you need training? Role change? Support system? Complementary partner?
- What should be your ideal role? Imagine that you are already in this role: it is Thursday, three o'clock in the afternoon - what are you doing? Why do you like this role so much?
Here's what I think about it (your comments).
“No leader is able to force a subordinate to work productively. Managers are catalysts.”
Each employee must:
Whenever possible, look in the mirror. Use all the types of feedback the company provides to better understand who you are and how others perceive you.
“Meditate. Every month, take 20 to 30 minutes to reflect on everything that has happened in the last few weeks. What have you achieved? What have you learned? What do you love and what can't you stand? How does all this characterize you and your talents?
- Discover something new. Over time, your understanding of your own skills, knowledge and talents will expand. Use this expanded understanding to volunteer for roles that suit you, become a better partner, and choose the direction of your learning and development.
- Expand and strengthen ties. Figure out what types of relationships work best for you and start building them.
- Track your achievements. Write down any new discoveries you make.
- Benefit. When you come to work, you can't help but influence your company. Thanks to you, your place of work can become a little better or a little worse. Let it be better
Recommendations for companies
A. Focus on results. The main task is to formulate the goal. It is the task of every man to find the most appropriate means to achieve this end.” “Managers should be responsible for the results of the survey of employees on 12 questions (see the beginning of the post). These results are important indicators.
B. Value excellence in every job. In strong companies, every job well done is respected. It is also necessary to work out skill levels and celebrate personal records monthly or quarterly.
C. Study the best workers. Strong companies learn from their best employees. Such companies have made it a rule to investigate perfect execution.
D. Teach the language to the best managers.
- Teach executives to use the four keys to being the best managers. Emphasize especially the difference between skills, knowledge and talents. Make sure managers understand that talent, which is any renewable pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting, is required to do any job perfectly, and that talent cannot be taught.
- Change the recruitment process, job descriptions, and resume requirements to reflect the importance of talent.
- Review your training system to reflect differences in knowledge, skills, and talents. A good company understands what can be taught and what cannot.
- Remove all corrective elements from the training program. Send your most talented employees to learn new knowledge and skills that match their talents. Stop sending less talented people to trainings where they need to be "pulled up".
- Provide feedback. Remember that comprehensive research, individual profiles, or rewards for work will only be useful if they help a person to better understand themselves and capitalize on their strengths. Do not use them to identify deficiencies that need to be corrected.
- Implement a performance management program.
* * *
The book, I confess, broke my brain at first. And after reflection, a holistic picture developed, and I began to better understand why something worked or didn’t work for me in relationships with employees and where to move on. I was surprised to find that I understand how the hiring process works in the best companies in the world, why sports flourish in our company and what needs to be tweaked in my team.
I would be grateful if in the comments you provide links to examples of the practices of successful companies that resonate with the ideas of the book.
Source: habr.com