In this interview, we discuss his latest project, StandOut, a combination book and strengths assessment that uses an innovative new research methodology to reveal your top two “strength Roles.” StandOut goes beyond description to give people practical strategies that fit their strengths, and provide managers with quick insights on how to get the best from each member of their team.

Marcus Buckingham is a soloist in the strengths movement choir. He has been a mouthpiece for the idea since seemingly the very beginning. Marcus is a gifted communicator with a talent for understanding the need for rigorous research. Which is why when he finally decided to create a market a self-assessment, StandOut, it should peak everyone’s interest. I’ll admit, I was actually a little confused at why Marcus had decided to create an assessment – I am a big fan of Go Put Your Strengths to Work and the accompanying Trombone Player Wanted film series. Both of these works rest on the idea that taking a test isn’t as useful as studying yourself at work.

So how good could this StandOut test be?

Good.

The book itself is a quick read, meant to introduce you to the test, have you take it, and then help you analyze your results. It’s how the test itself is structured that is really cool. The entire assessment uses behavior-based questions. Rather than ask you “Do you like ______ or ______ better?” it gives you situations and then asked you have you’d respond. Eventually, it locks in on the pattern behind your hypothetical behaviors – these are your strengths roles. When you complete the test, it generates a report that can be view online or download. The report explains your result and provides tips for how to make an immediate impact and how to craft a long-term strategy based on your position in an organization.

I’m inherently skeptical of self-assessments because the usually just ask you to describe yourself and then re-label your own description – sort of like stealing your watch and then telling you the time. That said, I believe StandOut has the potential to make a real impact in an organization because it deals with how you ACT in the world, not how you THINK you act. I’m especially looking forward to the release of the manager dashboard function, which will allow managers to access a website (or iPad app) that houses the results of their team and provides tips for interactions).

StandOut is the product StrengthsFinder 2.0 should have been.

A few weeks ago I got into a conversation about whether situational leadership was more appropriate for top-level or front-line leadership. I argued that situational leadership is most appropriate for front-line leadership. To be more specific, I believe that the front-line is about management and situational leadership is about how to manage, not necessarily lead, teams with diverse backgrounds (Hersey and Blanchard, 1972). This theory states that managers should respond in one of four styles, corresponding to the maturity levels of individuals on the team. In addition, managers should respond different to each individual, since maturity levels are different. Buckingham (2005) differentiated management and leadership by asserting that managers coordinate the strengths of individuals on a team (situational leadership) in order to bring about optimal performance and leaders rallied individuals to work toward a better future. Very little “people rallying” occurs with situational leadership, making it more appropriate to front-line supervisors acting as managers.

Theories such as Charismatic leadership and Transformational leadership appear to be more about rallying followers to better future using motivating factors (Northouse, 2006). These theories seem to be more appropriate for consideration when working with an organization’s top leaders, those concerned with motivating followers toward the future of the organization.

Buckingham, M. (2005) The one thing you need to know: about great managing, great leading and sustained individual success. New York, NY: Free Press

Hersey, P. and Blanchard, K. H. (1972). Management of Organizational Behavior: Utilizing Human Resources (2nd ed.)New Jersey/Prentice Hall.

Northouse, P. (2006). Leadership: Theory and practice (4^th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Leading or Managing? – GMJ

Useful Lies

Strengths-based leadership theory is supported by over 30 years of research from the Gallup Organization and others. In addition, it’s core beliefs overlap a variety of other developing theories in personal and organizational psychology including positive psychology and appreciative inquiry. However, many have criticized the fundamental assessment tool of the Gallup Organization, StrengthsFinder 2.0, as unreliable. Recent research has found that when leading teams, strengths-based leadership causes individual team member efficacy to increase, but collective team efficacy to decrease, suggesting that it is not an optimal method for leading teams where cohesion is necessary.

• Intro to Leadership Theory
• Why Theory
• A Word on Theory
• Trait Theory
• Skills Theory
• Style Theory
• Contingency Theory
• Situational Leadership Theory
• Path-Goal Theory
• Leader-Member Exchange Theory
• Transformational Leadership Theory
• Servant Leadership Theory
• Strengths-Based Leadership Theory