Now Discover Your Strengths - The Review...
Hidden deep in the extended link of this entry you will find a short review of Marcus Buckingham's book "Now Discover Your Strengths".
I have to be honest - the review is a little odd. Primarily because we've been instructed to only read up to Chapter 4 as we're learning the rest at our MLS session next week.
Also, I've heard/seen Mr Buckingham speak on a similar theme several times, so much of what I've read has kind of amalgamated with the stuff I'd heard on the subject before.
Anyway, having said all that. I think the principles in this book are excellent. I'm more and more convinced that the idea of playing to our strengths is what transforms great teams to excellent teams. And if you want to know why, you'll just have to click the link (or even consider reading the book yourself.
So here goes...
The book "Now Discover Your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham has been one of those books that intrigued me since the day I first heard about it 2 years ago.
I was given a copy of the book when I applied for the directors role at NSYFC. Having been shortlisted, I was asked to complete the online "strengthsfinder" exercise and report my results to the interview panel for the role. At that point, I never actually got round to reading the book, mainly because I had 1 week to prepare for a major interview & figured that the book was a fairly low priority, and the results I got from the online test were quite unusual as well, but more on that later.
So, as part of the MLS course I've been asked to read this book, so this time I actually have (well, the first 4 chapters anyway) and I have to say that I've been very excited by some of the ideas that are raised. The truth of the matter is, that after reading the first chapter you pretty much know what the rest of the book is going to be about, but it's good to have the basic concept expanded on.
But what is the "basic concept" I hear you ask...
Put simply, the essence of the book is that if you want to be hugely successful in life, work and play, it's not only important to know what your strengths are, but to invest time & energy into developing those strengths, rather than using up our time trying to plug holes in areas where we're not so adept.
One of the things I've loved about this book so far is some of the "one line" ideas that you can't help but get stuck in your head. For example: The world says we need to strive to be "well rounded individuals", but realistically, those we think of as successful usually show character traits that suggest they are not "rounded" but "sharp" in one or two key areas.
I also loved the idea that the English language just isn't broad enough to explain fully how peoples gifts and abilities are an aid, rather than a hinderance. The book again gives some clear examples of how strengths can be mis-interpreted. For instance, one may look at a person who is exceptional at imposing order and structure, and consider them "anal", or one may look upon a person who strives for excellence as an "egotist". There are many more examples throughout the book, but hopefully you get the idea.
The book suggests that a strength is made up of 3 components: knowledge, skill and talent, and claims that certain of these areas can be built upon whereas raw talent is something you either have, or you don't.
We can also break down this idea further - knowledge can be gained, which is good news, but we need to specify two types of knowledge that we can gain. These are factual (the stuff you can read in a text book) and experiential (which you can't read about, but rather gather as you try, make mistakes, unpack why certain things work and others don't, and then somehow retain that knowledge for future use.
The book also suggests that it's when we stop trying to change or expand our talent base, and start to invest developing our knowledge to complement these that people will notice a "change" in us. Whereas actually we haven't changed, we've decided to stop trying to change what we're good at, and instead develop our knowledge to fit with the talents we already have.
Skills, Buckingham claims, are simply the formalisation of our developed knowledge into a structure that we can actually use, almost like having index cards full of knowledge information, and deciding how best to arrange them in order that they make sense when needed. And again the impetus is on developing skills that (using our knowledge) we know will aid us in converting our talent into a real strength.
However, the danger is that we put so much energy into our develoment of knowledge and skills that this can almost take the place of any real talents we have. Knowledge and skills can help us to achieve, but they will never make us perform as well as we could if they aren't routed and developed around an innate talent.
So, where does this leave us?
Put simply, I've realised whilst reading this book that investing in areas of natural talent will always produce better results that trying to be someone who's "ok" at many things but can't pinpoint exactly what our primary giftings/talents are because they somehow got lost along the way with all the other "skills" baggage we've aquired.
Having said that, I've now completed the online assessment twice - once two years ago, and then again in the last few days. And I have to say that it's amazing how the results can vary depending on the role you're playing at the present time.
I was deeply shocked by the results of the strengthsfinder assessment when I completed it 2 years ago. Of my "top 5" strengths, I only really agreed with two of them, and having done the test again I can honestly say that it was because subconsciously, I was answering the various questions from a "what would a good director say?" stance. And it would also be fair to say that this time when I completed the questionnaire I vaguely remembered some of the answers I'd given as they popped up on the screen and thought to myself "why on earth did I choose that response".
As a result, the 5 key strengths from this latest assessment, I would say sum my strengths up pretty well, and unsurprisingly, the only two that are the same as before are the two that I felt were acurate last time.
For a breakdown of my top 5 strengths, see my previous blog post.
As with every book I've read throughout the MLS course so far, I would highly recommend that anyone read this book. The concepts are simple, and yet the working through of many of them are quite eye-opening.
And even if you don't fancy reading the book, it's worth the pricetag simply to gain access to the strengthsfinder online assessment - It's arleady helped me to feel far more confident about the strengths I've always felt I possessed, and given me the clarity to know where now to invest my time in developing skills and knowledge to complement them.
A phenominal book!!
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Hi Jon,
When I did the book it was also suggested that you pick an additional 2 areas which you recognise as ringing true to you when you read them through, so you end up with 7 strengths overall, 5 chosen via questionnaire and 2 extras.
I don't know which others you would warm too.
Have a good couple of days,,
Phil