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Using Your Strengths to Become Stronger
Performance expert Marcus Buckingham explains how to identify your core
strengths and turn them into potent value drivers—for yourself and your organization.
by Lauren Keller Johnson
mproving performance is about overcoming
weaknesses, right? Not according to Marcus
THIS ARTICLE DETAILS:
Buckingham, author of Go Put Your Strengths to Work:
6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance
■ The defining characteristics of a strength
(Free Press, 2007). He says that top performers excel not
by focusing on their weaknesses but by focusing on their
■ How to identify your strengths
strengths: identifying them, putting them at the center of
their work, and building on them.
■ Ways to put your strengths to work
But what are strengths, exactly? They’re much more
than simply what you do well, says Buckingham, a former
researcher at The Gallup Institute (Washington, D.C.) activity is a strength for you. (For more on determining
who now heads The Marcus Buckingham Company, if an activity is a strength, see the sidebar “The ‘SIGN’ of
based in Beverly Hills, Calif., which provides strengths- a Strength.”)
based consulting, training, and e-learning. “The notion
Buckingham suggests this exercise: Take a blank pad
that your strengths are what you’re good at is incomplete,” of paper and draw a line down the middle of the first few
he explains. “Activities that you happen to perform well
pages. At the top of the left-hand column on each, write
can actually deplete you if you don’t also enjoy them. That “I Loved It.” At the top of the right-hand column, write “I
makes them weaknesses for you.”
Loathed It.” Every day for a week, assign each activity you
Your strengths are the work activities that consistently perform in your job to one column or the other.
make you feel productive, energized, and engaged. Teams
comprising people who spend most of their time using Identify the three activities you would
their strengths at work deliver higher performance than
those who do not but are engaged in the same kind of like to spend most, if not all, of your time
work, according to a Gallup survey of high-performing
doing during a typical week.
teams cited by Buckingham.
Record all your activities and the feelings they trigger in
To generate the most business value from your
you as they happen, not at the end of the day or week. Also,
strengths, you need to:
list activities and your emotions in specific terms—for
n Identify them
example, “I felt excited when I analyzed the sales numbers
n Find ways to put them at the center of your work
for the lighting division,” “I was consumed by a feeling of
dread when I sat down to write the article on new strategy
IDENTIFY YOUR STRENGTHS
for the company newsletter,” and “I was really pumped
When it comes to identifying your strengths, Buckingham
up after I led the meeting on the XS3000 marketing
says, “Only you can do it. You’re the expert on which
campaign.” Avoid vague language such as “I liked meeting
activities enliven you and deplete you. You don’t need
the new marketing team,” “I enjoyed the new challenges
360-degree feedback or input from your boss.”
that came my way this week,” or “I felt good when I was
Determining your strengths requires taking note of
learning new things.” Also, make sure you list activities
how you feel before, during, and after carrying out each
that you performed, rather than instances when you were
activity during your workday. If you find yourself looking
the recipient of others’ actions. (For example, you wouldn’t
forward to a particular activity before you begin tackling write down something like, “I felt energized when the CFO
it, you’re able to concentrate on it while performing it, and
praised my work during a meeting.”)
you feel fulfilled and excited afterward, chances are that
What should you do if you have many more activities
I
Copyright © 2008 by Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.
