On the 12 questions

This week’s learning draws inspiration from ‘First, break the rules’ by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.

The 25 year Gallup research study on management resulted in the following 12 questions being a great judge of whether a workplace ‘attracts and retains’ the best employees. Workplaces that received a ‘Strongly Agree’ on all were truly fantastic workplaces.

Base Camp: How can I clarify this to ensure I am being productive? Are my lowest level needs met?
1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?

Camp 1: Do I have people who care for my development?
4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?

Camp 2: Do I feel involved in the team?
7. At work, do my opinions count?
8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?

Camp 3: Am in an environment that encourages me to innovate?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?


First up, I thought this was a nice framework for us to apply for our own jobs and see if there are factors missing. The key point here is that missing points on Camp 3 has very less impact as compared to missing points on Camp 1, for example. It doesn’t matter if the company ticks all points in Camp 3 if Camp 1 is left unfulfilled as you are left with ‘mountain sickness’ i.e lack of Oxygen supply thanks to climbing up too fast!

Here’s to asking ourselves the 12 questions this week!