12: The Elements of Great Managing

Based on the largest study of worker attitudes in the world and more than a decade of Gallup research, the authors explain the 12 Elements essential to motivating employees. The book also features the inspiring stories of 12 managers around the world who succeeded in these dimensions.

More than a decade ago, Gallup combed through its database of more than 1 million employee and manager interviews to identify the 12 elements most important for sustaining high performance. These were identified in the 1999 bestseller First, Break All the Rules.

The Gallup study now includes 9 million employee and manager interviews spanning 114 countries and conducted in 41 languages. The authors weave together the latest Gallup insights with recent discoveries in the fields of psychology, physiology, game theory, neuroscience, and management. Chapters in the book follow great managers as they harness employee engagement to turn around a failing call center, save a struggling restaurant, improve patient care in a hospital, maintain production through power outages, and face a host of other challenges in settings around the world.

Written to be accessible to all managers and employees, 12 explains what every company needs to know about human nature on the job.

Rodd Wagner is a former Gallup employee.

James K. Harter, Ph.D., is chief scientist for Gallup’s international workplace management practice and coauthor of ＂Manage Your Human Sigma,＂ published in the Harvard Business Review. Dr. Harter has authored or coauthored more than 1,000 research studies for profit and nonprofit organizations. Some of this research has been popularized in the business bestsellers First, Break All the Rules, and How Full Is Your Bucket? and in academic articles, book chapters, and publications such as USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. He lives in Omaha, Nebraska.