The Google Way of Growing Better Managers

"According to a story in Sunday’s New York Times, the effort was code named Project Oxygen, and Google applied the same sort of rigorous technical evaluation to the project — “analyzing performance reviews, feedback surveys, and nominations for top-manager awards….(correlating) phrases, words, praise and complaints” — that they might apply to, say, figuring out how to provide news without involving any human editors.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Google developing an algorithm that could somehow take this very human activity and make it something very different. They found that the “Eight Habits of Highly Effective Google Managers” that they came up with were, as the Times put it, “forehead-slappingly obvious” so much so that “it’s hard to believe that it took the mighty Google so long to figure them out.”

Here's the “Eight Good Behaviors”:

1. Be a good coach:

·         Provide specific, constructive feedback, balancing the negative and the positive.

·         Have regular one-on-ones, presenting solutions to the problems tailored to your   

          employees’ specific strengths.

2. Empower your team and don’t micromanage:

·         Balance giving freedom to your employees, while being available for advice.

·         Make stretch assignments to help the team members tackle big problems.

3. Express interest in team members’ success and personal well-being:

·         Get to know your employees as people, with lives outside of work.

·         Make new members of your team feel welcome and help ease their transition.

4. Don’t be a sissy: be productive and results-oriented:

·         Focus on what the employees want the team to achieve and 

          how they can help achieve it.

·         Help the team prioritize work and use seniority to remove roadblocks.

5. Be a good communicator and listen to your team:

·         Communication is two-way because you both listen and share information.

·         Hold all-hands meetings and be straightforward about the messages and 

          goals of the team. Help the team members to connect the dots.

·         Encourage open dialogue and listen to the issues and concerns of your employees.

6. Help your employees with career development.

7. Have a clear vision and strategy for the team:

·         Even in the midst of turmoil, keep the team focused on goals and strategy.

·         Involve the team in setting and evolving the team’s vision and making progress 

          toward it.

8. Have key technical skills so you can help advise the team:

·         Roll up your sleeves and conduct work side by side with the tram, when needed.

·         Understand the specific, especially the unique challenges of the work to be done.