John Sadowsky turns to a recent project at Google to highlight how soft skills can influence managerial style across an organisation.
As someone who has consulted for numerous high-tech companies and who has taught business students and engineers the past two decades, I read with considerable interest an article in the New York Times in March 2011, called 'Google's Quest to Build a Better Boss'.
Most people recognise Google as a leader in charting the course of technology and changing the way we interact with our computers and mobile devices. As it turns out, the company may also play a role in defining the future of management.
The original concept
Leave knowledge workers free to create. Until recently, Google had taken a predominantly hands-off approach to managing human resources. Their reasoning was straightforward. As one of the world's most desirable places to work, they should hire the smartest young people they can find, and then simply stay out of their way.
Google's founders and leaders made the assumption that such highly intelligent, self-motivated individuals—particularly engineers—prefer to be left alone. After all, they are talented problem solvers, and employers should simply let them do their stuff. If they ever do become stuck, they will ask their bosses for help. Accordingly, the primary function of a Google manager should be to supply the deep technical expertise required to get roadblocks resolved, so that their subordinates and their teams can move on rapidly.
"Most people recognise Google as a leader in charting the course of technology and changing the way we interact with our computers and mobile devices. As it turns out, the company may also play a role in defining the future of management."In my consulting work with start-ups, I have seen that Google's attitude is far from unique. Many early stage high-tech companies espouse similar ideas about hiring and managing young people. Also, these days it seems that the popular press is full of stories about why the modern-day knowledge worker must be treated differently than the employee of years past. We are told that they are from a new generation—be it Generation X, Generation Y, Generation Flux, or the Millennial Generation—and they simply do not see the need for management structure. Often, they even resent it and rebel against it.
The new conventional wisdom is telling us that these young workers are rapid problem solvers with short attention spans. They move readily from task to task, and they are quickly bored. They do not see the need for anyone to control what they do. They are not loyal to their organisations; they dislike hierarchy, and their greatest desire is that bosses stay out of the way and just let them get on with things.
Re-examining the role of the manager
Despite their forward-thinking, minimalist approach to new-age management, Google began to see evidence that managers do indeed matter. By 2008, and with more than a decade of history, the 'people operations' group (Google's term for HR) was noticing huge swings in the ratings that employees gave to their bosses.
So, Project Oxygen—Google's extensive study of what makes a boss effective—was conceived because of a simple observation and a straightforward premise. According to Lazlo Bock, vice president for people operations, his unit had observed that the best managers had teams that consistently performed better than others. They also retained people better, and their work groups were generally happier. In fact (and this may come as no surprise) these well-managed teams seemed to do everything better.
Out of these conclusions about teams came the hypothesis that focusing on the quality of the manager would have a significant impact on the performance of the entire company. As such, the Project Oxygen task force set out to find the characteristics that make a manager good. It was the start of a multi-phase, multi-year project to engineer better bosses at Google.
Doing the research internally
Up to this point, there is perhaps nothing particularly surprising in this anecdote. In fact, it all sounds remarkably simple and pedestrian. Google's questions about performance are logical ones that any organisation might ask, and their conclusions about teams are somewhat intuitive ones that they might have reached on their own, without the benefit of any in-depth research. One is even tempted to say that a company such as Google should have known all along that better managers might lead teams to superior results.
But here is where the story begins to get interesting. Rather than rely on academic or third party research about managers and organisations, they set about doing it all themselves. As a world-class data-mining organisation, Google has the resources to compile and correlate large masses of internal information. Thus, in early 2009, the statisticians from Project Oxygen began analysing performance reviews, feedback surveys and nominations for top-manager awards.
"Google's questions about performance are logical ones that any organisation might ask...one is even tempted to say that a company such as Google should have known all along that better managers might lead teams to superior results."
They studied more than 10,000 observations about managers, across more than 100 variables, correlating words, phrases, elements of praise, and complaints.
Their methodology is worthy of note, in two respects. First, studies such as this one were simply not possible until recently, and only a company such as Google has the capability to amass and analyse data in this way. And second, since Google's study is based on vast quantities of its own information, it is difficult for anyone inside the company to reject it as theoretical or generic wisdom that may not be relevant to their specific environment.
Defining an effective boss at Google
In the first phase of Project Oxygen, the team identified the characteristics of an outstanding boss, what a New York Times article termed the 'Eight Habits of Highly Successful Google Managers'.
At first glance, and taken in no particular order, the most striking aspect of the eight directives is perhaps how simple and obvious they appear to be:
- Have a clear vision and strategy for the team
- Help your employees with career development
- Don't be a sissy; be productive and results-oriented
- Have key technical skills so you can advise them
- Empower your team and don't micromanage
- Be a good coach
- Express interest in team members' success and personal well-being
- Be a good communicator and listen to your team
Laszlo Bock, Google's vice president for people operations, was somewhat taken aback by the straightforward and self-evident nature of the conclusions, derived from such an in-depth piece of cutting-edge research. His first reaction after reading the report was 'that's it?'
Part two will appear on site next week.
John Sadowsky is an internationally renowned leadership coach and inspirational speaker with over 20 years experience on five continents. He is the author of several books about the use of narrative in business and leadership. John is Distinguished Professor of Management at Grenoble Ecole de Management. Find more information and read John's blog at www.johnsadowsky.com
