Grow your business: Making good managers better
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Simply put, Google wanted to develop their managers. Project Oxygen, as it is known, began as an idea in 2008, ultimately launching in 2009. Since then it has become a classic study of leadership characteristics for being an effective manager. In their study, more than ten thousand observations were made across one-hundred variables, along with extensive managerial interviews. The results are historic.
Google asked the question; ‘What does it take to be a good manager?’ Then, true to their leadership style, they proceeded to find the answer(s) to the question. The People Innovation Lab at Google was tasked with the project. Their goal was to show managerial quality does NOT impact employee performance.
As already mentioned, they looked at huge amounts of data; performance evaluations, employee surveys, and interviews in order to differentiate the bad managers from the good ones. BUT, they discovered the opposite of what they thought; they found eight categories, more appropriately, characateristics, that make-up a good manager and positively impact employee performance. Some of the characteristics are self-explanatory, others require a few clarifications.
Those eight managerial characteristics are:
- Is a good coach
- Empowers the team and does not micromanage
- Expresses interest in and concern for team members’ success and personal well being
- Is productive and results-oriented
- Is a good communicator—listens and shares information
- Helps with career development
- Has a clear vision and strategy for the team
- Has key technical skills that help him or her advise the team.
Saying Google is an ‘engineer-driven company’ is probably an understatement. As anyone would expect, the study initially faced intense pushback from their engineers. It is widely accepted that engineers are known to be people who have their own way and style of doing things. Inherent within that style is a dislike for bad managers.
In his book Work Rules! Insights form Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live, author Laszlo Bock says, “Engineers generally think managers are at best a necessary evil, but mainly they get in the way, create bureaucracy, and screw things up.” Laszlo believes micro-managing those types of people results in conflict and loss of interest. Furthermore, a survey by Virtuali determined that eighty-three percent of millennials want fewer levels of management. Those observations and findings, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, created a perfect set-up for the results of the Project Oxygen study.
Madeline Miles, in an article written about Project Oxygen said, “We’ve evolved from wanting ping pong tables and nap pods to a workforce craving connection, autonomy, and flexibility. We’ve pivoted from chasing efficiency and sticking to business to showing up as our whole selves at work and putting belonging and inclusion at the forefront of the employee experience. Reflecting on the past decade alone, we’ve lived through plenty of workplace disruption. Through COVID-19 and the Great Resignation, we learned that employees want to find purpose in their work. They also want flexibility, health, and meaning. Employees want to choose when and where they work while still maintaining meaningful connections with others. We’ve learned that, for many, working remotely actually unlocked creativity, opened up new opportunities, and helped galvanize a workforce to reach more of its potential.”
Here are some general observations about a few of the characteristics from the study:
Coaching: The key ingredient for being a good coach is to differentiate between a staff member who just needs a little guidance and someone who is in need of more micromanaging for their tasks. If they have five years of experience or more, as an engineer, the employee is probably more well versed in how to get things done. All they need is someone who will assist them in setting goals and then getting out of the way. The key for a good coach is knowing when to provide general guidance and when to step in and assist. More times than not, the amount of coaching needed is less for staff members with more experience.
Further, the study showed the importance of managers having a sufficient level of technical knowledge, but being an excellent communicator is considered essential. In other words, just because someone is an exceptional programmer, they might not be a better manager.
Feedback: A good manager does not just give feedback, it is how they give it which makes a difference. In her article, Miles goes on to say “Delivering well-balanced actionable feedback is the answer. When you have to deliver constructive feedback, some managers balance it out by first explaining to their employees what they’re doing well.”
Use these eight characteristics as a checklist when you consider promoting or hiring someone as a manager in your organization. They can help take your business to the next level of growth.