Google Rules

Several years ago, statisticians working at Google's People Innovation Lab started a project they called "Project Oxygen" with the goal of proving once and for all that the leadership and management are critical to the success of high-performing teams (see one of my old posts "There's no team without trust" for more on "Project Aristotle" a similar study Google performed to determine the characteristics that set apart high-performing teams).  They collected data from employee engagement surveys, performance appraisals, interviews, and other sources of employee feedback, including nominations for top-manager awards.  Google actually conducts performance reviews of all employees on a quarterly basis rather than annually.  They coded this huge treasure trove of data and then analyzed it using a "Big Data" approach in a way that only a company like Google can do!

The "Project Oxygen" team found that good leadership and management really does matter.  They further identified what might be called the "Eight Habits of Highly Effective Google Managers" (I like to call them the "Google Rules"), listed below in their order of importance:

1. Be a good coach

2. Empower your team and don't micromanage

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

4. Be productive and results-oriented

5. Be a good communicator and listen to your team

6. Help your team members with career development

7. Have a clear vision and strategy for the team

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

Laszlo Bock, Google's Senior Vice President for "People Operations" and author of the book Work Rules! admitted, "In the Google context, we’d always believed that to be a manager, particularly on the engineering side, you need to be as deep or deeper a technical expert than the people who work for you.  It turns out that that’s absolutely the least important thing. It’s important, but pales in comparison. Much more important is just making that connection and being accessible."

The "Project Oxygen" team also identified three management pitfalls, or behaviors that leaders and managers should avoid at all costs:

1. Have trouble making a transition to the team

2. Lack a consistent approach to performance management and career development

3. Spend too little time managing and communicating

Once Google had their list, they started using it in their leadership education and training programs.  Even though most of the items on the list seem intuitive and would likely be found in any management 101 textbook, simply focusing on the behaviors on the list improved even their lowest performing managers by 75 percent!  And just as important, Laszlo Bock will be the first to admit that these 8 simple rules aren't chiseled in stone.  Google's "People Operations" team will continue to monitor and test these rules and continue to reinforce them as long as they are shown to be effective.

Bock admits that these rules are fairly simple, and perhaps that is why they are so effective.  However, just as with any skill, good leadership requires hard work and practice.  Bock would also say that "if I'm a manager and I want to get better, and I want more out of my people and I want them to be happier, two of the most important things I can do is just make sure I have some time for them and be consistent." Simple, but elegant.