Can Google Build Better Bosses?

Bosses have a huge influence on people's performance and job satisfaction (meaning whether they stay or leave), so Google has embarked on a bold initiative: to build better managers. "Project Oxygen" applies what Google does best (organizing information) to the unpredictable world of the human element.

"Project Oxygen" is perhaps more far-reaching than any algorithm the company has ever designed. Its "people analytics" teams went about finding what makes a good manager.

They gathered and analyzed over 10,000 observations about managers across more than 100 variables, from performance reviews, 360-degree feedbacks and nominations for top-manager awards. Then they coded the observations to find patterns.

In trying to apply a data-driven approach to the unpredictable world of human behavior, "Google is really on the leading edge," said Todd Safferstone, managing director of the Corporate Leadership Council of the Corporate Executive Board.

At first glance, the list Google found by correlating thousands of phrases, words, praise and complaints is self-evident. In fact, it is head-slappingly obvious to the point of sounding trivial. Here is the detailed list including some pitfalls managers run into.

"My first reaction was, that's it?" said Laszlo Bock, Google's vice president people operations (which is Googlespeak for human resources). Indeed, the list has a certain "duh?" effect on readers.

But then Bock and his team looked at how employees had ranked the eight directives in importance, and found some interesting things.

For starters, "Be a good coach" is number one. (You and I could have told them that years ago and saved them the trouble. You mean, we should not act like Will Ferrell in this video?)



What employees valued most were even-tempered bosses whom they could meet with one-on-one, who did not give answers but asked questions designed to help people find their own answers, and who did not micro-manage but gave people freedom coupled with stretch goals.

And what is dead last on the list? Technical skills. This came as a surprise.

"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," Bock said. "It turns out that that's absolutely the least important."

What do you think? Should bosses know their technical (or financial or operational) stuff to manage their geeks (or their finance or operations people)? And, should we forget all about those business books about management as zen or management as war? I look forward to reading you on http://thomaszweifel.blogspot.com/.

P.S. For a free copy of my new e-book Leading Leaders: The Art and Science of Boosting Return on People (ROP), go to Leading-Leaders.