Google Review Determines What Makes a Great Manager
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David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Google this: “good management.”
Google Inc. reviewed several years of exit interviews to determine what makes a good leader. It compiled the findings in the December issue of the Harvard Business Review.
According to the report, most workers want a good coach who empowers the team, doesn’t micromanage and is concerned with employee’s personal and professional well being. They also want their managers to be good communicators that help employees with career development.
Google, which has 37,000 employees and 5,000 managers, found that managers mattered for the success of the company because they contribute by “communicating strategy, helping employees prioritize projects, facilitating collaboration, supporting career development, and ensuring that processes and systems aligned with company goals,” wrote David Garvin, a Harvard business professor.
Garvin wrote that at Google it is not uncommon to find engineering managers with 30 direct reports. It’s not by accident, though. Google software engineer Eric Flatt told Garvin, it’s to prevent micromanaging.
“There’s only so much you can meddle when you have 30 people on your team, so you have to focus on creating the best environment for engineers to make things happen,” Flatt said.
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