Google’s Project Oxygen – 8 point plan to help managers improve their performance

Its all about staff engagement, innovation and increased productivity

A practical plan to help mangers be better?

Google have grown, so has their need to manage. This giga company has the time and resource like no other, and it is use some of that resource to invest not only in technology but inwards. As a part of that investment, the HR team embarken on some research using Google’s renound data analysis skills. Project Oxygen (so called as they see people as the life blood of the organisation) was designed to measure the impact of good managers and help the company make more of them.

The study found that a manager’s technical skills were far less valued by employees than people skills. However they are still on the list as being important.

Why do people leave their employer?

The work is based on testing the belief that people typically leave a company for one of three reasons.

1. They don’t feel a connection to the mission of the company, or sense that their work matters
2. They don’t really like or respect their co-workers
3. They have a bad boss — This being the biggest variable

“Project Oxygen is our attempt to verify here at Google the age-old HR statement that people leave organizations because of their managers,”.  ”We wanted to see whether there’s a huge variance in the quality of managers and if so, what kind of impact was it having on the company?” - Director of People Analytics & Compensation Prasad Setty.

Setty and his team examined the results from Googlegeist, the company’s annual employee survey, as well as performance-management scores and other data on managers to identify good performers and poor ones.

The work started in early 2009 and training from the results commenced in 2010.

The project set out to analyze the results from performance reviews, feedback surveys, nominations for top-manager awards and other available data. Then they correlated phrases, words, praise and complaints. The results were then prioritized by importance.

So what is in the 8 point plan to help managers improve?

Just the stuff you would expect – but it is about consistency and authenticity in the way they are applied. Unlike many competency approaches, Google just share the data and help individuals, managers and teams to make sense of it. They are not forced into change, they are educated and hope that individuals see what is expected of them and learn. If they don’t in the longer term.. well that is a different story.

The 8 point plan to help managers improve

You can see the original list as published

Stop the fad surfing

While many of us in the world of HR & Organizational Development strive to find the “new shiny” idea, this research clearly shows that we need to keep with the basics if we really want to succeed.

A note of caution – it will be easy for a company to adopt this as a list of things for them – such have 100s of firms in the past – but remember this is GOOGLE’S data – their culture is different, so while the issue may be similar, the outcomes may be very different!

NOTE, the fact that technical skills is still on the list is an important one. Employing “professional managers2 without some technical understanding can create tensions that do not need to exist.

Based on an article from NY Times

260 Management, leadership, coaching & business change models

Many of our readers have asked for us to add more slides to our downloadable models – so there they are… new for 2010

Management, Leadership models

Welcome to our summary of management, leadership, coaching, training, learning, occupational psychology and business models. This extensive collection is available to look at free here on the web, or you can download a set of images suitable for presentations. Have a look at what is available: See set 1 and See set 2

Over the years as professionals we have used many of these in our practice. We have been asked for copies… and here they are.

Please note that these are provided for educational purposes only, and we strongly encourage you to research the origins and use them only in the way in which they were intended.

We currently have 2 sets, not in any particular order. This is historical, as our first set was a real mixed bag, so is the second. In time we may well group them, however what we do not want to do is upset our current customers and force them to have to buy a set which contains mostly duplicates. In any-case, one of the advantages of putting sets together in this way is that it may inspire you to explore models you would not otherwise been exposed to.

Models See set 1 and See set 2

In addition we now have a complete set of blanks for you to add your own text.

The models cover: leadership, management, learning, training, business, marketing, change,… etc

See them at http://rapidbi.com/management/models-theories/

Action Learning for Leadership development

Introduction
When devising any leadership programme, it is important to ensure that as participants students are not only ‘taught’ or trained, but that they have the opportunity to put learning into action. Experience has shown us that unless we practice new skills and ideas soon after a programme we tend to forget the lessons learnt.

Action Learning is one of the methods good development programmes use to help leaders apply their learning. Other formal approaches will include your Line manager and your mentor.

Action Learning works best when a ‘Set’ of individuals are put together as a support group for the duration of the learning activity.
The concept of Action learning Sets was developed originally by Reg Revens.

A definition of Action Learning
“Action Learning is an approach to the development of people in organisations which takes the task as the vehicle for learning. It is based on the premise that there is no learning without action and no sober and deliberate action without learning. The method has three main components: people who accept responsibility for taking action on a particular issue; problems, or the task that people set themselves; and a set of six or so colleagues who support and challenge each other to make progress on problems. Action Learning implies both self-development and organisation development.” Mike Pedler (1991)

So what is Action Learning?
Action learning is based upon the concept of learning by reflection (or reviewing) on an experience. It is underpinned by the cycle of experiential learning as shown below, where the stages of reviewing and concluding are worked through with the Set.

In practice many of us tend to short circuit this cycle and often ship the reviewing phase as it is often difficult to do ‘out of context. Action learning will help ‘close the loop’ and ensure our learning is as effective as possible (more about learning cycles in module one). Action Learning Sets are primarily focused on the individual’s learning.

An Action Learning programme involves the following key elements:

• The Set: a group of 6 – 8 people who meet regularly.
• The Projects: each participant works on a project or task over the life of the set
• The Set Advisor: a facilitator who helps the group to work and learn together.

Although Action Learning is flexible, it is structured and focuses on the individual and their learning need and NOT on the programme.

Participants have quoted many benefits which they have gained from action learning:

• learning a more ‘disciplined’ way of working
• learning to network
• learning to relate to, and communicate with, others more effectively
• gaining increased self-confidence
• gaining increased awareness
• gaining increased readiness to take responsibility and initiative.

In summary, the values which underpin action learning are:

• membership of a set is voluntary
• commitment must be demonstrated in making the process work
• a positive, constructive approach to life
• reflection as the key to learning
• the presenter is focused (on her/his own issue)

How to run an Action Learning Set

Action Learning Set
Who is in it?
An Action Learning Set is a group of 6-8 people who meet regularly to help each other to learn from their experiences. A Set Advisor is appointed to help manage the process. The set is not a team since its focus is on the actions of the individuals within it rather than on a shared set of work objectives. Experience has shown that sets often work better when participants come with a similar level of experience. The Set Adviser is part of the set in one sense but has a particular responsibility to create a learning environment by encouraging, challenging and focusing on learning. Some Action Learning Sets are self-facilitated.

A ‘Set’ Meeting
The Set will decide on its own way of working but usually a ‘meeting’ involves a series of individual time slots where participants take turns in presenting their project/ challenge/ issue to the set. This will normally involve:

• an update of progress on actions from the last meeting
• a presentation of current issues/problems
• an agreement on actions for the future.

Throughout this, other participants will work with the presenter (by listening and questioning) to help them to decide what actions to take.

Time is always a limited resource in a set meeting and the Set Adviser must ensure that set participants get their full allocation (it is not a free discussion). Some Sets develop a fixed agenda to speed up the start of the meeting but in any case, all participants should come fully prepared for the meeting.

Action Learning Projects
The project is the piece of work around which the participant learns. It does not need to be linked to specific outcomes such as setting up a safety audit carrying out a particular task but could also be about acquiring skills or knowledge. For the purposes of this programme, however, the project must have a learning focus.

Participating in an Action Learning Set
Preparing for a Set meeting:
Before the meeting it will help to get the best out of the session if participants can think through what to focus on with their set. The set may be somewhere that participants can ‘experiment’ with different behaviours such as consciously asking more questions than usual or being more reflective if they are usually very talkative. Presenters should:

• prepare for meetings
• structure their time
• be clear about what they want – or want the set to – focus on
• learn to ask for what they want
• listen
• generate action points for them self.

Structuring your time:
Usually, the presenter will use their time to report on action taken as a result of the previous set meeting. It is useful to think about:

• what I did
• what happened
• what was different from what I expected
• what I did not do – why – what I did instead
• what can I/have I learned from this?

This can form the basis for reporting back to the set who will then ask questions. The presenter can continue with:

• what is the issue now
• what actions could I take now
• what action points can I identify

Alternative Approaches
A presenter may wish to concentrate on a particular aspect of their project that s/he thinks the set can really help with. This gives a depth of focus which may be a more appropriate use of time than an overview.

Alternatively, the presenter may wish to ask the set to talk about a particular problem and s/he will listen and only ask for clarification at the end of an agreed time. This is helpful if the presenter is stuck for ideas to take the work forward.

The reverse of this is where the audience remains silent and the presenter talks through the project. A listening, attentive audience may help the presenter to clarify thinks for her/himself.

Reviewing your time
At the end of each participant’s time slot it is useful for the presenter to review with the set the process by which the action points have been identified. S/he might ask for feedback on how s/he presented the project or might give the set feedback on what was helpful or unhelpful about the set’s interventions. This can also be done by the whole set near to the end of the meeting. It helps the set to develop a supportive learning climate to work in.

A typical meeting might follow this format:

Introduction – a warm-up activity and confirmation of programme for the meeting
In agreed order each person in the Set:
10 Minute presentation of current ‘state of play’/ position
10 minute of exploratory questions from the Set to help the presenter think through the issue
5 minute presentation to the Set on the action plan.
Closing session – time taken for the whole group to finish the meeting rather than drift off at the end. Would include an element of evaluation – what will we do differently next time.

Effective leadership development programmes will encourage participants to participate in at least one Action Learning Set. The frequency that they meet will depend on the programme and the level of progress being made by participants.

Conclusions
Action Learning Sets can be very effective development methods in the development of leaders. Facilitators of the most effective Action Learning Sets have undertaken appropriate training with an experienced Action Learning Facilitator, the author strongly recommends all facilitators not only take part in an action learning set for their own development but that they undertake appropriate training prior to facilitating sets themselves..

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Mike Morrison is director of RapidBI, an organisational effectiveness consultancy. He has been involved in HR, OD and strategic development for over 20 years. He can be contacted via www.rapidbi.com © This article is copyright RapidBI 2006, 2008 – it may be copied providing the authors are credited, and direct links maintained

© RapidBI.com 2008

http://www.rapidbi.com

This material may be put on your Blog or website – however please keep this copyright statement

Useful Links

Recently I have noticed a number of trends on many professional forums. There appear to be increasing numbers of people in HRD roles or studying for HRD roles that lack some of the ‘basics’. To meet this need I have written a number of guides and introductory articles, their purpose is to act as a beginner 101. I hope you find them of value.

The pages below contain free articles on management, leadership and HR issues:

http://www.rapidbi.com/articles

Management Models – 100+ Management Models – a page full of graphical management models
The PESTLE Analysis Tool – The PESTLE analysis – a powerful tool for exploring the external environment of an organzation
SWOT analysis – The SWOT analysis – a powerful tool for exploring the strengths of an organzation
PRIMOF_- Business_Growth_Model – The PRIMO-F business growth model
Write SMART objectives – Description on how to write SMART objectives for individual and business performance
Critical Success Factors – What are Critical Success Factors and how to use them
Corporate Social Responsibility CSR – How does Corporate Social Responsibility impact smaller businesses

© RapidBI.com 2008

http://www.rapidbi.com

This material may be put on your Blog or website – however please keep this copyright statement