How would you describe google's culture? How were managers viewed before project oxygen?
Answers
Explanation:
Google recently went public with the results of its Project Oxygen research to identify the practices of Google’s best technical managers. Their approach called for a study of 100 variables by data-mining performance reviews and internal surveys. Laszlo Bock, Google’s Vice President for People Operations, summed up the findings when he said the most important factor they identified was "making that connection" between the manager and the employee. Google is right that the manager-employee connection is important, but it’s only part of the story.
That’s what I told Google’s leaders when I presented at the Googleplex in 2009 as part of the Leading@Google Series. In 2002, I first recognized that employees who gave their best efforts and aligned their behavior with organizational goals frequently used the word "connection" to describe why they were so fired up about their work. Since that time, my colleagues and I have been identifying the multiplicity of ways that great leaders in business, government, the social sector and sports connect with the people they lead to achieve sustainable superior performance. In 2007, we published our findings about connection in the book Fired Up or Burned Out.
After of nearly a decade of studying connection, I’ve come to believe it is one of the most powerful and yet least understood aspects of organizational performance. In the business context, the feeling of connection between management, employees and customers provides a competitive advantage. Unless the people who are part of a business feel a sense of connection—a bond which promotes trust, cooperation and esprit de corps—they will never reach their potential as individual employees, nor will the organization reach its potential.
An organization with a high degree of connection breeds employees who are more engaged, more productive in their jobs, and less likely to leave the organization for a competitor. Organizations with greater connection also have employees who share more information with their colleagues, leading to better-informed decisions and new products, processes and entirely new businesses. Connection is what transforms a dog-eat-dog environment into a sled dog team that pulls together.
So what is connection anyway? When we interact with people, we generally feel that we connect with some and not with others. Phrases such as "we really connected" and "we just didn’t connect" are common in our daily conversations. Connection describes something intangible we sense in relationships.
We define connection as a bond based on shared identity, empathy and understanding that moves self-centered individuals toward group-centered membership. When connection is present, we feel energy, empathy, affirmation and are more open. When it is absent, we experience neutral or even negative feelings. Although we know what it’s like to feel connected on a personal level, few among us understand the effect connection has on us and on the organizations we work in.
Reflecting on my personal and professional experiences and on the research I’ve read and conducted made me realize three things:
First, connection is a powerful force that creates a positive bond between people based on both rational and emotional factors.
Second, connection contributes to bringing out the best in people—it energizes them, makes them more trusting and resilient to face life’s inevitable difficulties.
Third, connection can vary tremendously across organizations depending upon local culture and leadership.