Interesting article about how Google identifies leadership talent. The list of questions make sense and thinking back to managers I have had in my life, not one of them would score more than 7 out of 11. I have been lucky to have had some great bosses over the years - ones who have taught me to be a better person and professional, gone on to achieve amazing things in their own careers. Makes me question the validity of the standard Google is touting here. I can pick a couple of questions in this list that are not always easy to answer "Yes" to:
- My manager regularly shares relevant information from his/her manager and senior leaders.
- My manager has had a meaningful discussion with me about career development in the past six months.
Sharing of relevant information is not always an autonomous function or decision for the manager in question to make of their own volition. The organization should have a culture of openness and transparency that allows and encourages it. Say if my boss is going to leave her management very displeased if she shares "relevant information" with me, then chances are that she won't despite her natural instincts to do so. I have found myself in this very bind many times.
On the career development question I have found the organization culture to play an over-sized role. The boss may recognize your talents, talk it up with his peers and managers, even recommend you for roles where you will thrive professionally. But there is limit to how far he can go alone. The culture should support his goals to create a career path for his best performers and allow him to nurture new talent. He must see a trajectory for his own growth as well.
These things are all inter-related. He cannot afford to lose his star players and have his own's team performance take a hit in the process. The organization and his leadership should enable him to succeed as he enables his directs to do so. Often this is not the case and even managers with the best intent cannot do what they know is right and very much want to do it.
This whole approach to identifying leadership excellence feels rather juvenile and out of touch with reality. But again, this is Google we are talking about - a business without any real peers or competitors. It is easy to build a bubble when you are in an island and no one can touch you.
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