How Google Teaches Its Employees To Stay Ahead In Competirion
Larry Page, CEO of Google Inc., has tried in the past year impregnate a renewed sense of urgency in the Internet giant to concentrate more efforts on fewer priorities. An important element of the struggle to repel the threat of Facebook Inc., Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. is GoogleEDU, the program of leadership development training and two years of the company.
GoogleEDU formalized learning in the company of an entirely new way, with data analysis and other measures to ensure teach their employees what they need to know to maintain profitability.
Last year, Google offered more classes to more employees than ever. About a third of its global workforce of 33,100 workers went through the internal program. Removed classes that did not work and adjusted others. “The important thing is that it aligns with our overall business strategy,” said Karen May, vice president of leadership and talent from Google, which has spearheaded the renovation of GoogleEDU.
Companies have always sought to improve the performance of their employees through training and leadership, but to make these initiatives work is difficult. Management experts say it’s OK to send employees to classes, but the lessons are not forgotten, is necessary for staff to practice them in your day. Employees usually go to class and “say ‘this is wonderful’, but return to work and continue to do the same,” says Professor David Bradford, director of executive leadership program at Stanford University.
Google, however, believes he has found a way to make your education last. It has become more strict about when and who offers classes. An eternal obsession of the data, using statistics collected from employees, past and present, to recommend certain courses to managers at different points in his career, for example, after moving to another city or joining a new team.
The renewal of GoogleEDU is particularly important at this time. The company, with U.S. $ 38,000 million in annual revenue, 8,000 employees hired last year, the largest annual increase staff in its history. As part of the changes, the team of people (do not call it Silicon Valley Human Resources) of the company also began studying how to better integrate the wave of new employees, both managers and subordinates.
Experienced executives who join Google may clash with a culture where power over subordinates derives from the ideas and the persuasiveness of each, not titles, says May. Promotions and salary increases often are decided by consensus among colleagues and superiors. An employee does not necessarily due to a head just because he is manager. This is radically different from what happens in most traditional corporations, which have a vertical and hierarchical management style.
“It is used much more persuasive because Google employees are smart,” said Scott Lederer, former designer of user experience of the company. ”They will not do anything for you just for your office. You must present your arguments.”
That is why Google offers a special class for new managers and executives where they learn to exert influence in subtle ways, has May.
Google has also begun to provide specific classes by area of work and experience of each employee. ”The more accurate the better, because it is specific and enforceable,” says John Baldoni, president of consulting firm Baldoni Consulting LLC. ”The downside of development of leadership is that too often is too amorphous and does not communicate with people in the language you need at any given time.”
When a manager has a new member to its team from another Google office, receive an email reminding that new employees have commented that they find useful when managers present them to other workers or review with them the team goals.
“More individualized and personalized recommendations are part of how, as we grow, we seek to individualize and personalize the learning experience,” says May.
