Andrew McAfee reflects on a dinner with Eric Schmidt during last week’s Management 2.0 conference (I’m excited to read the findings; it looks like they get posted later this month). McAfee’s question to Scmidt: What about Google’s management style is so powerful, yet still transferable to other organizations?

“They can learn to listen. Listening to each other is core to our culture, and we don’t listen to each other just because we’re all so smart. We listen because everyone has good ideas, and because it’s a great way to show respect. And any company, at any point in its history, can start listening more.”

- Eric Schmidt Reveals Google’s Secret

So it’s not just the fact that Google has a bunch of people with “145 IQs”. There is something more – decisions are collaborative, and not the exclusive territory of the CxO.

What makes this level of collaborative decision making possible? Enabling technologies are naturally important. But, an open management organization that’s conducive to dialoguing with staff is even more key. Achieving this in modern enterprise is where things get tricky. What Enterprise 2.0 technologies make possible, Management 2.0 should embrace.

To start, I’d suggest organizations try the following:

• Look at areas of your operation where embracing employee input is critical to a successful outcome. Innovation around internal processes, products and service offerings immediately comes to mind. Create islands of managerial flatness here, supply enabling technologies, and create incentives for participation. Enabling technologies here might include an innovation market, like Spigit.
• Break the ice by putting management on the same footing as employees. At my firm, we’ve had a positive experience using the commenting and discussion features of Confluence to allow employees to post questions, and inviting the VPs to answer. The resulting knowledgebase is a searchable way for future employees to get up to speed.
• Give employees a voice: Give any employee who so chooses the ability to blog internally. It’s quick, cheap and an easy way to make employees feel more connected and less alienated. It also gives management a new insight into the ebbs and flows of communications within their organization. The blog post that has 100 + comments and has been read by thousands might be worth listening to.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites