Google’s New Manager Program
Facilitator Guide
Executive Summary
These course materials were originally designed for Google managers to help them transition from an individual contributor role to a manager role. In addition to building skills, this curriculum incorporates introspection, perspective shifting, and awareness building. This product has been influenced by years of iteration, internal and external research, and feedback from new managers. We’ve modified this public version, editing and formatting it to make it as useful as possible for a non-Google audience. We encourage you to adapt it to fit your organization’s culture and scale.
Audience for Curriculum
This curriculum has been designed for managers with little to no prior management experience. Given that many activities require reflection on a current or past challenge, it is ideal if the manager has been in the role for a brief period (45-90 days). While it makes sense to prepare someone for a job they are about to perform, we’ve found managers are most receptive to learning after they’ve had some time in the role and experience upon which to reflect.
Recommended Pre-Reading for Program Owner & Facilitator(s)
For context on the models and philosophies included in this curriculum, you might find it useful to read the following articles and book:
- New York Times Article on Project Oxygen
- Harvard Business Review article on Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
- Harvard Business Review guide to Coaching Employees
- Mindset by Carol Dweck
Recommended Delivery & Assembly of Participants
This curriculum is best delivered live and in-person. Managers spend a large portion of time learning from each other and sharing ideas in small groups. We offer this program for groups of 25-30 participants. The program is open to all managers at Google and within each group we aim for diversity across functions, locations, and genders. We intentionally assemble cohorts in which participants are not familiar with one another, as we find it leads to more openness to share challenges.
Curriculum Elements
Unit Title | Duration | Goals | Elements |
Kick-off | 30 min |
| Guest speaker Brief Q&A Program overview |
Introductions | 30 min |
| Brainstorm Introductions Group formation |
Why Manage? | 25 min |
| Post-it note brainstorm Debrief |
Mindset & Values | 60 min |
| TEDtalk video Group discussion |
Emotional Intelligence | 120 min |
| Lecture Self reflection Pair activity |
Manager Transition | 35 min |
| Reading Reflection Discussion |
Coaching | 100 min |
| Lecture Peer practice Debrief |
Feedback | 105 min |
| Lecture Role play practice Debrief |
Decision Making | 120 min |
| Lecture Discussion Simulation Debrief |
Closing | 30 min |
| Reflection Peer coaching Group debrief |
Alternative ways to deliver this curriculum:
- Offer as a weekly series
- Offer as full-day sessions with weeks in-between
- Re-design for use in small, self-organized peer groups
- Re-design for use in peer mentor / coaching sessions
Guidance on Choosing Facilitators
This curriculum can be taught by experienced managers, external consultants, or coaches. Facilitator credibility is a key component to program success. Ideally, your facilitator has managed teams themselves and can add personal stories / perspectives to the conversation. At Google, we’ve often paired tenured professional facilitators with experienced managers as a facilitation duo.
Slides | Topic & Key messages | Purpose & Facilitator’s Notes | |
Welcome (30 minutes) | |||
Kick-off Speaker
| Ideal kick-off speakers are well-known as good managers (inside or outside the organization). In this talk, the speaker should emphasize why they enjoy managing while providing a few survival tips they learned along the way. | ||
What is this New Manager program? There are key skills and frameworks we’ll offer you to try on and test, but there is no “one size fits all” approach to management. This course was developed based on Google’s Project Oxygen and years of feedback from Google managers. As an individual, we will provide space for you to reflect on your own values and be your authentic self in your new role. As a manager, we will cover skills that underlie an inclusive management style, to help you tailor your approach with each of your direct reports. [Introduce yourself & background] You’ll notice that we have intentionally designed this course to honor the diverse ways in which people learn — with detailed workbooks to supplement the slides, verbal delivery of content, and many opportunities for reflection, discussion, and hands-on practice. Please consider your own learning preferences and bring that to your experience here — whether it’s taking notes, asking for or providing specific examples, etc. Please also provide ongoing feedback to us as your facilitators if your needs aren’t being met and we will work with you to meet them! |
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Lay out the logistical details…
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Introductions & Trio Formation (25 minutes) | |||
Trio Formation Instructions
You’ll work a lot with your trio, but you will also have opportunities to meet and work with others. The trios will help ensure that you get to know at least several people well, and support each other once the program is complete with your goals and peer coaching. Sit with trio
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Create class ground rules Record on flipchart: What ground rules would support you in learning for this group? Examples:
Return to your original seat | |||
Why Manage? (35 minutes) | |||
Prep: Draw two columns on a whiteboard or use two separate flipcharts. On the left side, title “Pitfalls,” and on the right side, title “Value Add” Instructions
Debrief Ask for at least two volunteers to read the post-its out loud—pitfalls first
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How much overlap do we see here with the 10 behaviors from Project Oxygen? Does anyone feel like you’ve already mastered all the skills in the “Add Value” category? (Likely no one) Then you’re in good company and in the right place! In this course you will learn the core skills to prepare you for this challenging role so that you may add the most value to your team. | |||
Morning Break (~15 minutes) | |||
Mindset (1 hour) | |||
Based on our last activity, it looks like we all have some learning to do. In this next section we’ll talk about one of the biggest factors that influences the likelihood you’ll succeed in your new role. Brief Poll - Show of hands to assess agreement: thumbs up, thumbs down, or sort of
Clearly, there are differing mindsets even within this room! The questions I just asked are actually borrowed from those used by researchers to determine where someone is on the growth vs. fixed mindset continuum. Let’s take a look at a brief video that summarizes the recent research around neuroplasticity and mindset. |
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Video to introduce Growth Mindset: The Power of belief -- Mindset and Success | Eduardo Briceno | TEDxManhattanBeach (11 mins, break halfway through for mini-debrief) [PAUSE VIDEO AT ~5:31] (Leave cursor at bottom of screen so you can see red bar)
[RESUME VIDEO] You probably noticed that much of the research cited by the speaker was about children. Virtually all of what we now know about mindset applies to adults too, and in this next activity we’ll look even closer at some classic research on the subject. | Eduardo Briceño is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mindset Works, an organization that helps schools and other organizations cultivate a growth mindset culture. The growth mindset was discovered by Stanford professor and Mindset Works co-founder Carol Dweck, Ph.D., author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Mindset Works offers Brainology, an innovative blended learning program to teach a growth mindset to students, teachers, and schools, as well as teacher professional development and tools. | ||
Mindset + Values We just took a deep dive into the dichotomy of a fixed vs. growth mindset. You’ll see this thread throughout the next few days, but let’s also expand how we think about mindset, which is more broadly “the established set of attitudes held by someone.” How Do Your Values Show Up? (4 mins intro)
| Purpose of introducing values by framing them as a mindset that can be practiced: Each individual has their own values, and they are all valid and personal. The goal of the course is not to force managers into a mold, but rather to empower them to bring their uniqueness and strengths to their roles, thus hopefully helping managers find deeper meaning in their responsibilities and potential to impact others. The message here is also that our deepest values are especially helpful when faced with ambiguity and making unprecedented decisions in tough situations. *HBR: The Best Leaders Are Humble Leaders, Jeanine Prime & Elizabeth Salib | ||
Turning Values into Mindsets You Can Practice (15 mins)
Ring bell to move from self reflection to discussion in trios
More likely than not, the other members of your trio identified at least some different values that are most important to them. To better understand the behaviors, motivations, and beliefs of others, it’s extremely helpful to learn what they value most. As for yourself, if I were to ask your team members what you value most and how these values manifest in how you manage, would they be able to accurately identify your top 1-3 values? If your answer is “probably not,” it might be worth taking a look at what came up for you in this activity again, to turn those aspirational values into mindsets you practice every day. | |||
Lunch (45 minutes) | |||
Emotional Intelligence (2 hours) | |||
Introduction: to kick off this next section about emotional intelligence, let’s first jump into an activity that will help us explore how emotions can actually contain valuable data. We’ll then take a closer look at definitions and practical applications of emotional intelligence. Emotions are Data Not being aware of how we feel about something or what our “gut” is telling us can lead us to make poor decisions or indecision.
Allow time to silently read quote: “Denial of our emotions isn’t the only danger we face when we rely too heavily on our left brain. We can also become too literal, leaving us without a sense of perspective, where we miss the meaning that comes from putting things in context (a specialty of the right brain)” -Daniel Siegel Emotions alert our attention in some way and influence our attitudes and/or behaviors, whether consciously or subconsciously. They are usually tied to a human survival need. Emotions as Data Exercise (15 mins) Preparation: Write the following 5 emotions on whiteboards or flipcharts around the room: Joy, Fear, Anger, Disappointment, and Surprise.
Debrief by asking groups to share what questions they’ve come up with. (up to 8 mins) Hopefully this brief exercise demonstrated that emotions are inherently valuable data, as you start to “peel the layers of the onion” by using questions to discover what we can learn from them. When emotions are named, they become information — the act of identification and acknowledgement actually soothes the brain. This is sometimes referred to as Emotional Literacy, and is a core competency of Emotional Intelligence. |
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What Is Emotional Intelligence?* (5 mins) Much of this program is about building self-awareness around your emotions: how they affect your behaviors, and how these behaviors show up in your management style. Once you have a strong sense of self-awareness, it’s much easier to grasp the other side of Emotional Intelligence, which is other-awareness, or empathy. As you might imagine, this is a critical competency for managers and aligns with Oxygen behaviors: #3 Expresses interest and concern for team member’s success and personal well-being and #5 Is a good communicator — listens and shares information Based on what you already know, let’s hear your thoughts - what do I mean by EI? [Gather a few responses from the group and capture them on a whiteboard] The EI concept argues that IQ, or conventional intelligence, is too narrow; that there are wider areas of Emotional Intelligence that dictate and enable how successful we are. Success requires more than IQ (Intelligence Quotient), which has tended to be the traditional measure of intelligence, ignoring essential behavioral and character elements. We've all met people who are academically brilliant and yet are socially and interpersonally inept. And we know that despite possessing a high IQ rating, success does not automatically follow. EI is harder to measure. EI impacts how we manage others. Definitions of EI vs IQ [Ask someone to read EI definitions]
The definition provided is the most accepted by main researchers. More and more research is telling us how important EI is to success. A key person on this is Daniel Goleman who has studied this for ~30 yrs. He really put EI into the mainstream. You can think of EI simply as: the intelligent use of emotions [as data]. To develop strong EI skills, the first place to start is to recognize and understand emotions in yourself. That will be the focus of our skill building today. Later we’ll work on managing your behavior in relation to others. | *More background about EI: Emotional Intelligence embraces and draws from numerous other branches of behavioral, emotional and communications theories, such as NLP (Neuro-Linguistic programming), Transactional Analysis, and empathy. By developing our Emotional Intelligence in these areas and the five EI domains (Goleman, 2005), we can become more productive and successful at what we do, and help others to be more productive and successful too. The process and outcomes of Emotional Intelligence development also contain many elements known to reduce stress for individuals and organizations by decreasing conflict, improving relationships and understanding, and increasing stability, continuity, and harmony. | ||
Why is EI So Important? How can it be of benefit to you?
| *Dr. Daniel Goleman reported an analysis that shows emotional competencies to make up 80 to 100% of the distinguishing competencies of outstanding leaders. | ||
Emotional Intelligence Can Be Learned
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EI Deep Dive: Relating to Others Let’s take a closer look at the “awareness of others” piece of emotional intelligence. Since EI is associated with quite a few buzzwords these days, we’ll start by establishing some shared vocabulary at least for the purposes of this course’s discussion. Would anyone like to help us differentiate between these three words*? [Pause, answers on next slide]
Note that “suffering” does not need to be present to act with compassion | *Sympathy, Empathy, Compassion definitions **For a very thorough talk on empathy, check out this Google Talk: Roman Krznaric: Why Empathy Matters and How to Get it. **For even more info, check out this white paper by the Center for Creative Leadership on Empathy in the Workplace | ||
EI Deep Dive: Aim for Compassion Transform your experience of empathy into compassionate action. Why? Neuroscience research shows:
How can I cultivate compassion?
| For the latest research about empathy as a precursor to compassion:
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Empathy & Compassion in Practice (~10-15 mins total, workbook) Ask yourself: [private reflection]
Turn to a partner and brainstorm:
Debrief as a Class (5 mins) After about 10 mins, bring attention back to the room and harvest some responses | |||
To recap… Empathy : Golden Rule :: Compassion : Platinum Rule Rather than assume others view things the same way and want the same things as you do, take the time to get to know them and understand how they see things and what they want. There’s nothing objectively wrong with Empathy or the Golden Rule, Compassion is just the next best level as is the Platinum Rule (treat others as they wish to be treated). You may never know what the other person really needs or wants from you unless you ask! For example, if you have a team member who has a [disclosed] disability that you are not personally familiar with, chances are that attempting to empathize with their unique challenges will only take you so far, and your resulting assumptions about their needs may be wrong or even harmful. In a scenario like this, the compassionate place to start would be to ask them privately about what you and others on the team could do to best support them, then focus on taking informed action to follow through. Jeff Weiner quote* (LinkedIn CEO, speaking at Wisdom 2.0 2015) "Compassion is almost an objective form of empathy where you have enough space between your feelings and the other person’s feelings when you’re in a position to help them, and ultimately alleviate their suffering if that’s what’s required.” | *4 min video or article by CEO of LinkedIn Jeff Weiner on the subject of Compassionate Management | ||
Segue to Triggers-- For now, let’s move on to a brief look at some basic neuroscience to better understand the underlying brain mechanisms of emotional intelligence. First, think back to a situation at work when you experienced high stress, and/or negative emotion - to the extent that your ability to perform was compromised. | |||
Hand Model of the Brain* (3 mins) Dr. Dan Siegel has a great representation of the brain, called the “hand model.” Has anyone heard of it? (allow volunteer to describe if any hands go up!) Steps (encourage everyone to follow along)
| *To prepare, we highly recommend watching this ~2 minute video of Dr. Daniel Siegel explaining hand model of the brain | ||
Amygdala Hijack & Triggers Amygdala hijack – this kicks in before the neocortex is cognizant of the situation! Have you ever felt after the fact that your reaction was the wrong one? Said something you wish you hadn't? Overreacted to something? The amygdala is a trigger point for a fast, strong response. When we perceive threat, the brain’s crisis response still follows an ancient strategy - it heightens our senses, stops complex thought, and triggers the knee-jerk, automatic “fight or flight” response and a flood of stress hormones.* This is the amygdala hijack.
This self-regulation piece can really help us to be more present for others: help us develop the ability to really be in the moment, focus on one person, one conversation, one task at a time. Self-regulation is all about slowing down. So what? When we bring this into the workplace, it can cause us difficulty. You may unintentionally undermine your effectiveness. This is why it is important that we get better at self-regulating our emotions. | *Note that the initial stress hormone response takes between 60-90 seconds to flush through the body. If you find yourself experiencing a physical response to the trigger after that point you are choosing to stay upset. Optional video “Just Breathe” with interviews about kids, explaining the amygdala and emotion regulation. | ||
Triggers Activity continued (6-8 mins total) We all have triggers; knowing what these are is important. Being able to regulate our reactions to these triggers can really add to our success. The part of the brain that is responsible for EI is trainable. Again, recall that situation at work when you experienced high stress, and/or negative emotion - to the extent that your ability to perform was compromised. Jot down in your workbook:
Meet with your trio and take ~ 2 mins each to share your experiences. After you review the instructions, share a personal story about when you have been “triggered” at work, before they work on their stories. Quick Trigger debrief (3 mins) After activity, ask for a couple of volunteers who would be willing to share their stories. | |||
Strategies for Emotion Regulation Now we are going to look at strategies for emotion regulation. Before any strategy can be used, we have to have noticed what’s happening — awareness is absolutely the first step in emotion regulation. Noticing the reaction you are having and developing the skill of being able to instead choose the response you want to have is what this is all about. The approach is proactive and takes practice and roughly has three parts:
Emotion Regulation Strategy: Reappraisal We are going to use an idea from Dr. James Gross, who is a professor at Stanford University. He specializes in Emotion Regulation, and one aspect of his work is Reappraisal. He describes 4 ways in which we can re-appraise a situation. Simply put, reappraisal is a technique through which you find a more positive way to think about the situation. At the same time, this is not to take the stress away altogether, or repress it - but rather to find a way in the moment to be able to cope so that you can bring your best, thinking self to the situation. 4 possible ways to try to reappraise a situation:
It’s helpful if you as the facilitator can use a personal example of one stressful situation to reappraise with each of the four strategies. | |||
Reappraisal Activity in Trios (10 mins) In your trios, discuss each of your situations and discuss how you can apply any of the four strategies to reappraise your situation:
Debrief (5-10 mins) Let’s report back to share any insights about your type of reappraisal. Please take us through the coaching questions that you come up with in your trios as well. Does anyone have any other emotion regulation strategies they use when triggered? | |||
Mindfulness as Another Strategy to Emotionally Regulate (5-10 mins) You may have heard of the term “mindfulness” as it relates to meditation, stress management, or in the cultivation of self-awareness. Put simply, mindfulness is the act or practice of bringing non-judgemental awareness to the present moment. Does anyone here have a mindfulness practice of their own that they’d be willing to share? Here are some strategies for how we can use mindfulness to regulate our emotions, especially in challenging situations:
| *Researcher David Desteno on how mindfulness meditation can encourage compassion towards others | ||
Closing Quote about EI “The aim of developing emotional intelligence is to help you optimize yourself and function at an even higher level than what you are already capable of.” - from Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan You got to experience emotions as data. Emotional Intelligence is really about being smart with our emotions. You now understand how you can prevent or at least recover from “flipping your lid” by using emotion regulation strategies such as reappraisal and mindfulness. | |||
Time | Slides | Topic & Key messages | Purpose & Facilitator’s Notes | |
Transition from IC to Manager (40 mins) | ||||
Prep: Make sure a whiteboard or ample flipchart paper is nearby. Hint: it’s helpful for people to sit with their trios already at the beginning of this section. Transition from Individual Contributor to Manager (5-10 mins)
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Individual Reflection Time (~ 5 mins, depending on when people appear to be done)
Trio Discussions (approx 15 mins)
Debrief (5- 10 mins) Call on each table to hear their insights/stories and tie back to the challenges recorded on whiteboard. Be sure to draw out some of the positives participants discussed in groups: “What have you gained or found rewarding in the transition to your new role?” | Tip: add notes in a different color marker. | |||
Break (10-15 mins) | ||||
Coaching (2 hours total) | ||||
Coaching We’re going to begin with defining developmental “pure coaching,” establishing when you should coach, examining the fundamental skills of effective coaching, and then introduce a model you can use to further develop these skills. We’ll spend most of this module practicing these skills. Defining Coaching: Google’s Project Oxygen
“Pure Coaching”
Sir John Whitmore’s* definition of the essence of coaching:
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*Sir John Whitmore – considered by many as the modern-day father of coaching. He was a Formula 1 race car driver in England and became fascinated with how certain people excelled in their sport over others, when everyone had essentially the same training and equipment. He began studying the "inner game" of sports (tennis & golf) with Tim Gallwey and brought his learning and experience into the business world. | |||
Coaching Continuum Before you can be really effective as a coach, you need to have an understanding of your own style and how it can help or hinder the coaching process. Each person has a “default” mode for coaching, and for many of us, that is teaching instead of facilitating. It is important to understand your default coaching mode, and build the skills to practice and maintain the facilitation mode. LEFT SIDE of the slide: “Teaching” Coach:
RIGHT SIDE of the slide: “Facilitating” Coach:
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When Should I Coach? Coaching is not appropriate for all situations when improved performance is the goal. Its usefulness is contextual; the benefits that coaching offers must suit the coachee’s needs. Situations in which coaching works best include:
When should coaching be avoided?
Before dismissing coaching in these instances, make sure you understand the situation accurately. Is an apparent low performer really an low performer or victim of an attribution error*? Do you as leader really have the answers or just want to believe so? Is control really what is most important for the work, or might you need to learn to let go? If the answers are “no,” coaching may work. | *knowledge worker: a person whose job involves handling or using information. *The attribution error is people's tendency to place an undue emphasis on internal characteristics to explain someone else's behavior in a given situation, rather than considering external factors (based on the work of Edward E. Jones and Victor Harris (1967) | |||
HOW to “be a good coach” We’re going to walk through a helpful model shortly to provide structure to the conversation itself, but what does it actually mean to BE a good coach and HOW can you develop these skills?
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Be fully present for and focused on the Coachee It is important that as a coach you are fully present and focused in a coaching scenario. We are always busy and on the go, but it is extremely important to clear your mind and focus on the coachee and facilitating the process. Otherwise, we slip back into our default mode on the coaching continuum and will “teach” instead of “facilitate.”
[Ask for ideas from participants, then reveal the following bullets on slide]
Meditation (2-3 mins total) Let’s try a very brief meditation. You can use this before entering a coaching scenario. Sit down in a comfortable position with your feet grounded on the floor, your posture in an alert yet relaxed position. Close your eyes if you like, or direct your gaze downwards. Gently bring your attention to your breathing...take a deep breath...and slowly exhale…repeat this three times, as deeply and slowly as possible. (Long pause) Now, continue to breathe deeply but let’s shift our attention to what else is going on in our bodies. Begin an internal body scan at your feet, noticing their connection to the floor beneath you...working your way up to your calves...knees...thighs…simply noticing any sensations with non-judgemental awareness...pausing again to feel the effect of gravity on your contact with the seat of the chair, sinking into it a little more heavily. Then shift your attention gradually up your back, noticing any sensations here and perhaps adjusting your spine for optimal comfort and alignment... Bringing your awareness now to your shoulders, are they relaxed? Try to let them go…then scan your arms and hands, all the way to your fingertips, you might wiggle them. (Pause) … Gently notice what’s happening in your neck, remember to keep breathing as you finally bring your awareness to your head. As you breathe deeper, does it influence any sensations you feel in your body? (Pause) Okay, without opening your eyes just yet, bring your attention back to this room, visualizing the walls, the people next to you, and the grounding of your feet once again. Gently, when you’re ready, please open your eyes.
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Be aware of your own mindset and that of the coachee A “growth mindset” enables the coach the be open to the entire potential of the coachee. No one’s full potential is known or knowable, there is always room for growth. Having a growth mindset allows us to experience failure less emotionally and learn from it. Coaching helps the coached person adopt a productive growth mindset. There is an emphasis on learning from mistakes versus letting them fuel negative narratives about oneself. The effort is less directed towards “fixing” and more towards understanding. Support is offered hand in hand with challenge; empathy goes with accountability. Thinking back to yesterday— how might (you as the coach) having a fixed or growth mindset affect how you show up in a coaching situation, perceive/judge the coachee, and the overall outcome/impact on the coachee? (Pause to see if anyone wants to contribute) ie. Do you actually believe that this person is coachable in this particular area/at all? Do they seem to be interested in learning/exploring a new approach to their problem? Research* actually shows that where you are on the mindset continuum (leaning more towards Growth or more towards Fixed) with regard to your assumptions about others has a significant impact on the accuracy of your performance appraisals as well as your likelihood to participate in coaching. Specifically, managers with more of a growth mindset in this area:
Therefore, it’s essential that we as managers/coaches are mindful of the mindset we bring to coaching situations, and check any assumptions we might have about the people who are entrusting us to coach them. So, perhaps you know that you lean towards a fixed mindset when it comes to your beliefs about the malleability of personal attributes such as competence or work ethic. What can you do to intentionally train yourself to adopt more of a growth mindset, given the potential payoffs for your role as an effective manager and the success of your team? Self-awareness is the first step— good news, now you already have this! Quick group discussion (up to 5 mins) How would you coach a person who has a fixed mindset about the subject you wish to coach them on? [if no one mentions this, offer the following tip] Remind the coachee of a time they successfully accomplished a task or learned a new skill that they thought was impossible / they were incapable of. If you don’t have a long history with them, ask them to reflect on a time they accomplished something they didn’t think they were capable of. | *Managers’ Implicit Assumptions About Personnel (Heslin & VandeWalle, 2008) | |||
Practice empathic listening Recall yesterday when we talked about how the value of empathy is a powerful component of one’s emotional intelligence, one that can be cultivated. Empathic listening improves mutual understanding and builds trust (also known as mindful, active or reflective listening). You’ll find that it’s useful for coaching, mediation, friendships, parenting— essentially, for relationships of all kinds! What does it mean to practice empathic listening?* When you listen to someone with this intention, you’re letting them know “I am interested, I care, and I seek to understand what you are saying. I am not judging you and I acknowledge how you feel about this issue.” As an empathic coach/listener, you will usually provide welcome validation and catharsis for the coachee. This practice includes:
Brief discussion and practice- empathic listening (6-10 mins) What does the opposite of reflective listening look like, and what does it feel like on the receiving end? (pause for volunteer responses) In pairs, decide who will be the speaker first and who will be the listener Two rounds, two minutes each:
[Switch roles]
In the same pairs, the person [most] facing the front of the room will be the listener first and the other person shall be the speaker Two rounds, 1 min each:
[Switch roles]
Time allowing, Pick 2-3 people at the end of this third minute to volunteer takeaways. Ed Batista quote “Focused attention on coaching is more important than the time spent. What matters most is listening so the other person feels heard. Eliminate distractions and cultivate a sense of presence in the moment.” | *Speed of speech is 125-150 words per minute whereas the speed of thought is 600 - 800 words per minute (International Listening Association Inc). What this tells us is that the speed of thought is much faster than the speed of speech, meaning that when I talk to you right now, you are already way ahead of me, or processing your reply, contextualising the information I’m giving you, or just simply drifting off! In most human interactions, we ask questions to clarify or relate, but particularly in coaching situations, with direct reports, it is essential to allow the speaker feel as though they have your undivided attention before jumping into solution mode or questioning mode. | |||
Ask open-ended questions to facilitate coachee’s own insight This next coaching skill is asking open questions. Think about open questions in this way — you want to focus on the what and how and avoid the why. Some questions to get more information (who, when, where) may be necessary.
| Facilitator tip: Spend a moment on the structure of a question: is it Open, Closed, Leading, Multiple Choice? We have habits in how we shape our questions. Illustrating different architectures of questions helps people catch their habits in action. | |||
GROW Model (Intro, 1 min) We will be using a simple, effective coaching model today called “GROW”. This is a light-touch, helpful tool for guiding a coaching conversation. It’s not meant to be restrictive, but to be used adaptively based upon your own style and the needs of the person you’re coaching. Although it is a 4-stage framework, the coaching session may not always be linear in format; depending on the individual, there may be times that you go through the model twice in one session (aka “peeling the onion”), or come up with options before you have established a very clear goal – this is not ‘wrong’ – and proves the flexibility of such a tool. GROW is effective when…
(G) Goal You may start the session by simply asking; ‘What is it that you want?’ However, it is rare that you get the perfect goal in that first instance! It is our job as coaches to delve more deeply to clarify the goal further. Don’t be surprised if the goal evolves as it becomes clear that there is a more powerful underlying issue than initially identified by the coachee!
(R) Reality Ask lots of questions. Don’t be surprised if you have to go back to the goal and clarify it again. It is important to ascertain the real situation, and also to attempt objectivity from the coachee, which is often hard for them to do without some good coaching questions. Try to get the coachee to use all their senses, and to see their situation through many different angles/perspectives, thus raising their awareness of the self and others. (O) Options This is the part where you encourage the individual to be expansive and brainstorm all the potential avenues for achieving their goals before they close down and decide on actions. Offer your own ideas only after your direct report has shared hers/his, if at all. This is best achieved by the use of many open questions, having built sufficient rapport with the coachee towards a state of openness and willingness to move forward. (W) Will This section pulls it all together for the direct report, so they can walk away knowing how to move toward their goal, which converts the discussion into a decision.
Facilitator: Share a personal story on how you have used these steps. | ||||
Part of your homework last night was to come ready with a topic in mind that you want peer coaching on - for example, your greatest current management challenge. If you haven’t already decided on a topic, please do so now. We’ll do some practice now, and the remainder after lunch. Are there any questions before we begin? Coaching Activity in Trios (2 mins for instructions, then 1 hour self managed: 45 min practice and ~15 min break )
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Quick debrief of coaching as a group (5-10 mins depending on group’s punctuality)
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Lunch (45 minutes) | ||||
Feedback (2.5 hours) | ||||
Intro to Feedback The fact is, it can be uncomfortable to give feedback. The antidote to being uncomfortable giving feedback is be clear about your intention and your role. First, take a moment to think about your intention - why you want to deliver this feedback and how you intend to do it. Do you intend to help your direct report have a better career and experience here? Do you intend to give the feedback in a way that minimizes their sense of discomfort, but also gets the point across? Can I deliver this message with genuine empathy for their perspective? Second, be clear about your role. As a person’s manager, it is absolutely your responsibility to help that person grow— it’s irresponsible not to. Today you’ll be learning techniques to make your feedback come across the best way possible. Feedback, even if a little painful to hear at first, is ultimately a gift. |
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Activity in pairs (3 mins)
Debrief (2-3 mins)
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Written activity (mins) In your workbook, jot down the 2 most impactful pieces of feedback you've given to a member of your team in the last month (or longer if needed). Also note how you delivered the feedback. This will help us keep the rest of the class feeling real to you. We’ll refer back to these examples throughout the class. [Hint: as you give the instructions for this activity, don’t prompt by saying “positive”, “negative” or ways to give the feedback “over email”, “in person”, etc.] | The intention behind this exercise is to unveil to participants that they may not realize that what they email is also feedback, or that they only consider something “negative” to be feedback, etc. | |||
Keeping the Balance
[Move to Slide with Speech Bubbles]
If you are giving enough feedback, you’ll notice a lot more things to appreciate than to fix. Look for what is going well and say it to the direct report. You’ll find opportunities to do this pretty frequently - so take them. It’s important to give authentic appreciation often. Why?
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How to say it: SBI What is the best way to give feedback, or share the observations you are making about your direct report? The formula is called SBI. SBI stands for “Situation, Behavior, Impact”.
Positive/Appreciative Feedback: Example “A” (top) is feedback about a client discussion that went really well. Why should we take the time to use SBI for positive feedback? So it sticks. We often are too vague on positive feedback - making it less memorable. “Hey great job!” Don’t make only your negative feedback memorable! Usually, we don’t remember positive feedback as clearly as we remember negative feedback. You might remember it for years. Negative feedback is like Velcro, but positive feedback can roll off you like a Teflon coating. In fact, our brains are wired to naturally seek and find negatives. We, as human beings, are already good at that. Our brains are hardwired to respond to threats faster than registering happiness or gratitude, so our direct reports will be listening firstly for negative feedback, and it's up to us as Managers to create a space where positive and constructive feedback can co-mingle and not feel like a threat. By taking the time when we give positive feedback to be really clear, to describe the situation, behavior, and impact, we make the positive feedback memorable. Also remember that well-meaning positive feedback about one’s intrinsic ability can actually hinder one’s growth and receptivity to challenges, such as saying “You’re so smart.” This is the kind of praise that causes us to get stuck in a fixed mindset. Rather, focus on praising their process, effort, strategies, grit and/or resilience. Constructive/Developmental Feedback: Example “B” (bottom) is an example of a presentation to a director that didn’t go as well. SBI is really sharing an observation. But how do you make that into something that is actionable? SBI & What’s Next What comes next is a discussion and clarification, creation of options, and agreement on next steps. | ||||
Getting to Root Cause Why are you having to give this feedback? Let’s think about root causes. | ||||
Root Cause: Skill or Will? Your report still hasn’t sent you the draft presentation you expected. You are a little upset. But why hasn’t he sent it? Is it because the report doesn’t quite know how to do it? Or is it because the report is not motivated or lacks confidence?
You: “About the draft presentation, I was hoping to take a look at it. How is it going?”
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Root Cause: Were Expectations Clear? When you give feedback, you hope that you don’t hear these words: “Really? I didn’t know you wanted me to do that.” It’s easiest to give feedback when you set expectations upfront very clearly. It’s less awkward, because you’ve set an expectation, and both the direct report and you know it. If the expectation isn’t met, be sure to bring it up. | ||||
Special Situations In some cases, delivering constructive/developmental feedback can be particularly challenging. Let’s look at some examples. | ||||
Disagreement about Feedback Even if the direct report disagrees with the Impact the Behavior had, the fact is, you are bringing up a blind spot for them. They may have had good intentions - but, the impact it had on you is something that may not have gone well. Help them understand how you perceived it even if they disagree with your interpretation.
In some cases, you may need to take a breather and discuss again when calmer. | ||||
Interpersonal Feedback This is SBI, followed by “I need” or “I want” explaining clearly what SUBSTITUTE behavior is wanted. [Read the example]
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Feedback Triangles A Feedback Triangle is when a peer of your direct report comes to you, or a fellow manager confides in you (“please don’t share this”) with insight about someone on your team. They want you to pass along the information, instead of them. (red arrow) What to do with that information?
Try to put ownership on the individual who had the insight or feedback.
Why should you avoid taking it on yourself?
You can promise the person with the feedback that you will follow-up with your direct report afterward to see how it went. Use this as a coaching opportunity - share the SBI framework with them so that they can formulate meaningful, specific and actionable feedback. | ||||
Feedback Practice Instructions (in original trios, 1 hour not including break) Since giving feedback is one of the most important and challenging responsibilities of a good manager, we of course want you to get a chance to practice it. Refer to your workbook for instructions. Please be back here in one hour, if you leave the room. On your own:
In your trios, take turns playing the roles of Manager, Direct, and Observer:
Debrief (5-10 mins)
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Break (10-15 mins) | ||||
Feedback Pitfalls (5-8 mins total) Let’s go over a couple pitfalls to avoid, especially to counteract some of our (unintentional) biases. | ||||
Quality of Feedback Ask yourself, “Do I give the same quality of feedback to each team member?” Often, unconsciously, we don’t. Studies show that people tend to feel more comfortable giving feedback to people who are very like them. (You also may realize that you feel more comfortable having a career conversation with someone like you - same university, same age, etc, and are more open giving contacts and making connections for that person.) Consider all the ways you could be similar or different to your direct report - it might not simply be a gender or race difference, but a personality or thinking type that is different. Maybe you are quiet or understated, and your direct report is bubbly and talkative. The more different you are, along whatever dimensions, the harder it might FEEL to coach him/her. It's difficult, but we each need to overcome this and give feedback anyway. You may also want to tweak your routines so you have enough time and perspective to give good feedback for this person. Are you getting to know their projects enough? After thinking about this, one manager decided to make his one-on-one times longer for direct reports who were in a different office from him - so he had enough time to get into a real discussion. | ||||
Consistent Criteria Ask yourself, “have you outlined expectations and anticipated outcomes for your direct report?” Have you defined criteria for success for each person on the team? Using criteria that are clear creates a sense of fairness once you start evaluating your direct report. Another point about consistent criteria is this: as you judge the direct report’s performance or interpersonal skills, think about how you would evaluate that behavior if it came from a different person, e.g. a different gender or social group. Would what the direct report did be typically seen as fine if it were done by a male, yet the direct report is a female and is judged differently? For example, if the person said, “I completely disagree with this direction” would you consider that aggressive if a woman said it, but assertive if a man said it? Be mindful of these biases and hold yourself accountable to applying clear criteria consistently. (insert example: assertive/driven vs aggressive/pushy) | ||||
Filtering Based on Assumptions Ask yourself, “Do I sometimes filter what I say based on assumptions, and can I avoid it?” We sometimes make assumptions about what a person wants or doesn’t want. What are some common pivots that assumptions can be made upon? For example: “That direct report has a child and probably wouldn’t be interested in a role on our team that could involve a lot of travel, so I won’t bring it up." Instead, you should bring it up anyway, or just announce it to the team as a whole. And lastly, don't assume that you cannot provide honest advice to someone because they "may not be able to handle it". Assumptions are often made based on unconscious stereotypes or biases of a particular group, and the key is to keep communication and messaging consistent for all. Bottom line, say it anyway, but say it nicely. | ||||
Making Sure You are Understood Ask yourself: “Am I making sure my message was accurately understood?” Think about it: even twins could misunderstand each other. The more differences there are between you and the other person, the higher the possibility that your message wasn’t received quite as intended. It goes through more filters and cultural assumptions getting to the other person than you may anticipate. You might say to your housekeeper: “The floor is dirty” meaning “The floor is dirty. Let’s get it on the list to clean,“ but your housekeeper might think, “Are you going to fire me?” Ask to see what the direct report has understood and clarify the message if needed. Eg., pause and say, “Let me check, did you remember it differently? How do you see it?” | ||||
Feedback Pitfalls Recap
Think to yourself: “Which of these can I commit to doing better on? Why?” [Give a moment for people to think. If group is conducive, ask a few people to share what they thought, even just a 30 second discussion.] | ||||
Alan Eustace Quote (former Google SVP) “Silence guarantees nothing will change” It’s your challenge and responsibility as a manager to say something, even if it’s difficult. That is at the heart of developing people and making our company a better place. Use SBI! | ||||
Decision Making (2 hours) | ||||
Decision Making With this next section on decision making, we’re broadening the tools and practices to include the role a manager plays in decision making. The added complexity is in using the previous tools and practices in the context of a team. Ask the group to discuss at their tables:(10 mins)
Debrief (5 mins) The purpose of asking these questions is to elicit the kinds of issues and concerns they raise about decision making. When they report out their responses, categorize their answers into concerns about people, process, and structure. E.g. We can’t seem to come to an agreement (people), we don’t know who the decision maker is (process). When reviewing the list, remind participants that we will be covering tools that can help with process, and we will be covering practices for helping the people interaction during decision making. |
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Opposing views are critical to explore using strong listening skills and open-ended questions because they uncover data and validate/include those with diverse points of view. Ultimately, we can arrive at better, more informed decisions. Let’s look at some skills that can support you in this balancing act. Balancing Advocacy and Inquiry We need to balance these skills in decision making conversations in order to build a robust conversation that tests our ideas out loud and works toward making informed decisions that will be supported. Typically we lead with advocacy. By including (even leading with) more inquiry, you expand the pool of information while making others feel heard/included. As a leader, summarizing what has been heard and the path forward builds credibility and clarifies understanding.
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Decision Framework (5 mins) Use these questions to shine a light on the decisions made in your team: [WHAT] are you solving for and are the objectives clear to everyone?
[WHY] What’s at stake (if you do it or don’t do it) and why is it important?
Keeping in mind that emotions are data, take stock of how you and others feel about the decision at hand. Consider, for example, why people care and what they stand to lose. [WHO] Is everyone clear who the decision maker is?
[HOW] will the decision be made (e.g., consensus driven; how will data be used)?
[WHEN] can people expect a decision?
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Decision Making Choices This is a tool that can help you as a manager understand how you want to make a decision. Not all decisions are the same, so you can use different ways to reach a decision. On the continuum you can start on the left side in Tell / Sell. Here, the owner of the decision makes the decision themselves and announces it. These are fast decisions; the challenge is that you won’t get as much ownership from others, but for expediency, it’s worth it. On the other side you have Consent/Consensus. This kind of decision takes longer than others, and the ownership is much greater. In between, you can take the position of Consult. Can anyone tell us the difference of a Consult decision? The importance of a Consult decision is that the owner of the decision announces that s/he will still make the decision; however, they are influenceable by input from the group. You can tell the group where you are leaning or not, but you are persuadable. Often groups will fall back to Consult when they experience being stuck in Consent/Consensus and time is of essence. But be aware that if you shift from Consensus to Consult, you aren’t doing it too soon. You also want to take care to announce the shift and get agreement from all. When you Delegate, you are giving the ownership of a decision to an individual who then owns the decision and decides how s/he wants to make the decision. What types of decisions are mainly used here? How do you see groups making decisions? | ||||
Consent / Consensus One nuance to decision making in a group is the difference between Consensus and Consent. It’s subtle and useful. Consent means that I can live with it. I may not believe it is the most elegant or best way to go at the problem, but I can live with it. Consensus means that I believe, along with everyone else, that this is the best way to approach the issue. In Consensus, I don’t agree until I believe it’s the best decision. Using Consent can help people size up the importance of the decision and test whether they can live with the decision, given its importance and the need for speed. | ||||
Other challenges Let’s frame up two additional challenges to be aware of when managing decision making. One is our cognitive biases. Unconscious Biases So when it comes to decision making, the neuroscientists and cognitive researchers tell us that initially we make decisions by intuition, and then we reflect and rationalize it. Our confirmation bias has us build a rationale with data that supports our initial decision. We have to work with our biases so that we can learn and question this tendency. There are other biases as well. The availability bias subverts us to believe we’ve gotten all the information required and we don’t test further. In groups, members tend to believe they don’t need to go outside the group for missing data. The anchoring effect is common in performance reviews because we’ve made a judgment given our last impression. And as humans, we’re more averse to losing something than to seeing the potential for gain. In-group Bias is the tendency for people to give preferential treatment to others they perceive to be members of their own groups. The main points that we should take from these and other biases is that we can be more humble in our convictions, and that our goal in decision making is to reach the most informed decision with the best internal commitment. Because of our unconscious biases, our personal goal should be to be Less Wrong. | ||||
Emotional Triggers The second challenge for us in the interpersonal realm is that we will get emotionally triggered when making decisions, because we should be bringing up differences in opinions and judgments, and when these start to cross the line to the personal arena, we can “flip our lids.” When we are triggered—when we feel threatened or embarrassed—we will fight, flee, or freeze. We start thinking the other person is crazy and won’t listen to reason. We believe we have the answers and that they just don’t get it. I start limiting what I say, for fear that it will explode the room or that it will be a career-limiting move. What we learned yesterday is that when we’re emotionally triggered, we need to reappraise and reframe our thinking and feelings in the moment. | ||||
Overcoming Biases & Triggers Through Reappraisal We can overcome our Biases and Triggers by reappraising our attitudes. Here’s where our internal voice, our internal coach, needs to help us listen to what’s firing off in our minds, just below the surface of awareness. The inner coach can suggest other things to tell ourselves. We can shift our internal voice from: “I need to push my point harder, they don’t get it. How I see this situation is true. They need to come around,” to “Let me slow down and be intentional with my response, I have a strong perspective and it’s one of many, let me suspend judgement for the moment to listen to the others first, then respond with mine and see if I can move the conversation to what’s best for the company. I may not have THE one/only best idea.” | ||||
Decision Making Considerations
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RACI (15 mins) Who has experience with RACI? How did it go, who was part of creating it and what was the context? There are many models we could use for decision making and role clarity. This type of tool will be most useful when you’ve gone through a reorganization, added members to your team, or changed your organizational focus. We'd like to focus on identifying who makes the decision, who has input but no decision making authority, and how we communicate the decision to all relevant parties. Using RACI can help simplify complex projects -- including those with multiple stakeholders -- by helping project managers clarify decision making. The goals are to provide role definition to team members and increase transparency in decision making, especially in a matrix organization or a cross functional project team.
Each person involved in a process is identified as R, A, C, or I. An individual can have multiple roles, and any role can have multiple people doing it (except for “A”) Share quick example from your own work (either where you used RACI with success or where using it could have led to a better outcome) Good questions to ask to identify C’s and sometimes I’s is, “Who else cares about this issue or decision?” and “What’s the history and context of this issue?” Those are the people or teams you will want to include at the beginning and ensure their roles in decision making are clear. Asking, “Who else cares?” can help identify these stakeholders early in the process.Sometimes roles are predetermined, and you want to be clear that you need to have certain people in certain roles. Do your best not to give an illusion of choice if there is no choice to be made. Stakeholders may disagree with assigned roles. It is important that after roles are assigned everyone is in agreement about the assignments (e.g., the A needs to know he or she is an A and be ready to be held accountable). In some cases it may be possible to define roles in collaboration with stakeholders to arrive at consensus. RACI Example
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Afternoon Break (15 minutes) | ||||
Action Planning & Program Close (45 minutes) | ||||
Action Planning & Program Close Action planning allows you to reflect on what was covered during the program so far and decide how you want to apply the content to your development as a manger. You will be more successful if you develop areas that you care about. Consider also what you think your team most needs— if you can align your passions with the team’s needs, you will find a path of least resistance to development. Plan Your Development (Individually, ~up to 10 mins)
Meet with your Trio (30 mins)
Revisiting the Value Proposition of Managers (2 mins)
Closing Circle (5-8 mins)
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Program Ends | ||||
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