Signals of a good manager

Do you think it’s possible to find signals in collaboration (meta)data that someone is a good manager? Let’s give it some thought.

Many of you have probably already heard about Google’s Oxygen project and its findings on the factors differentiating the highest and lowest-rated managers based on performance reviews, employee engagement surveys, interviews, and other sources of employee feedback. The final list included the following eight characteristics:

1. Is a good coach.
2. Empowers the team and does not micromanage.
3. Expresses interest in and concern for team members’ success and personal well-being.
4. Is productive and results-oriented.
5. Is a good communicator - listens and shares information.
6. Helps with career development.
7. Has a clear vision and strategy for the team.
8. Has key technical skills that help him or her advise the team.

Do you think it would be possible to find any signals, however weak, of the presence of some of these managers’ characteristics in the collaboration (meta)data?

Of the collaboration metrics we currently work with at Time is Ltd., I would bet on the following:

• Number of 1-on-1 meetings managers have with their direct reports and new hires [concern for employees’ success and personal well-being]
• Number of team meetings managers have with their teams [information sharing, alignment on vision, strategy, and tactics)
• After-hours or weekend work and workday length of managers’ direct reports [well-being & work-life balance]
• Managers’ presence at meetings of their direct reports, excluding 1-on-1s and team meetings [micromanagement]
• Managers being in CC/BCC of emails sent by their direct reports [micromanagement]
• Time it takes managers to respond to emails from their direct reports [interest in and concern for team members]
• Direct reports having skip-level meetings [career development & new career opportunities]

Would you agree? Or what other signals of a good manager would you look for in collaboration (meta)data?

P.S. In a later update, the list of top manager characteristics at Google also includes the characteristic “Collaborates across Google”, which is relatively straightforward to measure using collaboration data.