It’s all about the people, stupid

An organization's most important asset is its people. It’s the who that makes the rest possible. 

When Google wanted to know what made successful teams they took a very Google action, they indexed it. 

And they were surprised. 

A ‘sports team’, fans think, is a collection of the best players. But think deeper. Success is the whole not the sum of the parts. 

In his book, Measure What Matters, John Doerr summarized Google’s findings. Their best teams answered ‘yes’ to these five questions:

1. Do teams have clear goals, roles, and plans? 

2. Can teams take supported risks? 

3. Does this work mean something, individually or collectively? 

4. Can teammates count on each other? 

5. Does that work matter to the organization? 

Leadership is hard because so much time is spent working in the business and not on the business. But leaders can get more time to think about big-picture direction when they know the work is getting done. When they have successful teams. 

You’re not running a billion-dollar firm (yet) - but you are leading people. Get the most out of your team with these questions.

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