Excerpts from a blog by Cliff Stevenson, Principal Analyst for Talent and Workforce Management:

The Washington Post recently ran an article, “The surprising thing Google learned about its employees — and what it means for today’s students.” Though the title makes it seem as if the lessons are for current students, the point of the article is just as important for current employees and employers. The “surprising” thing that Google found is described in this paragraph (emphasis mine):

Google decided to test its hiring hypothesis by crunching every bit and byte of hiring, firing, and promotion data accumulated since the company’s incorporation in 1998. Project Oxygen shocked everyone by concluding that, among the eight most important qualities of Google’s top employees, STEM expertise comes in dead last. The seven top characteristics of success at Google are all soft skills: being a good coach; communicating and listening well; possessing insights into others (including different values and points of view); having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues; being a good critical thinker and problem solver; and being able to make connections across complex ideas.

As our members and clients may recall, Brandon Hall Group’s report, Performance Management 2016: People Over Process, contained the following, “There is a direct correlation between the existence of a coaching culture in an organization and the perceived effectiveness and business value of their performance management.” I’m glad to see our friends at Google have found similar results after a large study.

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