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Website spotlight: How Google can help nurse mangers

Nurse Leader Weekly, May 2, 2011

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Rebecca Hendren, for HealthLeaders Media, April 26, 2011

Has Google cracked the secret of how to be a good boss? The data geeks at Google have come to some surprising conclusions about what makes a good manager and the findings can be applied by managers in any industry, even healthcare.

In fact, the news struck me as particularly reassuring for nurse managers, who are so often promoted into the role with no experience in managing or leadership training, then left to sink or swim as they figure out how to manage a whole unit (sometimes more) of nurses. Some are naturals, some are not. But Google's data says, the most important thing for managers to do is just be accessible for employees.

This sounds overly simplistic and it surprised the Googlers, who assumed the best managers would be those with high technical expertise who really understood what their teams were working on and could provide technical knowledge to help that. No. What the teams really needed was someone who was accessible, who could listen and help them figure out the answers themselves. It didn't matter whether the manager had as high technical knowledge as the team, just that they could go to the manager for support.

Editor's note: Read the rest of this free article by visiting How Google can help nurse managers found in the Reading Room at www.StrategiesForNurseManagers.com. 

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