What good managers do
Google's multi-year internal study of its own managers set out to test whether managers mattered and found that they did. It identified the behaviours that set the best apart: coaching, empowering instead of micromanaging, interest in people's wellbeing, a focus on results, communication, career support, a clear vision, and enough technical skill to help.
Evidence grade: research Peer-reviewed or large-sample empirical work supports it.
Use it when
Evidence that management behaviours can be measured and that the difference they make shows up in retention and satisfaction data.
Where it stops working
It is a single-company study of one particular culture. The list holds no surprises, and its value lies in the evidence rather than in anything new.
Where the standard uses it
- PL-6Leading through leadersSelecting, developing, and holding accountable the managers who report to you.
Sources
- David A. Garvin. How Google Sold Its Engineers on Management. Harvard Business Review, December 2013, 2013. In the bibliography
Used alongside it
- Coaching managers through change practice
- Managing managers practice
- Readiness practice
- Sizing teams and spans practice
- Task-relevant maturity practice
- The one-on-one as the report's meeting practice
Cite this model
Chicago, BibTeX and licence →Engineering Management Academy. (2026). What good managers do. In Engineering Management Academy Body of Knowledge (Version 3.1, TEC.what-good-managers-do). https://www.engineeringmanagement.academy/body-of-knowledge/techniques/what-good-managers-do