Bring the best of Google to your workplace #1: Thoughtfulness.

A couple of months out of Google after spending nearly 8 years there, I’ve been able to reflect about what makes it unique.

I was watching Yves Mourieux’s TED talk on workplace productivity and his point about cooperation resonated:

It is not the skeleton of boxes, it is the nervous system of adaptiveness and intelligence. You know, you could call it cooperation, basically. Whenever people cooperate, they use less resources. In everything.

One of the disarming things I found at Google was that cooperation is by and large, very easy. The root cause? I think it’s this:

Google hires people who are thoughtful of others: they’re generous, they care, and are curious. Where it works best is when the common good is considered, often even over personal objectives.

I believe creating a culture of thoughtfulness is one of the more important, yet understated success stories of Google that others can aspire to emulate. Thoughtfulness a coachable skill.

What does this look like?

I think it starts off with people simply asking this of themselves when being asked help of others:

“assuming good intentions, what is my colleague really trying to achieve and is there more to answering their question at face value that I can do?”

I think the world will be a better place if more people get into the habit of asking that question.

My challenge to you: try asking yourself this for 2 weeks at work, and see how you get on. Let me know how you get on, I’d love to see this hypothesis tested more broadly.

Here’s a lemon I found in one of Google London’s cafes. A simple gesture to make lunch all the more enjoyable: how thoughtful!