From our favorite technology company, Goo gle, here comes 10 tips on how to get the best out of your skilled employees.

There are excellent ideas there, and managers would do well to consider them.
For example, “hire by committee” is the kind of ideas which would make people goes “why didn’t we think about it”. It just makes sense.

They seem to like Peter Drucker, and do exactly what Drucker said – “cater to their every need”. At their office, you’ll be able to find gyms, laundry, car wash, dry cleaning, shuttle bus, etc. Their staff, even the unmarried ones, can get all (literally) their jobs done at the office. A serious productivity boost, and something that a company as big as them can afford, considering the benefit out of it.
As an engineer myself, I know that sitting all day and pushing your brain to the limit tend to deteriorate your body. I visit a gym regularly to keep me healthy, but having the gym inside my office would really, really help indeed.

“Encourage creativity” – this may sound cliche, but their implementation of it certainly is far from it. It is, shall we say, very creative.

“Data drive decisions” however, might not always be possible. Certainly you’ll need to strive for this, but there WILL be situations when there just isn’t enough data available to make a fully informed decision. Make no mistake, as a manager, you WILL be in this situation.
There will be situations where, for example, there are several options available. To make things worse, taking the wrong decision may harm the company.

This is where another tip comes in – “strive to reach consensus”. You’ll need to involve your people on such important decision. Let them have their say heard.

However, when you fail to reach a consensus, it’s a manager’s job to decide. The buck stops at him, and so he must make the judgement, based on whatever data he has.
The employees must obey AND fully committed to make the decision a success, even if they disagree with it.
This is how a good team works.

This, however, would only be possible with a solid team, where each and every one trusts each other. To accomplish this, you’ll need to “communicate effectively”.
Team members need to be able to communicate freely to build trust. Don’t make it hard for them to do so.

Anyway, go now and read the article. You can’t afford to miss it.