Leadership Insights: Reflective Journal on Google's Strategies

This reflective journal delves into the leadership practices of Google, analyzing the company's organizational culture, talent management strategies, and various leadership styles. The author reflects on their own leadership traits, acknowledging areas for improvement and drawing inspiration from Google's success. The journal explores the significance of commitment, honesty, feedback, and self-evaluation in leadership development. It examines the impact of Google's diverse and skilled teams, emphasizing the importance of managing cultural and behavioral diversity. The author also discusses the evolution of their leadership approach, comparing autocratic styles with democratic, transformational, and strategic leadership. The journal highlights the importance of communication skills, relationship-building, and change management. Furthermore, it explores the role of innovation, recruitment, and talent management in fostering effective leadership and achieving long-term business objectives. The author concludes by emphasizing the need to understand the impact of various leadership approaches to enhance leadership capabilities. This assignment is a valuable resource for students seeking to understand and improve their leadership skills and is available on Desklib, a platform offering AI-powered study tools and past assignments.

REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
ON GOOGLE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
REFLECTION.................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is defined as the characteristic skills of an individual which helps them in
leading and guiding others. For the success of the organisation it has been one of the integral
skills which establish integration between human sources so that they can achieve the desired
operational goals. Hence in order to achieve success it is very important that organisations must
maintain and review their organisational culture and leadership strategies (Shamir and Eilam-
Shamir, 2018). Google has been one of the most successful and leading technical organisation.
Due to effective work culture and leadership organisation has not only the leading giant but one
of the most preferred workplace for the human resources.
REFLECTION
In my opinion I can be a good leader because I have the leadership traits which can help
me in my professional development. However I believe that still I need some improvements in
my skills so that I can become more successful leader. In terms of leadership I think Google has
set an excellent example which has made it possible for the organisation to establish its
dominance all over the world for several years. Commitment and honesty is one of the skills
which must be possessed by the leaders so that they can achieve their task with the proficiency
(Western, 2019). I have been very honest with my evaluation and tasks. In order to continually
improve my leadership and professional skills I think feedbacks and self evaluation are very
critical. The feedbacks which I received from my tutors or colleagues have been very helpful for
me. Such feedback makes me understand the areas which I must improved.
The feedback along with the self evaluation helps to identify the skills which must be
incorporated to groom myself as a successful leader. During learning sessions I learned that how
Maslow’s motivation theory motivates an individual to enhance their performance. At that the
learning was not sure completely that how such motivational theories can grew leaders or the
best performer from an individual.
However then I came to know several online sources which discuss the organisational
culture of Google. Through those articles I came to know the practical implementation of the
motivational theory. For instance I learned that talent management is one of the basic strategies

of Google to retain the expert technicians in its company. This is one of the reason that Google
culture is not homogenous instead it consist of employees from all over the world. Such type of
diverse and highly skilled team members helps Google to lead the other competitive
organisations (Grint, Jones and Holt, 2016). This learning gave me a valuable lesson that it is the
responsibility of the leader to manage the diverse teams.
The cultural and behavioural diversity are integral part of the teams. However the teams
can achieve the best results only when team members respect each other and works effectively in
collaboration. As a good leader I will try to set an example that how individuals must respect
each other’s diversity. During the industrial guest session I also learned that recruitment process
and management of human resources is also one of the most necessary parts of the business.
Earlier I had belief that organisational culture is not much significant factor.
If the leaders and employees are skilled then they will naturally bring benefits to the
organisation. However during the guest session I realised that organisation culture is also very
important in retaining skilled employees and for talent management. The organisation culture
encourages and motivates employees to effectively work for the organisation and to achieve the
business goals. The leaders have the responsibility to empower and motivate their team members
so that all team members can perform the tasks effectively (Covin and Slevin, 2017). As I leader
I must have accountability towards failure.
I received negative comments as well and I have also witnessed failure in many projects.
However as leader I must not shift blame to other team members. In the professional context it
cannot be considered as appropriate trait of leader of professional to escape from failures and to
do not take accountability for actions. In my future practice I will try to develop this skill so that
as a leader I can groom my leadership skills. Through the evaluation of the success and
management of Google I have also observed that long term success cannot be retained without
active and equal participation from all the leaders. Innovation has one of the key unique selling
points of the Google services.
The organisation is well known for providing the personalised services to its users. By
this analysis I have been highly inspired and motivated to enhance my knowledge and
information content so that in my future practices I can bring innovations. The successful leaders

always inspire team members so that regular innovations can be used to improve the existing
business practices (Komives and Wagner, 2016). The leadership style followed by the leaders is
also one of the critical attribute which affects the quality of operations. I have across various
types of leadership approaches such as democratic, situational, transformational and autocratic.
In my opinion a single leadership approach cannot justify the success of Google. This is
one of the reasons which have helped Google to sustain its growth for such long duration despite
competitive organisations locally as well as globally. In my opinion also organisations must not
adhere to single leadership style. For instance the democratic leadership encourages the equal
participation of all the team members and leaders make the decision on the basis of equal
contribution and mutual understanding from all other individuals. This type of leadership can be
considered as effective in making general decisions regarding human resource management. In
such situation if leaders behave autocratically then they may fail to gain massive support from
the human resources.
As per my current evaluation I and experience from psychometric test for the leadership I
used to follow autocratic approach. I always take decisions with complete authority without
consulting from other team members or subordinates. In some critical business situation this can
be good but in long term this approach cannot be considered good enough (Blanchard, 2015).
Due to my autocratic leadership style I often fail to analyse the more innovative options or the
alternative decisions which can bring more profitability or the benefits. This leadership style also
makes other subordinates disappointed as they think that I am not giving value to their opinion or
the participation.
Contrary to this most of the people suggest me that I should follow democratic leadership
style. However I believe that for long term success democratic style may not be good to achieve
success. Though it has capability to involve high level participation of all the team members but
it often slowdowns the decision making process. In this competitive environment it can be highly
risky to afford delay in the decision making process. I believe that for me transformational or
strategic leadership style can be more suitable. It will not only enhance and improve my
capabilities but will also help me to address the organisational needs more effectively.

In Google transformational leadership is demonstrated in several decision making and
operational stages (DuBrin, 2015). With this type of leadership theory at first the communication
is highly encouraged within teams so that intellectual strategies can be developed and necessary
changes can be incorporated in individuals and others. Transformational leadership will help me
to identify and prioritise the necessary goals and to fix specific time limits for achieving those
goals.
In the role of transformational leader I will try to set challenging targets for myself so that
in the path to achieve those targets I can explore and enhance my capabilities. Apart from this
style the strategic leadership can also be a good choice for my future practice. The strategic
leaders define effective long and short term strategies and influence the other team members to
achieve those goals (Lussier and Achua, 2015). Through the evaluation of various types of
leadership styles I have also reached to a conclusion that all leaders must have good
communication skills so that they can influence and lead others.
Though I have been good at communication but I think I must try to explore this skill
more so that I can become accomplish my leadership goals. The good communication will not
only help me to influence others and to take better decisions but also to develop good relations
with my subordinates. Google has been able to achieve its targets and innovative products and
services with the help of its highly efficient teams (Priest and Gass, 2017). The teams cannot
achieve their goals until they are capable to maintain good relations with each others. As a leader
I understand the importance of making good relations and cooperation with other team members.
For improving this aspect I will try to regularly interact with other team members.
The interaction will help me to analyse the issues faced by the team members influencing
their performance and efficiency. For this purpose I can also make some modifications or
temporary changes to my leadership style. Google provides very flexible and comfortable
working culture so that its employees are always dedicated and passionate for achieving their
professional objectives (Manimala, 2013). Through the leadership learning’s and analysis of
Google I have also analysed that for the continuous growth in business change management is
vital and must be incorporated with well developed framework.

Personally I always face difficulty in managing changes in my strategies or the beliefs.
However through the study of organisation I observed that Google is never limited to any fix
technology or the service provision (Murray, 2011). The organisation regularly analyses and
searches new market, customer segments and the technological development which enhances the
product and service innovation. This innovation and the regular service improvements on the
basis of customer needs help Google to retain such huge success globally (Antonakis and Day,
2017).
Taking inspiration from this I have realised that for becoming a successful leader I must
also improve my innovative and change management skills. One of the principle techniques
which I can use to easily accept the suitable changes I must expand my knowledge resources.
The increased knowledge will assist me to understand each and every aspect of the
organisational changes and the possible risks associated with them. I have been always good at
encouraging people so that they can achieve their best. This positive attitude of mine will also
help me to understand the various needs of my professional teams.
I will try to understand the various needs such as safety, self esteem, emotional and
physiological needs. This evaluation will assist in understanding the factors which motivates my
team members (Blanchard, 2015). For continuous improvement in my leadership skills I must
also review my practices and decision making that how they can influence me and my
organisation. For this objective I can seek suggestions from my other colleagues and seniors.
Their valuable feedbacks will provide me guidance for minimising the failure risk. For
improving my leadership skills I will also try to recruit positive and talented human resources in
my team so that their skills can talent can motivate me to excel in my leadership path. I can also
enhance my capabilities by adopting and following the leadership models of successful leaders.
The leaders of Google can serve as the best example for me to understand the scope and
approaches of leadership styles. For retaining my leadership capabilities in future I will also try
to gain knowledge and expertise in talent management, recruitment process and development of
good organisational culture (Northouse, 2018). These aspects contribute to develop more
emerging leaders from the team so that leaders can achieve their long term business objectives.

CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it can be concluded that it is very essential to understand the
significance and impact of various leadership approaches. This learning is not critical in only
organisational growth but also for the personal and professional development of an individual.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Antonakis, J. and Day, D.V. eds., 2017. The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
Blanchard, J.M.F., 2015. The people’s republic of China leadership transition and its external
relations: Still searching for definitive answers. Journal of Chinese Political
Science. 20(1). pp.1-16.
Covin, J.G. and Slevin, D.P., 2017. The entrepreneurial imperatives of strategic
leadership. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, pp.307-327.
DuBrin, A.J., 2015. Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Nelson Education.
Grint, K., Jones, O.S. and Holt, C., 2016. What is Leadership. The Routledge Companion to
Leadership, p.3.
Komives, S.R. and Wagner, W. eds., 2016. Leadership for a better world: Understanding the
social change model of leadership development. John Wiley & Sons.
Lussier, R.N. and Achua, C.F., 2015. Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development.
Nelson Education.
Northouse, P.G., 2018. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Priest, S. and Gass, M., 2017. Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming, 3E. Human
Kinetics.
Shamir, B. and Eilam-Shamir, G., 2018. “What’s your story?” A life-stories approach to
authentic leadership development. In Leadership Now: Reflections on the Legacy of Boas
Shamir(pp. 51-76). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Western, S., 2019. Leadership: A critical text. SAGE Publications Limited.
Online

Manimala,. M., 2013. Distributed leadership at Google: Lessons from the billion-dollar brand.
[Online]. Accessed through https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/distributed-
leadership-at-google-lessons-from-the-billion-dollar-brand/
Murray, S., 2011. The 8 Most Important Qualities of Leadership at Google. [Online]. Accessed
through https://www.realtimeperformance.com/the-8-most-important-qualities-of-
leadership-at-google/