I've been reflecting on the competencies of some of my colleagues at Google Cloud. Both for managers and ICs. Here are some that stood out for me this year:
Focus
People that I (and others) admire are able to stay calm and focused in the face of industry change, customer requests, internal tensions, and other disruptors. The ability my colleagues have to know what matters, and keep their eye on the ball serves them well and keeps their teams focused. They change what they need, they adapt, and also... they keep distractions away.
Expertise
Expertise continues to command a premium. Colleagues who have unique expertise are the ones we turn to when we want "the best". And we all want the best for our work! This year, I saw how being a (real) AI expert and a Security expert paid off. I suspect this will be increasingly true.
While it's not necessary to be a technical expert to be a manager of technical experts, I noticed that managers who can help ICs solve technical problems have more occasions to be valuable and build more credibility with their teams.
Customer empathy
People who can see the world from their customer's eyes are more valuable and trustworthy to them. And of course we do business with people we trust and can offer us value.
Trying to get in the mind of our audience, leads to better demos, better presentations, better emails, and makes us easier (and more efficient) to work with.
Every time I and others stepped back and took someone else's prespective, our work improved.
Accountability and ownership
The leaders who take ownership of, and accountability for, their decisions command more respect from the teams they lead. This is particularly true in open organisations like Google where there isn't much "command and control".
The same for ICs of course! Saying "leave it to me, I'll take care of this" and being accountable for the outcome, made for the best collaborations I've had this year. No matter the outcome, clear ownership and real accountability foster team work and motivates others.
Constructive perseverance
This year I've seen a lot accomplished by people and teams who persevered and found ways to work in difficult circumstances with others. It's the ability to get past the natural defences and barriers that we all put to guard our time and attention. But of course, we need to give others a valuable reason to get someone to want to spend their valuable time collaborating with us