Case study 03
The Collective: a manager onboarding experience co-designed with Google
The Collective was a six-month onboarding experience co-designed by MindsetShift and Google for Black+ new hires and their managers across eight countries. MindsetShift's work centred on the manager experience: making unwritten rules, role expectations and relationships explicit as a repeatable routine. More than 1,500 managers were reached. Google's 2023 Diversity Annual Report states that 93% of the inaugural class said the experience was worth their time and that more than 75% of eligible Googlers opted in.
- Partner
- Google, co-designed with MindsetShift
- Audience
- Black+ new hires and their managers
- Duration
- Six months of connected onboarding
- Reach
- 8 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Singapore, South Africa, the UK and the US
- Evidence
- Google's 2023 Diversity Annual Report (93% and 75%+ figures)
The constraint: new joiners decoding a system nobody had made visible
What does a manager make possible when a capable new joiner is trying to find their footing in a system that nobody can learn alone?
New people were expected to understand the culture, find the right relationships and work out what success looks like before anyone had made those things visible. The manager shapes that environment more than anyone, and under pressure managers fall back on their own defaults.
The mechanism: a manager routine, not an inspiring session
- 1
Name the unwritten rules
Manager sessions on unwritten rules and role clarity: how influence, decisions and good work actually happen.
- 2
Share one map
Manager and new joiner were given the same Guide to Google, organised around Self, Role, Culture and People.
- 3
Practise the hard parts
Candour, relationships, networks and expectation-setting when the work itself is ambiguous.
- 4
Leave with a plan
The experience included a post-programme action plan for manager and new joiner, intended to support the rest of year one.
Repeated across cohorts and countries. The guides and scale support designed transfer, not measured long-term effects.
Results and evidence
What the design put in place
- Managers and new joiners were given the same guide
- Manager sessions made unwritten rules and role expectations explicit
- The programme ran across cohorts in eight countries
- The experience included a post-programme action plan intended to support the rest of year one
These describe how the experience was designed and delivered, not measured changes in behaviour.
What the evidence shows
- 1,500+Managers reachedManagers, across cohorts
- 93%Said the experience was worth their timeInaugural class
- 75%+Opted inEligible Googlers
What would prove lasting change
- New-joiner reports of role clarity and connection at 3, 6 and 12 months
- Whether action plans were still in use later in the first year
- First-year retention and internal mobility against joiners outside the programme
- New-joiner reports of manager candour and expectation-setting over time
Not yet measured. These are the measures we would agree with a client from the outset.
This is relevant if
- New joiners take too long to understand how decisions, influence and success really work.
- Onboarding sits with HR, but the experience is decided by managers.
- You need a repeatable manager onboarding routine across countries and cohorts, not a one-off event.
- You want inclusive onboarding that works as everyday leadership practice.