CASE STUDY

A winning team started showing cracks.

We listened.

Google · Product Team · Team Culture & Inclusion

INDUSTRY

Technology

ENGAGEMENT

Team Effectivness Consulting

TIME FRAME

Results measured at 12-month mark

SCOPE

Full product team, leadership alignment

RESULT

Double-digit employee engagement gains.

THE SITUATION

High performance, quiet fractures.

The survey told the truth.

A team that had always been proud of their culture was starting to feel like something had quietly shifted.

This Google engineering team was building a new cutting edge product. Strong relationships, a genuine sense of shared purpose, a culture that people talked about as a differentiator. Then the team grew fast, and the Engagement Survey results started pointing to something most people weren’t quite ready to name: inclusion and belonging were slipping.

It wasn’t a broken team. It was a team growing faster than its culture had been designed to scale, with leaders who cared deeply but didn’t have a clear picture of where people were struggling most or why.

The data was pointing at a problem. What it couldn’t tell them was what to do about it. That’s where we came in.

THE WORK

Listen first. Then act on

what you actually hear.

Rather than prescribe a solution, we started by building a clear picture of what was driving the numbers. Focus groups surfaced what made this team’s culture distinctive, and where the growing pains were doing the most damage. From there, we aligned around two targeted actions, and made sure leadership was modeling the right behaviors before anything else rolled out to the broader team.

WHAT WE BUILT

WHAT CHANGED

Focus groups across the team

→ We got specific about where inclusion was breaking down, rather than guessing from survey data alone. People told us what was actually happening.

Identified what made the culture worth protecting

→ Before solving the problem, we got clear on what was working and needed to be preserved. That gave us a foundation to build from, not just a list of fixes.

Aligned on two focused actions

→ Rather than a rolling out a myriad of changes no one follows through with, we chose the two changes most likely to move the needle on the specific questions where favorability had dropped. Focus beats breadth every time.

Leadership modeled the behaviors first

→ We didn't hand the team a new set of norms and expect them to adopt them without a model. Leadership practiced them first so the rest of the team had something real to orient to.

THE RESULTS

What changed for

Google Starline.

21pts

Favorability Increase

The team went from flagging on inclusion to showing measurable gains in the same survey questions that had raised the alarm — in a single year.

“The only regret I have about hiring Lia Garvin is not doing it sooner! With Lia’s excellent analysis, communication, guidance and experience she turned a troubled team into a dream team. In six fast paced weeks, Lia supported Mint Locations by drafting a mission based standardized handbook, crafting a job description for a new hire, assisting in the interview and hiring process, in-house team coaching, internal systems, integration and goal setting resulting in our BEST quarter ever! If your team needs a home run hire Lia!”

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