In 2002, Google ran an uncontrolled “experiment” by simply getting rid of all managers. It didn’t go well. So in 2008 a team of researchers set out to prove what some at Google suspected – that managers don’t matter. But the team discovered quite the opposite. Managers matter a lot.

The research effort, called Project Oxygen, refocused to figure out exactly what makes for a great manager at Google. The guiding question shifted from “Do managers matter?” to “What if every Googler had an awesome manager?” Project Oxygen identified a set of common behaviors among the best managers and those behaviors now guide our management development program.

Lori will review the highlights of this program, which helps managers get better at coaching, empowering teams, managing team energy, staying results-oriented, communicating, developing teams, and sharing a vision.