# Google Project Oxygen: 10 manager behaviors you can practice this week **Google Project Oxygen** showed that managers are not optional overhead. Great managers share coachable behaviors: coaching, empowerment, care, results focus, communication, career support, vision, enough technical skill, cross-team collaboration, and clear decisions. Practice one behavior at a time. This hub links each behavior to a hands-on playbook. ## What Project Oxygen found Google set out to test whether managers mattered. The data said yes: better managers correlated with happier teams, lower attrition, and stronger performance. The useful part for you is the behavior list. These are not personality traits. They are habits you can rehearse in 1:1s, planning, and stakeholder work. According to iSilta's 2026 survey of 146 organizations, 61% train managers only after promotion and 78% cite weak 1:1s when training is late or thin. Oxygen-style behaviors are exactly what late training skips: coaching, listening, and career conversations under real delivery pressure. ## Original 8 and today's 10 The classic Oxygen list had eight behaviors. Google later highlighted collaboration across the company and strong decision making as well. For the research story behind the original eight, see [Project Oxygen: 8 manager behaviors that still matter](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-why-managers-matter/). This series uses the practical ten so you can train the full modern set. ## The 10 behaviors (with playbooks) - [**Be a good coach**](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-be-a-good-coach/) - develop people with questions, feedback, and follow-through, not only task assignment. - [**Empower the team and do not micromanage**](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-empower-without-micromanaging/) - give ownership, constraints, and trust. - [**Express interest in success and well-being**](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-care-success-and-wellbeing/) - care about the person and the outcomes without invasive drama. - [**Be productive and results-oriented**](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-results-oriented-manager/) - keep the team aimed at outcomes, not meeting theater. - [**Be a good communicator**](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-good-communicator/) - listen, share context, and close loops. - [**Help with career development**](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-career-development/) - make growth a recurring conversation, not an annual surprise. - [**Have a clear vision and strategy for the team**](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-clear-vision-strategy/) - name what good looks like for the next 90 days. - [**Have key technical skills to advise the team**](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-technical-skills-to-advise/) - enough craft credibility to help without becoming the bottleneck. - [**Collaborate across the company**](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-collaborate-across-company/) - get work done through peers, not only your reporting line. - [**Be a strong decision maker**](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-strong-decision-maker/) - decide, communicate, and revisit with evidence instead of endless align meetings. ## How to practice this series - Pick one behavior for two weeks. - Use it in at least three real conversations. - Ask one report: "What should I do more or less of on this?" - Write one sentence of what changed, then rotate. For a measurement frame, use [how to measure manager effectiveness](https://isilta.com/blog/how-to-measure-manager-effectiveness/). For making the work visible upward, see [skills that make managers visible](https://isilta.com/blog/skills-that-make-managers-visible/). ## Manager map: behavior to weekly practice | Behavior | This week practice | iSilta lever | | --- | --- | --- | | Coach | One coaching 1:1 with prep questions | AI coaching chat + 1:1 notes | | Empower | Hand back one decision you usually take | Profiles + action points owned by ICs | | Care | Ask workload and energy, not only status | Pulse + profiles | | Results | Close three open agreements with owners | Action points + Team OKRs | | Communicate | Share one context dump the team lacked | Profiles + 1:1 notes + pulse | | Career | 30 minutes on growth, not tickets | Growth Insights | | Vision | Write a 90-day "what good looks like" | Team Brief + Team OKRs | | Technical advise | Office hours or named tech lead backup | Practice mostly outside product | | Collaborate | One stakeholder map and shared outcome | Practice mostly outside product | | Decide | One decision with owner, date, default | Team Brief norms + Team AI priorities | ## Bottom line Project Oxygen turned "are managers useful?" into a practice list. You do not need to master all ten this quarter. You need one better conversation this week, then compounding habits. Start with coaching or communication if your 1:1s feel thin. Start with vision or decisions if the team feels busy and lost. Use the playbooks linked above as drills, not as a reading list to finish in a day. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is Google Project Oxygen? An internal Google study that showed managers matter for team outcomes and identified coachable behaviors of great managers. The original list had eight behaviors; Google later emphasized ten, including collaboration and decision making. ### How should I use this series? Pick one behavior for two weeks. Practice it in real 1:1s and standups, ask for one piece of upward feedback, then move to the next. Depth beats reading all ten once. ### Is technical skill the most important manager behavior? Oxygen ranked technical advising lower than coaching, empowerment, and communication. Enough craft credibility matters. Pure tech excellence without people skills does not. ### How do I know if I am improving? Use short upward feedback, retention and engagement signals, and whether agreements stick. Pair this hub with a measurement rubric rather than gut feel alone. Related: [Google Project Oxygen: 8 manager behaviors that still matter](https://isilta.com/blog/google-project-oxygen-why-managers-matter/), [how to measure manager effectiveness](https://isilta.com/blog/how-to-measure-manager-effectiveness/), [skills that make managers visible](https://isilta.com/blog/skills-that-make-managers-visible/).