# How To Work with YOU *** **Prev Card**: [[Creating Job Postings To Attract The Right People]] **Next Card**: [[Define Your Expectations]] *** The concept here is an interesting one. I learned about this during a Forum Retreat I had in 2021. The idea is to make a "user manual" for _you_ that you can give to your employees. There a lots of ways to do this, but the primary benefits are: - Set blindingly clear expectations on how to collaborate without extra second guessing. - People always harp on the importance of building trust and communicating — but they rarely say how. Write your user guide. Ask your team to reciprocate. That’s how. - A user guide levels up the quality — and cuts down the quantity — of questions from your team. Exchanges become richer and more efficient. ## How? While there are multiple ways, they all boil down to asking, and _answering_ questions focused on you. But what questions? Here are two examples: - [[#Three Sets of Key Questions]] - [[#The 9 Killer Questions Used to Spark Conversation as a Team]] - [[#My style Questions]] - [[#8 Box Questions For One Page]] ## Three Sets of Key Questions ### Questions focused on you: - What are some honest, unfiltered things about you? - What drives you nuts? - What are your quirks? - How can people earn an extra gold star with you? - What qualities do you particularly value in people who work with you? - What are some things that people might misunderstand about you that you should clarify? ### Questions focused on you interact with others: - How do you coach people to do their best work and develop their talents? - What’s the best way to communicate with you? - What’s the best way to convince you to do something? - How do you like to give feedback? - How do you like to get feedback? ### Other Questions - Communication — Preferred channels - Reporting — Regular reports I expect - One-on-Ones — What we’ll cover - The First Six Months — A critical time to get this right - Feedback — Kind of feedback we both want - My Discipline and Performance — The example I try to set - Micromanagement — It happens, especially early on - Myself as a resource — What to expect from me - Professional development — What I can and can’t offer - Contribution to strategy — My expectations - Schedule — I will respect work/life boundaries. - Speed of decision making — How can we do things sooner? ## The 9 Killer Questions Used to Spark Conversation as a Team: - When I am most energized at work..? - People say that I am great at…? - People say that I need to work on…? - When I need help I want help to look like…? - When there’s a crisis at work I respond by…? - I like to receive feedback in this way….? - I like to give feedback this way…? - Something people might misunderstand about me…? - The best way to convince me to do something is…? ## My style - What I value - What I don’t have patience for - How to best communicate with me - How to help me - What people misunderstand about me - Each section contains four or five bullet points. While points may overlap between sections, the goal is to stay succinct and specific. ## 8 Box Questions For One Page 1. Conditions I like to work in 2. The times/hours I like to work 3. The best ways to communicate with me 4. The ways I like to receive feedback 5. things I need 6. Things I struggle with 7. Things I love 8. Other things to know about me. ## Scott Novis User Manual ![[Scott Novis User Manual 1.2.png]] ## Articles and Resources - https://cassierobinson.medium.com/a-user-manual-for-me-d3a851fbc694 - Google Doc with Answers: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P1GmeN36lFQZEWrtcAvcUqRJOErbi97pOkzTDsvwlxA/edit - - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbBUhTEIgMk - https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2018/07/01/how-to-create-your-leadership-users-manual/?sh=dca82257a4da - https://leadx.org/articles/how-to-create-your-leadership-user-manual/ Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching: http://crrglobal.com/about/orsc/ - Cassie Robinson uses this. - https://review.firstround.com/the-indispensable-document-for-the-modern-manage - https://www.themuse.com/advice/how-to-be-a-better-leader-manager-user-manual - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leaders-need-user-manuals-what-i-learned-writing-mine-abby-falik/ - https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*5moZcs81_Px_dIa6HMpV3g.jpeg - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v9iun8fdv06ygw2/AAAvNB9MDL3a2GLxrkqY1Vaya?dl=0 - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P1GmeN36lFQZEWrtcAvcUqRJOErbi97pOkzTDsvwlxA/edit - Google Doc Version of this page: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1upoo0Hl371MGqdGHuG8JI5uLnY6TaIYq6vq3jQscwow/edit