My User Manual
What is the My User Manual card?
Help your team understand how they can best work with you and each other.
Getting people’s working preferences out in the open early will help remove friction between team members. A User Manual can help create an environment that promotes healthy working relationships.
“Culture is not in ‘support’ of strategy; it is strategy” – Adam Bryant
How to use the My User Manual card
1. Before the meeting, have each team member complete a rough first draft of their user manual, ready to share with the team. Give them the following prompts to help:
• My best working patterns look like...
• My absolute requirements to do great work are...
• The best way to give me feedback is...
• When I’m dealing with stress, I...
• Beyond work, I’m really passionate about...
2. Split into pairs for 5 minutes. Take turns to ask questions about their partner’s manual.
3. Go around the group asking each person to talk about their partner for 1 minute. They could talk about: something that was new to them, something they had in common or something they liked.
4. Use what you learn here to guide your One-to-Ones and use Team Charter to connect the wider team.
5. Share your manuals in an open space, such as your email signature or internal org chart.
Tips: when new people start, ask them to create a user manual in their first 90 days. Share user manuals when kicking off a new project.
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My User Manual is one of 54 team management cards inside the Team Tactics card deck.
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