What If We Had User Manuals for People?

User manual with magnifying glass. User guide document and magnifier. Handbook, handbook, instruction and guidebook vector icon — Dr. Adam Grant suggests that we should all get clear on what makes us tick in order to play better with others.

What if we issued user-manual that made it easier for people to work with us? It’s almost certain that conflicts and misunderstandings would decrease and productivity would increase.

That’s exactly what Dr. Adam Grant decided to do, after receiving some negative feedback from members of his team. He decided that it would be helpful for those around him to provide him with some specific feedback about his strengths and his blind spots.

It turns out that the user manual was a brilliant document that enabled people to interact with Grant in an effective, productive manner. Many people and companies have adopted this strategy in their businesses and organizations.

What if we took this approach with school? It’s possible we could do this with our colleagues, with our students, even with our administration to amplify connections.

Here’s how you can start.

Part I:

Here are the questions that Dr. Grant suggests you should reflect on the following three questions: ask when creating your own personal User Manual:

What are my strengths? How can someone bring these out in me?
What are my weaknesses? What tends to bring those out?
What are some of my “bright spots” (the spots that are strengths I might tend to see)?

Part II:

Think of 5-10 people who work, live, and play alongside you and ask them to answer some questions about you. These should be you genuinely like and trust. You could send out a google doc or a quick email to see what comes back.

Reflected Best-Self: Ask 15-20 colleagues to contribute stories of times when you were at your best.
Next, analyse the stories and find common themes. What activates my being at my best?
Ask these colleagues to reflect on the following questions about you:
1. What are my blind spots?
2. Triggers that bring out the worst in me?
3. What do you wish you knew about me when we first started working together?

Take all of this information and put it into a one-pager that highlights your strengths, stretches (with triggers), and ideal communication style.

Written by Morgane Michael #smallactbigimpact #kindsight101