I’m convinced that if I share it, for example, with my team members, our collaboration and communication can be even further improved.

The personal user manual makes aspects like my style, the way I act, like to interact with people, how I come up with decisions, what I like, and what I don’t like, so much more transparent to anyone.

Stefan’s User Manual

My Style

• I have been curious and wanted to know how things work since I was a kid.
  As such, I have a great desire to learn and want to improve continuously.
• When there is a task/goal which I want to get done/achieve, I work hard on it till it’s finished/reached.
• I would call myself a stoic person. I like to see things somewhat rational than emotional.
• I’m a good listener. That’s at least what other people say about me. As such, that can’t be wrong, can it?
  I like to listen first, and if I’m able to give valuable feedback or advice, I love to do so.
• I’m convinced that, if I want to achieve something and work hard enough on it, I can reach this self-imposed goal.
• Focusing on a task and get it done is something I’m able to do.
  I know how to fade out distractions so that I’m able to get into the flow.

When to Approach Me

• Please approach me at any time – I’ll tell you if I’m busy.
• I love to help people moving forward and solving issues.
• You know – there are no stupid questions! It’s just silly not to ask somebody when you need some advice or help.

What I Value

• I value when things are getting done. For most of my todo’s, I have a plan which states what I want to get done by when.
• I like it when things are structured or have at least a rough structure.
  On the other hand, I’m welcoming spontaneous occurrences, too, because I’m a firm believer that you can learn so much from things you are not familiar with or even fear to try usually.
• I highly value trust. You need to prove that you’re worth to have my confidence, and it’s okay for me to rely on what you tell me.

Communicating with Me

• Be direct, don’t beat around the bush, just tell me what’s on your mind.
• I like to get feedback regarding my person, even critical, as often as possible.
  If you disagree with something I say, let me know it!
• I’m not a clairvoyant. As such, I can’t guess what’s on your mind. Therefore, please tell me clearly what you want to say.
• You best approach me via Slack, email, or even better via a good old face-to-face conversation.

How I Make Decisions

• There are two ways on how I make decisions usually. Either after long investigation and research or just out of my gut.
  I can tell you, the decisions based on my gut feelings aren’t worse than the choices where I regularly invest a lot of time before I know what I want.
• If somebody has and share profound facts about a specific topic with me, I’m happy to change the course I followed so far.
  I’m very open-minded and always like to learn new things.

How to Help Me

• Remembering names is nothing I’m good at. As such, don’t take it personally when I miss your name. Just refresh my mind by telling me your name again.
• Let me know whatever I need to know immediately, and not if it’s already too late. I appreciate it if you share too much instead of none information with me.

What I Will Not Tolerate

• Procrastination is something that doesn’t make sense for me. In the end, you have to finish your tasks anyways.
  Therefore, get your stuff done as early as possible even if you don’t like it.

What people misunderstand about me

• Often, I don’t talk too much – I like to listen. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have an opinion.
  I like to collect as much information as possible before I tell you what’s on my mind/my opinion about the topic we’re talking about.
• Again, sometimes I’m not the most communicative person, and I know it. That’s just because I don’t want to bore you with my stories. I believe time can be used in better, more efficient ways.
• I’m an introvert, trying to be as much outgoing as I think it’s good for me. Even if almost nobody believes me when I’m telling this fact, it’s the truth. I simply try to jump over my shade as often as possible to learn and experience always new viewpoints.

I do encourage you to try to come up with a user manual for your own and share it with other people. It helps to set clear expectations and makes communication so much easier.

References:

Five Steps to Create a Personal User Manual
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130129140453-201849-five-steps-to-create-a-personal-user-manual/

Do you have a user manual?
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130128234025-201849-do-you-have-a-user-manual/

Leaders need “User Manuals” – and what I learned by writing mine
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leaders-need-user-manuals-what-i-learned-writing-mine-abby-falik/

You are curious why I share this experience with you, no problem. You can get a hint here.
If you want to know more about me or even get in contact with me, you can find more info on my contact page.