A user manual for Megan
As I slowly tore myself away from NCVO earlier this year, one of my final acts was to encourage the new leadership team to write user manuals for each other. I think they’re a great tool for teams because they reveal how we’re each different, and prompt us to consider how to work with and support others so that we can all do our best work.
I first wrote a user manual for me in October 2019. Reading it again now has been interesting! It starts with the sentence:
I like to work in the office
And later on, in a section on ‘things I love’, I wrote:
I tend to think that everything is better as a team sport. This is why I’ve never really been able to see myself having a freelance career.
And here I find myself, at the desk in my bedroom, embarking on a freelance career. Writing a bit about myself in a proposal for a potential bit of work I found myself wanting to link to a user manual. My old one had lots to say about how I worked within a particular organisation. I’m yet to learn about how I will work as a freelancer. But some things — that speak to what I value and who I am as a person — are constant.
So here is my draft user manual for (freelance) Megan.
Things I need
- I need to feel that my work is valuable and making an impact. I need to work with people that care about what they do and how they do it.
- I’m happy with uncertainty and complexity, but not vagueness. If we want to achieve something, I like us to set out how (in broad brushes) we’re going to get there. Not just what we’ll do, but how we’ll do it — the principles and values underpinning the work.
- Responsibility is one of my core values, and reliability is a behaviour that I really value. I need to be able to do what I’ve promised to other people, on time. Otherwise I feel guilty and stressed. I also need people to do what they say they will do for me, when they say they’ll do it. Otherwise I feel frustrated.
- I really value being able to bounce my ideas off people. If I can’t see a way through a problem talking it through with someone usually helps. You don’t need to solve the problem for me, just listening and asking good questions is enough.
This next one really speaks to what I needed when I worked in an organisation. But it feels important so I’m keeping it in until I learn what the equivalent is in freelance world.
- I need to be trusted and I need autonomy. I need to have the space and permission to make mistakes, to learn and grow, and to make decisions without having to run them up the hierarchy too often.
Things I love
- I love working with other people. I love talking about a vision and what we want to achieve as long as we’re focused and realistic. Realistic doesn’t mean easy — something challenging motivates me, but I don’t want to talk about a utopia without some plan to get there.
- I love talking about our assumptions and what we need to learn. I love hearing about what we’ve learned and about the difference we’re making. I love planning with others. I tend to think that everything is better as a team sport.
- I love working with people that are generally positive, ambitious and optimistic. It gets the most out of me, and I try to be that way myself. But I recognise that work (and life) is tough and sometimes I’ll be deflated or worn out and of course its fine if you are too.
Things I struggle with
- I’m an introvert and I dislike networking. I get nervous when I meet new people, especially people that I think I need to impress. I prefer to meet new people when introduced by a mutual contact, as it can get things off to a good start. I really don’t like doing anything that feels like it’s about promoting myself.
Other things to know about me
- I value a balance between questioning and decisive behaviours. I value questioning (being curious, wanting to test something, awareness of bias and blind spots) and don’t react well to decisions that I perceive as having been made too quickly. On the other hand, I value decisiveness (being pragmatic, brave, taking considered risks, taking accountability for making a decision) and don’t react well to what I perceive as dithering or failure to make a call when one is needed.
- I value openness. I like it when people are straightforward and honest and take time to share their thinking or plans widely. I try to work in the open and love it when others do too.
- I’m not an early person by nature but I’ve settled into working reasonably early since having kids. I like early meetings — that’s when I’m at my best, although I tend to get my focussed work done in the afternoon.
