Personal User GuidePersonal User Guide
Your colleague wants a written plan, while you prefer to get started straight away. In a meeting, one person thinks aloud and another takes time to form an answer. These differences show up every working day. The Personal User Guide blog explores personality, communication and collaboration. The articles help you describe your own working style and recognise the preferences you see in others. That gives you a starting point for discussing what each of you needs to work well together.
The Big Five provide the basis for many of the articles. You will find explanations of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and emotional sensitivity, with examples from everyday work. If you want to create a personal user manual, our guides explain how to describe your preferences around feedback, concentration, planning and workload. We also compare personality models such as the Big Five, MBTI and DISC. Our research articles examine patterns in personality profiles and differences within teams, explaining the data and what the findings mean.
Choose a topic that matters to your team. You might be welcoming a colleague, handing over a task or preparing for a difficult conversation. The collaboration articles offer examples of questions and working agreements suited to those situations. You can also browse personality comparisons, discussions of external publications and explanations of Personal User Guide features. Start with the basics or go straight to a familiar challenge at work. Bring an example to your next meeting and discuss which agreement you would like to try together.
Methodical and reasonable colleagues can weigh options carefully without hiding judgement behind a framework. Record criteria, concessions and review triggers separately.
Read articleCompare Personal User Guide and Cloverleaf on assessments, team dashboards, AI coaching, integrations and costs, with data from 2,704 profiles.
Read articleProgressive and flexible colleagues can innovate quickly. Keep a pilot useful when both the future vision and the working method are easy to change.
Read articleCurious and competitive colleagues can investigate an opportunity without claiming the first signal. Separate the question, evidence, interest and decision right.
Read articleThe New York Times described Ivar Kroghrud's personal user manual in 2013. Here is what makes his approach useful, reciprocal and practical for teams.
Read articleCompare Personal User Guide and Crystal on profiles, DISC and Big Five, AI, team features and costs, with graphics and data from 2,704 profiles.
Read articleMerry and compassionate colleagues can explore a request without already accepting the work. Clarify who is offering a contribution and when both have actually agreed.
Read articleTwo undisturbable colleagues can work well together while leaving appreciation unspoken. Make contributions visible without turning a compliment into a major event.
Read articleHow can dominant and reasonable people work together? Give proposals a fair hearing without letting an engaging delivery or a quick compromise decide the outcome.
Read articleHow can merry and relaxed people work together? Keep concerns open for discussion without losing an easy rapport or having to show more stress.
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