A microwave and a vacuum cleaner come with user manuals. Most products do. People do not—at least, not usually.
Jay Desai, the founder of a US health-technology startup with more than 100 employees, wrote a guide to help others understand how to work with him.
His motivation was simple:
People always harp on the importance of building trust and communicating, but they rarely say how. Write your user guide.
Why make one?
Many people have followed Jay’s example and written a personal user guide. It is not only for managers. A guide can help colleagues, potential employers, partners, friends, or teammates understand how to work and communicate with you.
Writing one is harder than it sounds. That is where CaPPrcomes in. We created a way to make a personality-based guide that is quick and engaging to complete.
Creating and sharing your guide can help you:
- Be more open with one another;
- Make expectations clear;
- Agree on how you want to work together;
- Explain how you build trust and prefer to communicate;
- Show transparency through your actions;
- Move sooner to useful conversations;
- Put your weaknesses on the table;
- Learn more about yourself;
- Make your behavior easier for teammates to understand;
- Show respect for who your teammates are as well as what they do.
If you would like to try it, you can start now. The test is free.
Create your personal guide It's free.
The Big Five personality traits
Our work draws on research into the Big Five personality traits and applies it in key life areas. We built a visual questionnaire that helps you describe your personality in a few minutes.
We worked with Professor Jan Schoormans at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands to support and validate the tool. Here is what the questionnaire says about my own profile:
- I need variety in my life. At work, I welcome change and enjoy looking for new ideas and innovations.
- I am structured and disciplined. I like to prepare, organize, improve my performance, and work toward good results.
- I prefer a quiet environment and often work best alone. I can be reserved and sometimes need encouragement to express myself.
- I am independent and guided by my own opinions and interests, rather than simply following the group.
- I am usually calm and balanced, but pressure or setbacks can bring out worry, anger, or disappointment. I sometimes need time to recover from stress.
That profile forms the basis of my personal user guide. I share it with friends and colleagues so they understand how to approach me, while taking their own personality into account. That can prevent plenty of “if only I had known” moments.
A 360-degree view
To read my personal guide, a contact first completes the questionnaire. Once we know both profiles, the guide is shown from that person’s perspective.
For example, an extrovert may read that my quietness does not mean I do not value them. I am simply introverted and may need a nudge to join in.
Meet the Swipeable
We call the questionnaire “the Swipeable” because you swipe through it to build your profile. The app then generates a guide you can share.
Each person you invite can complete the questionnaire and read your guide through the lens of their own personality.
I hope this makes it easier to build trust and communicate effectively at work.
Get yours now
You can create your own guide in a few minutes and invite people to read it. The test is free.
Create your personal guide It's free.