Build Trust · Welcome & Belong · Encourage Collaboration
Working With Me, Minus the Memoir
Share a few practical work preferences your teammates can actually use—without writing a personality manifesto.
Time25–35 minutes
Group size3–24 people
FormatIndividual, Partners
MaterialsOne-page field-guide template or shared document
What this accomplishes
Team members create a short, choice-based field guide covering communication, feedback, focus, help, and repair. Partners clarify one item before the team stores only what members consent to share.
- Clarify useful work preferences
- Reduce avoidable team friction
Before you begin
Materials
- One-page field-guide template or shared document
Preparation
- Choose six practical prompts and mark every prompt optional
- Decide where shared guides will live and who can access them
What to say
“This is a practical field guide, not a diagnosis or autobiography. Answer only what would help a teammate work with you more effectively. You may skip anything.”
How to run it
- 1
Give participants ten quiet minutes to complete four to six optional prompts.
- 2
Ask them to mark each response private, partner-only, or team-shareable.
- 3
In pairs, read only the approved items and ask one clarifying question.
- 4
Invite participants to revise anything that sounded different aloud than on paper.
- 5
Store only team-shareable responses with consent.
- 6
Revisit the guides after the team has worked together for a month.
Prompts to use
The best way to reach me for something urgent is…
I do my clearest thinking when…
Feedback is easiest for me to use when…
A sign I may need clarity is…
One thing teammates can count on me for…
After tension, a useful repair move is…
Adapt it to the room
Small group
Share selected items together after private writing.
Large group
Use stable team tables rather than whole-room sharing.
Virtual
Use private documents and breakout pairs.
Accessibility & inclusion
- Allow speech-to-text, typing, or dictation.
- Make every prompt and all sharing optional.
- Do not ask about diagnoses, trauma, family circumstances, or personality labels.
Debrief, if useful
Which preference will be easiest to honor immediately?
How can we ask rather than assume when preferences conflict?
Why it works—and what can go wrong
Why it works
Concrete work preferences give teammates actionable information, while consent labels prevent the field guide from becoming forced vulnerability.
Watch out for
- Preferences are requests for understanding, not unlimited accommodations or permanent rules.
- Do not use the guide in evaluation or treat it as a fixed personality profile.