Create Your Personal User Guide with Whole Brain® Thinking
You see a meeting pop up on your calendar with someone you don’t exactly look forward to connecting with and you groan. It’s not that you don’t like this teammate, but your interactions just never go as smoothly as you’d like. It feels like you’re speaking different languages, but if you’re each going to hit your success metrics, you have to work together.
Perhaps you each need a Personal User Guide! It’s like a manual for working with you: a concise document that explains your working style, thinking style, and preferences for communication, decision-making, and relationship-building. And you can use your HBDI® profile to inspire your guide.
Review Your HBDI® Profile
The Whole Brain® Thinking model is based on four thinking preferences, and each preference is assigned a quadrant. Each quadrant is different but equally important — no one thinking preference is “right” or better than another. If you’ve taken the HBDI®, review your results in the Thinker Portal. If not, otherwise, take your best guess on your preferences based on these brief descriptions:
- The Upper Left Blue A Quadrant specializes in logical, analytical, quantitative, and fact-based thinking.
- The Lower Left Green B Quadrant focuses on details and specializes in planning, organizing, and sequencing information.
- The Lower Right Red C Quadrant prioritizes feelings and the interpersonal, emotional, and kinesthetic aspects of a situation.
- The Upper Right Yellow D Quadrant synthesizes and integrates information and is more intuitive and holistic in its thinking.
Identify Your Strengths and Challenges
Now, reflect on when you likely do your best work, based on your thinking preferences. For example, Blue thinkers may excel at data analysis but find unstructured brainstorming challenging. Yellow thinkers may be great at coming up with ideas but struggle with execution.
Define Your Ideal Work Environment
Do you prefer a quiet and organized workspace or something more dynamic and collaborative? What kind of tools do you feel you can’t live without?
Spell Out Your Communication Preferences
Do you like email or Slack messages? How do you feel about unscheduled phone calls? How often do you like to have check-ins? Indicate whether you prefer high-level or detailed information.
Detail Your Decision-Making Process
How do you like to solve problems? Do you start with the data and facts? Hop on a call to hash it out with your colleagues? Quick decisions or thoughtful consideration?
Compile and Organize Your Guide
Next, gather all your notes into a structured document with clear headings and subheadings. (Your Green friends will thank you!)
Review and Share!
Review your personal user guide to ensure it accurately reflects your preferences, then share it with colleagues for feedback. Don't forget to ask them for their Personal User Guide, too!
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Ideas to Empower Your Team to Work More Effectively During the Shift Back to the Office
Is your team struggling to regain its pre-pandemic productivity and effectiveness? As many people navigate the complexities of returning to the office, challenges like fluctuating work environments, differing employee expectations, and new team dynamics are creating significant obstacles to effective collaboration and performance.
Mary Ellen Slayter , CEO of Rep Cap , is moderating this discussion with Karim Morgan Nehdi , CEO of Herrmann , and Franny Oxford , a fractional HR leader who specializes in working in VUCA environments. We'll explore the key issues affecting team effectiveness in the post-pandemic workplace and share actionable advice to support healthy collaboration during times of transition.
Key Takeaways
- Identifying Challenges: Learn how to recognize the emerging challenges teams face as they return to shared workspaces, including communication breakdowns and alignment issues.
- Understanding Employee Needs: Gain insights into the diverse needs and expectations of employees in a hybrid work environment and how Whole Brain® Thinking addresses them effectively.
- Enhancing Team Dynamics: Discover actionable steps to improve team dynamics, build trust, and foster a collaborative work environment in the post-pandemic era.
- Boosting Productivity: Learn about strategies to boost productivity and help your team thrive during the transition back to the office.
Who Should Attend:
- CEOs, Presidents, and Managing Partners Seeking to Support Their Teams’ Transition Back to the Office
- Senior Executives Who Want to Enhance Team Effectiveness and Collaboration
- Senior HR, Talent & L&D Leaders Committed to Building Healthy Team Cultures in the Post-Pandemic Workplace
About This Newsletter
Are you bringing your Whole Brain® to work?
We created this newsletter to help employees at all levels decode and harness their cognitive diversity through the Whole Brain® Thinking Model. Each issue highlights actionable tips for better understanding your thinking preferences — and other people’s preferences — so you can unlock better thinking, performance, and results in your flow of work.
Hit the “Subscribe” button in the top-right corner to ensure you never miss an issue.
Client Experience Lead
1yKnowing how to "use" your GREATEST resource...YOU! And making connections with others that are successful and effective! That's a game changer!