Q. If there was a skill I could perfect tomorrow, I'd be able to ...
There are always plenty of skills or things we'd love to be able to do, but don't have the 10,000 hours to perfect. What would you skip ahead and become a master in?
Every week, we suggest a new question you can include in your Manual of Me.
Keeping your Manual of Me regularly updated helps you continue to explore and communicate how you work well with others.
And remember, you don’t need to share your Manual of Me to benefit - even just taking time to discover these insights about your way of working, helps you become more aware of your needs, preferences and motivations at work, so you’re able to build stronger working relationships with others.
Manual of Me Plus Edition members can add this as custom question, and Manual of Me Teams Edition allows team leaders to add this question too. If you don’t already have a Manual of Me - sign up for free.
Q. If there was a skill I could perfect tomorrow, I'd be able to ...
We all have things we wish were better at - but some skills, capabilities or areas of expertise could help us accelerate in our roles and deliver work we’re exceptionally proud of.
If you could wave a magic wand, and develop a new skill or master something you’re already working on - what skill would you choose, and why?
Use this entry in your Manual of Me to reflect upon what areas you’d like to develop skills in, why it’s important to you, and what you think you could achieve if you progressed in that area.
Exploring for your answer:
1. Think about this from the perspective of work, play and fantasy: what would you love to be able to do at work, what hobby or pastime would you like to master, and a completely left-field option.
2. If you have time, find someone who you admire in this skill, and include links to their work.
3. In your answer, include why you would want to develop this skill - what might it help you do and why you’ve chosen this skill over another.
4. Think about what steps you could practically take, to develop further skills in this area - are there things which you can make happen in your current role?
What would your answer be?
Leave a comment, so others can see how others might approach this question.
For team leaders
Including this question in your team Manual of Me encourages individuals to reflect upon the areas of skill they’d like to develop, and can surface useful insights into the direction your people are interested in taking.
It also offers an opportunity to discuss where people think they might be lacking in certain skills, so you can provide further support.
Sometimes people may also say they need to develop skills in a certain area, but you feel they’re really strong already - and you can help them navigate any lack of confidence with a capability.
This is also a great question to discuss as a team - with individuals sharing their own goals for development, but also gives people the opportunity to share where they feel each other have super-powers in a team, or creates moments for mentoring from team-mates who have that skill already.
Further discussion questions might include:
Are there any commonalities in the skills we’re identifying as a team?
Who in the company already has these skills who could support our development?
What steps could we take to support development of those skills?
Spend a little time as a group discussing, and highlight any issues or suggestions for making the process more supportive.
Manual of Me is a living document - introducing new questions regularly helps your team embed the framework in your ways of working, and creates an opportunity to spend time as a team discussing how to work together effectively, and builds stronger internal relationships.
Share this question with your team, and encourage them to share their answers in the comments, or in your next upcoming team session.
How are you using Manual of Me?
We’d love to hear about you or your team using Manual of Me.
Tell us how you’re using your yours - are you a team leader, an individual, a freelancer, or something else?
Drop us a note, and for those who we feature, you’ll get a 30% discount on future annual subscriptions.
Manual of Me
Making teams more human.
www.manualof.me