I wrote a post recently about my colleague who, with one course left in her Master’s degree, has been thrust into a new team. I shared a few tips on how to break the ice. If you didn’t see it, you can find it here. One of the ideas in that post was the value of sharing an “Owner’s Manual” or set of instructions for getting the most out of you.

I think this is a great idea anytime you’re working with new people, so I decided to create an Owner’s Manual worksheet.

Print one for you and one for each of your teammates and see how much better your team functions when you read the instructions first!

Starting a new job? Hiring a new person? Use this Owner's Manual to start a conversation about how to get the best from one another

Click here to download the worksheet »

Let’s make it a living document.  I’m happy to take suggestions for other things to improve or enhance the Owner’s Manual.  If you add your comments below, I’ll collect them and reissue Owner’s Manual 2.0.  Ok Change Your Team community, let’s see what we can do!

Further Reading

Breaking in a New Team

The First 3 Things to Ask when you Join a New Team

Trying to Fit In on a New Team