In this Module, we’re going to do two main activities to wrap up the style + type aspects of this program – your authentic style pathway and your style blueprint.
But before we get into the style + type material, we’re going to invite you to reflect on all you have learned about your four-letter Type. This activity is a favorite in Type workshops, where each person is encouraged to compose a Personal Operating Manual.
The purpose of this Personal Operating Manual (or POM), is many-fold and may include: to become clearer on what you really need and prefer, to help others understand you better, to make key relationships run more smoothly, to reduce stress and anxiety in interactions with others, to really own your Type. You may find other benefits to this Exploration.
The POM Exploration invites you to craft response to two questions:
- For me to be at my best, please…
- For me to be at my best, please do not…
You can adapt these questions to include or in exchange for others that suit you better. Examples include: For me to work at my best, please do (not), or For me to be the best partner, please do (not), For me to give my best, please do (not), and so on.
Ways to get the most out of this Exploration:
- Put some time around this Exploration – you may find that it takes several days or longer for all the various aspects of your response to come forth and surface. Don’t rush it.
- Allow for some depth in your responses. Don’t give yourself the option to do this at a superficial level. We’re going way beyond a single-sentence response here!
- Be open to what you might discover, including any emotions which may surface. Really owning what it is you need and prefer can raise significant issues around identity, worth, value, and simply asking for what you want.
- Some people report that seeing themselves as a piece of equipment or an appliance for which an operating manual has been overlooked for its proper use is a helpful way of approaching this exercise. It gives them some much-needed objectivity to step into this activity thoroughly. The question might be formed thus: If this [insert appliance/equipment name here] were to work properly, this is how it should be operated: We should do THIS — … But we should make sure not to do THAT — …
- Consider doing a detailed page (or pages, if you want to do a page for each question) and an overview page which summarizes.
- Consider using icons-images-graphics to illustrate key concepts, to amplify and encapsulate the key ideas and concepts of your POM.
- Use whatever method you wish – typing into a document, mind mapping, freeform prose writing in a notebook, drawing or sketching, whatever form you like. There is no right or wrong method of approaching this Exploration.
- Once you have your Personal Operating Manual, you may wish to put it to some use!
- You may wish to share it, or portions of it, on the Facebook Group. Remember to ask for the feedback you most prefer on it.
- Share it with key people in your life. In your personal sphere this includes your partner, your children, other family members, friends. In your professional sphere this may include work colleagues, your boss, peers and subordinates. This can be a powerful team activity – in your family ‘team’ or at work, including any volunteer or social groups you belong to where Type is understood and used.
- Creating and sharing your Personal Operating Manual can be a gift you give to others. It can remove so much guesswork, so much ‘trial and tribulation’ from interactions – to any and all interactions but especially to those where there is some misunderstanding.
- You may find referring to the Module 4 on Discovering Your Gifts a helpful reflection on where your POM could help others to understand you better, and to smooth key interactions with others.
- Creating and sharing your Personal Operating Manual doesn’t mean you’ll always be understood or that things will always (or mostly) go smoothly for you. It just opens the door to a new, clearer, and less freighted platform on which you can engage with others.
- Your Personal Operating Manual is best when it comes with as few strings and expectations as possible. It isn’t a shield, or a weapon, or a means through which others can be manipulated.
Open page 7 of your Module 12 PDF and start on your Personal Operating Manual (POM).
