Working Preferences
When I joined the Solutions Engineering team at Glitch a few years back, my manager at the time shared a “working preferences” questionnaire with me. The goal was that we'd both answer it, and then reconvene at our first 1:1 to compare our answers and learn more about each other.
The questionnaire follows below. If it sounds familiar, it might be because I discussed it previously on the Make Before Break podcast.
To my mind, there are three great things about this questionnaire:
- It gets you to think deeply about how you like to work. That's not always obvious, and in fact is sometimes only discovered through deep introspection.
- It very quickly gets a manager and their report on the same page when it comes to communicating effectively and making sure they're looking out for each other's work needs.
- It's a living document. You can revisit this periodically as you grow into a role and you might be surprised at how your answers change.
It's been over three and a half years since I last answered this questionnaire. I think it's worth revisiting soon, just to check in with myself. How would you answer these questions?
Working Preferences Questionnaire
- What are the top 5 things you need in a manager/managee?
- How do you like to receive feedback?
- Describe when you feel most productive. For example, think: What time of day is it? What part of the week? What time of the year? What type of assignments?
- Describe when you feel least productive.
- What are your communication “no-nos”? For example, you may say “Don’t keep me cc’d on emails that do not require my attention.”
- What communication practices have worked for you in the past and could be helpful to incorporate at
{% COMPANY_NAME %}? - What types of support motivates you the most? For example, you may say, I love verbal affirmation. I love to hear, ‘Great job with…’ or “I like to get check-ins during busy times.”
- What parts of your previous jobs did you love the most or were you the most excited about?
- What parts of your previous jobs did you like the least?
- What are the areas of knowledge you would like to expand upon or skills you would like to develop? More broadly, how would you like to grow personally and professionally while at
{% COMPANY_NAME %}? - What are three great things or areas of expertise that no one knows about you, but should know about you? Show off. Did you dance for 10 years? Who knows how your expertise can positively impact our work together.
- Anything you would like to add?