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  I take a strategic view of issues.

  I understand problems from a broad perspective.

  I take a long term view.

  Team working

  Good team workers work well with others, contributing towards achieving the common goal. They will support and help others to improve the team’s performance, and they are cooperative and will give way to the team consensus if others do not agree with them.

  Example team working questions

  Rate how frequently you do each of the following at work using the scale below.

  1 2 3 4 5

  Rarely Occasionally Sometimes Often Nearly always

  RESPONSE

  I work well in a team.

  I help others when they need it.

  I encourage others to express their views.

  Leadership

  Good leaders inspire and motivate others to work towards organizational goals. They can create and share a vision for the future and generate enthusiasm in others to achieve it. They relate well to others and are well respected by them. They encourage others to give of their best.

  Example leadership questions

  Rate how frequently you do each of the following at work using the scale below.

  1 2 3 4 5

  Rarely Occasionally Sometimes Often Nearly always

  RESPONSE

  Others will follow my lead.

  I treat others with dignity and respect.

  I celebrate the achievements of others.

  Example competency comparison questions

  For each set of four statements choose the one that is most like you and the one that is least like you.

  MOST LIKE ME LEAST LIKE ME

  I use my own initiative when something needs doing.

  I am calm in a crisis.

  I negotiate effectively.

  I write clearly.

  I get things done on time and within budget.

  I am good at analysing data.

  I can adapt my ideas for different situations.

  I take a strategic view of issues.

  I help others when they need it.

  Others will follow my lead.

  I’m an effective presenter.

  I make quick decisions.

  Emotional intelligence

  In recent years the concept of emotional intelligence has become popular within the business world. It was popularized in a book by Daniel Goleman in the mid-1990s. The idea is that there is a parallel between intelligence in terms of thinking skills, which allows people to work well with information, and the ability to work well with people, which is seen as work in the emotional domain. It is certainly the case that there are people who are very bright in conventional terms but who do not seem to perform well in work roles. Equally, there are people with only moderate intelligence who are very successful. We have already looked at the importance of personality in promoting effective working, and it could certainly be argued that ability without an appropriate behavioural style might not be effective. The idea of emotional intelligence goes further by arguing that it is specific aspects of behaviour and understanding of the self and others that are necessary for effective performance.

  Emotional intelligence is defined as the capacity to identify and understand your own emotions and feelings and those of others and use this awareness to guide your thinking and actions to promote overall effectiveness – that is, people who are emotionally intelligent are aware of their own feelings and also those of others in a given situation. They understand how these feelings affect the situation and will take them into account in what they do, and they use this understanding to bring the best out of people. Consider, for example, a shop assistant who is dealing with a customer who is angry because an order he placed has not arrived. If the shop assistant is emotionally intelligent she will realize that the customer is angry about the order and will have insight into her own feelings in dealing with the customer. Perhaps she is feeling frightened or upset at the customer’s behaviour. She will consider whether it would be better to let the customer see how she is feeling or to hide her emotions and remain calm. She would know how to control her own emotions if necessary and would act to manage the customer’s emotions. She might, for instance, let him vent his anger for a little while before trying to calm him because she understands that he needs an outlet for his emotion. She might then try to find a constructive solution that would be acceptable to him.

  There is some controversy about these ideas among academics, and also about how emotional intelligence should be measured. Some argue that it is not possible to measure it by way of self-report questionnaires and that it needs to be assessed through external assessment e.g. by people who know you well. Some see emotional intelligence as part of a person’s personality and others as behaviours that can be learned and therefore more akin to competencies. This is also reflected in measures of emotional intelligence which can be more like personality questionnaires or more like competency questionnaires. Some measures of emotional intelligence focus relatively narrowly on the areas contained within the definition. Others take a broader view and include competencies or personality traits which are more peripheral to the core definition.

  A typical emotional intelligence questionnaire might measure 5 or 6 domains or scales. The following areas are likely to be covered in a measure of emotional intelligence.

  • Self-awareness – This is the extent to which you are aware of your own emotional states and moods and how they affect the way you think and feel. Our emotions can affect the way we evaluate the world. Someone with self-awareness realizes the difference between not enjoying a film because it is bad and not enjoying a film because they are in a bad mood.

  • Self-control – This is the ability to keep your emotions and moods in check and to control impulses. It allows you to manage your behaviour and stay composed and positive, even if you are feeling upset or distressed.

  • Social skills – There are a number of factors under this heading. First, the ability to recognize the emotions and motivations of others. Second, the capacity to take their emotions into account when interacting with others. Third, the capacity to build and maintain good relationships with others.

  • Empathy – This is the ability to understand what other people are feeling and see things from their perspective. This is more than just recognizing an emotion – seeing that the person is angry, for example. It is appreciating why the person might be angry in that situation – for example, how frustrating it must be to have to make another trip to collect an order.

  • Motivation – This is the enthusiasm and persistence to keep working towards your goals and to maintain effort in the face of potential failure. An optimistic outlook helps to prevent emotionally intelligent people from giving up too early and to counter feelings of hopelessness or despair.

  Motivation, values and interests

  Motivation, values and interests can be thought of as part of personality or as separate concepts. Elements of motivation, values and interests are often included within personality questionnaires – for instance, an important motivator for many people is the need for achievement, and achievement orientation is often a scale in personality questionnaires. Within the ‘big five’ model of personality it is usually thought of as part of conscientiousness. Several personality questionnaires have scales that look at your interest in art and culture (part of openness to experience). However, there is value in looking at these areas separately and in more detail, and there are questionnaires that focus on each of these.

  Motivation

  Motivation concerns what drives you to invest energy in things (to work at them), and questionnaires seek to identify what are the strongest motivators and demotivators for you – that is, what is important to you in your work life and what you would try to avoid. For instance, for some people an element of competition is an excellent driver. They are energized when there is an opportunity to compete with another person, team or company. This cou
ld be through trying to reach the highest sales figures, make the fewest errors, have the highest customer ratings or produce the most product. This type of person would probably not put in that extra effort if there were no way of comparing their performance against that of others. For other people, however, competition is not a motivator. They might even be put off by a competitive spirit among other workers and find it difficult to get excited by competition. This could lead them to invest less effort in their work because they didn’t want to compete.

  If a person’s motivators match the job and organizational environment they are likely to work harder in the job and enjoy it more. If there is a mismatch between a person’s motivators and the job or organization, the person is less likely to work hard through lack of motivation, and indeed they may be more likely to leave and seek work elsewhere. For this reason the employer using a motivation questionnaire might be most interested in what might demotivate you or turn you off. As with a personality questionnaire, the employer might want to discuss these with you at interview and understand the implications if you were to take up the job. Equally, you would be unlikely to want to take a job that you found demotivating, unless, of course, there were some strong motivators associated with the work as well.

  Motivation questionnaires typically have between 10 and 20 scales. They are likely to follow one of the formats used for personality questionnaires, although you could be asked to rate how important something is to you or how it affects your motivation rather than whether you agree with a statement. Some common motivators that are likely to be included in a motivation questionnaire are described below.

  Achievement

  People with a strong need for achievement like to have something to strive for. They get a kick out of making their targets and objectives. They can feel demotivated if they have nothing to achieve. The more challenging the target the more motivating it is, although targets that people perceive as impossible do not usually have motivating power.

  Power

  People with a high need for power enjoy being in control, having responsibility and being able to set the direction. They are likely to be quite unhappy if they are not consulted in decision making or are countermanded or ignored.

  Affiliation

  People with this need want to have warm relationships with people. They will be motivated by working with friendly others and be demotivated by work that is too much alone or in circumstances where there are disagreements and conflict.

  Competition

  People who are motivated by competition define their goals in terms of doing better than others. They like to win, and it is the effort they put in to be the best that makes them work hard. They may be demotivated in highly cooperative environments where there is no one to compete with. People who are low on this motivation may prefer to work in a cooperative manner and dislike, and can be demotivated by, competitive environments.

  Autonomy

  People who are motivated by autonomy want to be independent and set their own course. They dislike being told what to do and find being closely managed demotivating. There are also people who find autonomy demotivating. They feel more comfortable being given clear instructions on what to do and having a supportive supervisor.

  Recognition

  Most people find recognition of their contribution and achievements motivating. They work better when they feel that what they do is appreciated. However, for some people this is a very strong need, and they may become demotivated and insecure if they are ignored or constantly criticized.

  Interest

  For some people the most important motivator is doing something they find stimulating or interesting. This is an intrinsic motivator because it is the nature of the work that is interesting. Just doing the work provides the motivation. These people may have little tolerance for dull or repetitive work and find it demotivating. People with a low need for interest are better suited to this type of work.

  Growth

  People with a need for growth get a buzz from developing their own skills and learning. They will enjoy work that stretches them in new areas or requires them to master new skills. They may be demotivated by unchallenging work that is easily within their capacity.

  Reward

  For some people it is the extrinsic rewards from work that are most important. Key among these is monetary reward. Knowing that their work is directly connected to what they are paid – through bonuses, pay rises or commission – is motivating. They will put in more effort to earn more. For some people being paid well is a form of recognition. For other people money is much less important, as long as they can pay the bills.

  Values

  Our values reflect what we think is a desirable state. For example, a person might think that it is good for people to express their emotions openly – sharing feelings is something that that person values – but another person might think that it is better for people to keep their emotions to themselves, particularly in work situations. This second person values rational, rather than emotional interaction with others.

  Values are often more strongly related to the type of environment we like than to the work we can do, and they are therefore used to provide an indication of how a person might fit with the organization and its culture rather than the work itself. Someone who values cooperation may not be happy in a competitive environment, and a person who values getting things right or the quality of produce would prefer to work in an organization with similar values rather than one that valued quantity and turnover.

  There is some overlap between motivation and values, but whereas motivation focuses on the drive to perform, values focus on feelings about what is and is not desirable. However, if you think it is a good thing for people to achieve difficult objectives you will probably be motivated by having a challenging target to achieve. Because of this overlap the content of values questionnaires is often quite similar to measures of motivation.

  Interests

  Interests are very much what the name suggests. Different people have different interests: some like train spotting, some find people watching fascinating, some enjoy working with their hands, and some people just like to be outdoors. Interest measures are most often used in career counselling to understand what areas of work might appeal to a person. They typically ask about different types of tasks, such as organizing information, helping people with problems, mending things and so on, and from your results on the questionnaire, you will often receive a list of careers that match your interests.

  Interest domains are often related to personality domains. For instance, an interest in helping or caring for people is typically related to the personality dimension of agreeableness. A common model used in interest inventories is one developed by US psychologist John L. Holland, and this divides people into six major types in terms of their career interests. These are described below.

  Realistic, practical

  People with this interest type like working with their hands, using tools and machinery or doing physical work or sports. Related jobs include driver, optician, plumber, radiologist and fire fighter.

  Investigative

  Investigative types like working with ideas rather than things. They enjoy learning, exploring, researching and trying to solve intellectual problems. Related jobs include biologist, historian, academic, doctor and researcher.

  Artistic

  The artistic type enjoys expressive creative activities, such as performing, designing and writing. They like opportunities to use their imagination and express their feelings. Relevant jobs include artist, designer, graphic designer, copywriter, writer and photographer.

  Social

  People belonging to this type are interested in promoting the welfare of others. They like interacting with people to help, teach or serve them. Related jobs include teacher, nurse, care assistant, therapist and customer service officer.

  Enterprising

  People with this interest type like leading, managing and organizing.
They enjoy influencing others and working towards ambitious goals. Typical jobs for this type are manager, entrepreneur, sales person, marketing executive and shopkeeper.

  Conventional

  Conventional interest types prefer to work with information and data. They like exploring numbers, organizing information and work that requires attention to detail. Typical jobs for this type are administrator, accountant, librarian, office manager, bookkeeper and computer programmer.

  Work styles

  Some questionnaires are based on a more functional approach. They look at an aspect of work, such as leadership or working in a team, and try to determine a person’s style of doing these things. In addition, information on work styles may be derived from more general questionnaires. Detailed personality questionnaires often allow this sort of analysis, and you may be told that the questionnaire is profiling your team type or your learning style.

  Some of the specific work style questionnaires are similar in style to personality questionnaires. Others are more like a competency questionnaire and can even take a 360-degree approach (see page 61). For instance, measurement of leadership style may take this approach.

  For each area of work there are many different models – far too many to list here – that might be measured, but below are some examples of these types of model to give you an idea of the sort of information they provide.

  Team types

  Meredith Belbin developed one model of how people work in teams. He suggested that there are a number of roles that people can take in a team, and depending on the work of the team different roles are required. Belbin’s research suggested that for complex tasks teams in which a wide range of roles are represented often produce the best results. Understanding the roles that you are comfortable taking in a team can help you work better with others, and the whole team can better understand its strengths and weaknesses through an analysis of the roles team members typically take. For example, if a team has too many people who want to lead and direct the work there could be conflict. On the other hand, if no one takes this role the team may be without direction.