Work Style Inventory Quiz

Handout 3.3.2a
This tool is from Wilson Learning and is their shortened version from a very long inventory. It is not intended to be a comprehensive psychological
evaluation. Source: Customer Service for Dummies by Karen Leland and Keith Bailey. Original concept: Larry Wilson, Wilson Learning

Instructions:
Consider each of the following questions separately. Circle one number (1, 2, 3, or 4) that corresponds to the
description that best fits you. If you have trouble selecting only one answer, ask yourself which response, at
work, would be the most natural or likely for you to make. There are no right answers to these questions, so
base your responses on how you are today, not how you think you should be or would like to be in the future.

1. When talking to a customer or co-worker…

a. I maintain eye contact the whole time.
b. I alternate between looking at the person and looking down.
c. I look around the room a good deal of the time.
d. I try to maintain eye contact, but look away from time to time.

2. If I have an important decision to make…

a. I think it through completely before deciding.
b. I go with my gut instincts.
c. I consider the impact it will have on other people before deciding.
d. I run it by someone whose opinion I respect before deciding.

3. My office or work area mostly has…

a. family photos and sentimental items displayed.
b. inspirational posters, awards, and art displayed.
c. graphs and charts displayed.
d. calendars and project outlines displayed.

4. If I am having a conflict with a co-worker or customer…

a. I try to help the situation along by focusing on the positive.
b. I stay calm and try to understand the cause of the conflict.
c. I try to avoid discussing the issue causing the conflict.
d. I confront it right away so that it can get resolved as soon as possible.

5. When I talk on the phone at work…

a. I keep the conversation focused on the purpose of the call.
b. I spend a few minutes chatting before getting down to business.
c. I am in no hurry to get off the phone and do not mind chatting about personal things, the weather, and so
on.
d. I try to keep the conversation as brief as possible.

6. If a co-worker is upset…
a. I ask if I can do anything to help.
b. I leave him alone because I do not want to intrude on his privacy.
c. I try to cheer him up and help him to see the bright side.
d. I feel uncomfortable and hope he gets over it soon.
7. When I attend meetings at work…
a. I sit back and think about what is being said before offering my opinion.
b. I put all my cards on the table so my opinion is well known.
c. I express my opinion enthusiastically, but listen to others’ ideas as well.
d. I try to support the ideas of the other people in the meeting.

8. When I make a presentation in front of a group…

a. I am entertaining and often humorous.
b. I am clear and concise.
c. I speak relatively quietly.
d. I am direct, specific, and sometimes loud.

9. When a customer is explaining a problem to me…

a. I try to understand and empathize with how she is feeling.
b. I look for the specific facts pertaining to the situation.
c. I listen carefully for the main issue so that I can find a solution.
d. I use body language and tone of voice to show him/her that I
understand.

10. When I attend training programs or presentations…

a. I get bored if the person moves too slowly.
b. I try to be supportive of the speaker, knowing how hard the job is.
c. I want it to be entertaining as well as informative.
d. I look for the logic behind what the speaker is saying.

11. When I want to get my point across to customers or co-workers…

a. I listen to their point of view first and then express my ideas gently.
b. I strongly state my opinion so that they know where I stand.
c. I try to persuade them without being too forceful.
d. I explain the thinking and logic behind what I am saying.

12. When I am late for a meeting or appointment…

a. I do not panic but call ahead to say that I will be a few minutes late.
b. I feel bad about keeping the other person waiting.
c. I get very upset and rush to get there as soon as possible.
d. I apologize profusely once I arrive.

13. I set goals and objectives at work that…

a. I think I can realistically attain.
b. I feel are challenging and would be exciting to achieve.
c. I need to achieve as part of a bigger objective.
d. Will make me feel good when I achieve them.
14. When explaining a problem to a co-worker whom I need help from…
a. I explain the problem in as much detail as possible.
b. I sometimes exaggerate to make my point.
c. I try to explain how the problem makes me feel.
d. I explain how I would like the problem to be solved.

15. If customers or co-workers are late for a meeting with me in my office…

a. I keep myself busy by making phone calls or working until they arrive.
b. I assume they were delayed a bit and do not get upset.
c. I call to make sure that I have the correct information (date, time, etc.).
d. I get upset that the person is wasting my time.

16. When I am behind on a project and feel pressure to get it done…

a. I make a list of everything I need to do, in what order, by when.
b. I block out everything else and focus 100 percent on the work I need to do.
c. I become anxious and have a hard time focusing on my work.
d. I set a date to get the project done by and go for it.

17. When I feel verbally attacked by a customer or a co-worker…

a. I tell her to stop it.
b. I feel hurt but usually do not say anything about it to her.
c. I ignore her anger and try to focus on the facts of the situation.
d. I let her know in strong terms that I do not like her behavior.

18. When I see a co-worker or customer whom I like and haven’t seen recently…
a. I give him/her a friendly hug.
b. I greet him/her but don’t shake his/her hand.
c. I give him/her a firm but quick handshake.
d. I give him/her an enthusiastic handshake that lasts a few moments.

Source: Customer Service for Dummies by Karen Leland and Keith Bailey
Original concept: Larry Wilson, Wilson Learning
 What’s My Style? Scoring Form
Handout 3.3.2b
Once you have finished the questionnaire, review the following scoring sheet. Circle the letter that responds to
each question from your quiz. Count up the responses to the four specific working styles: driver, expressive,
amiable, and analytical. Record at the bottom of this sheet

1. 7. 13.
a driver a analytical a analytical
b amiable b driver b expressive
c analytical c expressive c driver
d expressive d amiable d amiable
2. 8. 14.
a analytical a expressive a analytical
b driver b analytical b expressive
c amiable c amiable c amiable
d expressive d driver d driver
3. 9. 15.
a amiable a amiable a expressive
b expressive b analytical b amiable
c analytical c driver c analytical
d driver d expressive d driver
4. 10. 16.
a expressive a driver a analytical
b amiable b amiable b driver
c analytical c expressive c amiable
d driver d analytical d expressive
5. 11. 17.
a analytical a amiable a driver
b expressive b driver b amiable
c amiable c expressive c analytical
d driver d analytical d expressive
6. 12. 18.
a amiable a analytical a amiable
b driver b amiable b analytical
c expressive c expressive c driver
d analytical d driver d expressive

TOTALS: Driver __________ Amiable__________ Analytical__________ Expressive__________

The highest score is your most dominant style. The wider the range of scores the more dominant the style. If
you have two scores that are the same for your highest score, then you have two dominant styles.
 Work Styles Inventory Descriptions

Amiable
Amiables are people-oriented, relatively unassertive, warm, and reliable. Amiables are sometimes seen by
others as compliant, softhearted, and acquiescent.

Amiables seek security. They take action and make decisions slowly. This pace stems from their desire to avoid
risky or unknown situations. Before they take action or make a decision, they have to know how other people
feel about their decision.

Amiables tend to be the most people-oriented of all the four styles. Having close, friendly, personal, first –name
relationships with others is one of their most important objectives. They dislike interpersonal conflict so much
that they sometimes say what they think other people want to hear. They have natural counseling skills and are
supportive. Their theme is, “Notice how well-liked I am.”

Amiables tend to be good, active listeners and generally develop relationships with people who are also good
listeners. As a result, Amiables have strong networks of people who are willing to be mutually supportive. You
often feel good just being with an Amiable.

Amiables focus on getting acquainted and building trust. They are irritated by pushy, aggressive behavior. They
question, “How will it affect my personal circumstances and the camaraderie of the group?” They are
cooperative, steady workers, and excellent team players.

The primary strengths of Amiables are relating to, caring for, and loving others. Their primary weaknesses are
that they are somewhat unassertive, overly sensitive, and easily bullied.

Ideal occupations for the Amiable cluster around the helping professions such as counseling, teaching, social
work, the clergy, psychology, nursing, parenting, and human-resource development. In the business
environment, Amiables like others to be courteous, friendly, and accepting of their share of the responsibility.
In a social environment, they like others to be genuine and friendly.

Amiables’ desks contain family pictures and other personal items. Their office walls have personal slogans,
family or group photos, serene pictures or mementos. Amiables are high-touch in a high-tech world. They give
their offices a friendly, warm ambience and arrange seating in a side-by-side, cooperative way.

To achieve more balance and to develop behavioral flexibility, Amiables need to say “no” occasionally; attend to
the completion of tasks without over-sensitivity to the feelings of others; be willing to reach beyond their
comfort zone to set goals that require some stretch and risk; and delegate to others.
Analytical

Analyticals are task-oriented and unassertive. They are concerned with analytical processes and are persistent,
systematic problem solvers. They can also be seen as aloof, picky, and critical. Analyticals are very security-
conscious and have a high need to be right, leading them to an over reliance on data collection. In their quest
for data, they tend to ask many questions about specifics. Their actions and decisions tend to be slow and
extremely cautious, but they will rarely miss a deadline. Although they are great problem solvers, Analyticals
could be better decision-makers.

Analyticals tend to be perfectionists, serious, and orderly. They focus on the details and the process of work,
and become irritated by surprises and “glitches.” Their theme is, “Notice my efficiency” and their emphasis is on
compliance and working within existing guidelines to promote quality in products or service.

Analyticals like organization and structure, and dislike too much involvement with other people. They work
slowly and precisely by themselves, are time-disciplined, and prefer an intellectual work environment.
Analyticals tend to be critical of their own performance. They tend to be skeptical and like to see things in
writing.

Analyticals’ primary strengths are their accuracy, dependability, independence, follow-through, and
organization. Their primary weaknesses are their procrastination and conservative natures, which promote their
tendency to be picky and over-cautious. Occupations that they tend to gravitate toward are accounting,
engineering, computer programming, the hard sciences (chemistry, physics, and math) systems analysis, and
architecture.

The greatest irritation for Analyticals is disorganized, illogical people. In business environments, they want
others to be credible, professional, and courteous. In social environments, they like others to be pleasant and
sincere.

Environmental clues include highly organized desks with clear tops. Their office walls contain their favorite
types of artwork: charts, graphs, exhibits, or pictures pertaining to the job. Analyticals are non-contact people
who prefer the formality of distance. This preference is reflected in the functional but uninviting arrangement
of their desks and chairs. They are not fond of huggers and touchers, and prefer a cool handshake or a brief
phone call.

To improve their balance and behavioral flexibility, Analyticals need to: openly show concern and appreciation
of others; occasionally try shortcuts and time-savers; adjust more readily to change and disorganization;
improve timely decision-making and initiation of new projects; and use policies more as guidelines than hard
and fast laws.
Driver

Dominant Drivers are task-oriented and assertive. They exhibit firmness in their relationships with others, are
oriented toward productivity and goals, and are concerned with bottom line results.

Drivers accept challenges, take authority, and go head first into solving problems. They tend to exhibit great
administrative and operational skills and work quickly and impressively on their own. They tend to be cool,
independent, and competitive with others, especially in a business environment. Drivers try to shape their
environment to overcome obstacle en route to their accomplishments. They demand maximum freedom to
manage themselves and others, and use their leadership skills to become winners.

Their weak traits include stubbornness, impatience, and toughness. Drivers tend to take control of others and
have a low tolerance for their feelings, attitudes, and inadequacies. They are fast-paced and are impatient with
delays. It is not unusual for a Driver to call you and, without saying hello, launch right into the conversation:
“You’ve got to be kidding; the shipment from Hong Kong will kill us…, by the way, this is Jack.” When other
people cannot keep up with their speed, they view them as incompetent.

The Driver’s motto might be, “I want it done right and I want it done now,” or, “I want it done yesterday!” They
like to juggle three things at once, and when they feel comfortable with those three things, they pick up a
fourth. They keep adding more until the pressure builds to the point where they let everything drop, then
immediately start the whole process over again. The Driver’s theme may be, “Notice my accomplishments.”

Their strengths are their ability to get things done, their leadership, and their decision-making ability. Their
weaknesses tend to be inflexibility, impatience, poor listening habits, and failure to take time to “smell the
flowers.”

A Driver’s ideal occupation might be a hard-driving newspaper reporter, stockbroker, independent consultant,
corporate CEO, or drill sergeant. In a business environment, they like others to be decisive, efficient, receptive,
and intelligent. In a social environment, they want others to be quick, assertive, and witty.

A Driver’s desk will be busy with paperwork, projects, and material separated into piles. Their offices are
decorated to suggest power. Drivers are formal and keep their distance physically and psychologically. A
Driver’s office is arranged so that seating is forma-face to face with a big power desk separating them from
visitors.

To achieve balance, Drivers need to practice active listening, pace themselves to look more relaxed, and develop
patience, humility, and sensitivity. They need to show concern for others, use more caution, verbalize the
reasons for their conclusions, and participate more as team players.
Expressive

Expressives are people-oriented and assertive exhibiting characteristics such as animation, intuitiveness, and
liveliness. However, they can also be viewed as manipulative, impetuous, and excitable when displaying
behavior inappropriate to the situation.

Expressives are fast-paced. Their actions and decisions are spontaneous, and are seldom concerned about facts
and details, which they try to avoid as much as possible. Their motto is “Don’t confuse me with the facts.” This
disregard for details sometimes prompts them to exaggerate and generalize facts and figures. It also gives them
a built-in excuse when they are wrong: “I didn’t have all the facts!” They are more comfortable with “best
guesstimates” than with exact data.

Expressives’ primary strengths are their enthusiasm, persuasiveness, and delightful sociability. Their primary
weaknesses are getting involved in too many things, impatience, and their short attention spans, which cause
them to become bored easily.

Expressives are idea persons. They have the ability to get others caught up in their dreams because of their
good persuasive skills. They influence others and shape their environment by bringing others into alliance to
accomplish results. They seek approval and recognition for their accomplishments and achievements, and have
a dynamic ability to think quickly on their feet.

Expressives are true entertainers. They love an audience and thrive on involvement with people. They tend to
work quickly and enthusiastically with others. Expressives are stimulating, talkative, and gregarious. They tend
to operate on intuition and like to take risks. Their greatest irritations are boring tasks, being alone, and not
having access to a telephone.

Many Expressives are in occupations such as sales, entertainment, public relations, professional hosts, trial
attorneys, social directors on cruise ships, and other glamorous, high profile careers. In the business
environment, they like other people to be risk-takers, and to act quickly. In a social environment, they like
others to be uninhibited, spontaneous, and entertaining.

Expressives design and use their space in a disorganized and cluttered manner, but they know if something is
missing. Their walls may contain awards, stimulating posters or notes, and motivational, personal slogans. Their
seating indicates warmth, openness, and a willingness to make contact. Since Expressives are touchers and
don’t mind a slap on the back or a handshake, they often move to an alternative seating arrangement when
talking with visitors.

To achieve balance and behavioral flexibility, Expressives need to: control their time and emotions; develop a
more objective mindset; spend more time checking, verifying, specifying, and organizing; develop more of a
task-focus; and take a more logical approach to projects and issues.
 General Strategies by Behavioral Type
In relationships with Amiables:
Support their feelings by showing personal interest
Assume that they’ll take everything personally
When you disagree, discuss personal feelings
Allow them time to trust you
Move along in an informal, slow manner
Show that you are “actively” listening
Provide guarantees and personal assurances that any actions will involve a minimum of risk
Above all, be warm and sincere.

In relationships with Analyticals:

Support their organized, thoughtful approach
Demonstrate through actions rather than words
Be systematic, exact, organized, and prepared
List advantages and disadvantages of any plan
Provide solid, tangible, factual evidence
Provide guarantees that actions won’t backfire
Above all, be thorough and well prepared.

In relationships with Drivers:

Support their goals and objectives
Keep your relationship business-like
If you disagree, argue facts-not personal feelings
Recognize their ideas-not them personally
To influence decisions, provide alternative actions with brief supporting analysis
Be precise, efficient, and well-organized
Above all, be efficient and competent.

In relationships with Expressives:

Support their opinions, ideas, and dreams
Don’t hurry the discussion
Try not to argue-you seldom can win
Agree on the specifics
Summarize in writing who is to do what, where, when
Be entertaining and fast-moving
Use testimonials and incentives to positively affect decisions
Above all, be interested in them.
 Managing by Style
Amiable
Motivate: Show how something will benefit their relationships and strengthen their position with others.
Compliment: Praise their teamwork, the way they are regarded by other people, their relationship skills, and their
ability to “get along” with others.
Counsel: Allow plenty of time to explore their feelings and understand the emotional side of the situation. They
express their feelings, but indirectly. Draw them out through questioning and listening techniques. Create a non-
threatening environment.
Correct: Reassure them that what you are seeking to correct is the behavior only. Don’t blame or judge the
person; keep things focused on the behavior and its appropriateness.
Delegate: Make a personal appeal to their loyalty. Give them the task, state the deadlines that need to be next
and explain why it’s important to do it in a specific way.

Analytical
Motivate: Appeal to their need to be accurate and to their logical approach to things.
Compliment: Praise their efficiency, though processes, organization, persistence, and accuracy.
Counsel: Describe the process that you plan to follow. Outline how that process will produce the results they
seek. Ask questions to help them give the right information. Let them show how much they know.
Correct: Specify the exact behavior and outline how you would like to see the behavior changed. Establish
checkpoints and timelines.
Delegate: Take time to answer all their questions about structure and guidance. The more they understand the
details, the more likely they will be to complete the task properly. Be sure to establish deadlines.

Driver
Motivate: Provide options and clearly describe the probabilities of success in achieving goals.
Compliment: Praise their achievements, upward mobility, and leadership potential.
Counsel: Stick to the facts. Engage them by talking about the desired results, and then discuss their concerns.
Focus on tasks more than feelings and ask them how they would solve the problem.
Correct: Describe what results are desired. Show them the gap between actual and desired. Suggest the
improvement that is needed and establish a time when they will get back to you.
Delegate: Give them the bottom line and then get out of their way. To improve efficiency give parameters,
guidelines, and deadlines.

Expressive
Motivate: Offer them incentives and testimonials. Show them how they can look good in the eyes of others.
Compliment: Praise their appearance, creative ideas, persuasiveness, and charisma.
Counsel: Allow them plenty of opportunity to talk about things that are bothering them. Listen for facts and
feelings. Many times Expressives merely need to “get something off their chest” and talking may solve the
problem.
Correct: Specify exactly what the problem happens to be and what behavior is required to eliminate the problem.
Be sure you confirm in writing the agreed upon behavior changes.
Delegate: Make sure you get clear agreement. Establish checkpoints so that there is not a long period between
progress reports.
 Behavior Under Stress
AMIABLES: WILL SUBMIT
Example of typical response to stressful situation: “OK, if that’s the way you must have it, we’ll try it.”
MAY APPEAR NEED
Wishy-Washy ■ Reassurances that they’re liked
Submissive ■ Personal assurance
Passive ■ Slow paced for comfort and security
Dependent ■ Relationships
Hesitant
Defensive
Indecisive

ANALYTICALS: WILL WITHDRAW

Example of typical response to stressful situation: “I can’t help you any further. Do what you want.”
MAY APPEAR NEED
Over-reliant on data and documentation ■ Guarantees that they’re right
Resistant to change ■ Understanding of principles and details
Slow to act ■ Slow pace for “processing” information
Slow to begin work ■ Accuracy
Unable to meet deadlines
Unimaginative
Withdrawn
Resentful

DRIVERS: WILL DICTATE

Example of typical response to stressful situation: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
MAY APPEAR NEED
Restless ■ Control of situation and self
Critical ■ Tangible evidence of progress
Blunt ■ Fast pace for moving toward goals
Intrusive ■ Accomplishments
Uncooperative
Irritable
Aggressive
Pushy

EXPRESSIVES: WILL DISREGARD

Example of typical response to stressful situation: “Hey, let’s get on to something more positive!”
MAY APPEAR NEED
Manipulative ■ To get credit
Overeager ■ Action and interaction
Impulsive ■ Quick pace for stimulation & excitement
Inconsistent ■ Prestige
Superficial
Unrealistic
Wasteful of time