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Discover your Working Styles

Work Style Test

Understanding your work style is key to maximizing your productivity and improving collaboration with others. Our working styles quiz invites you to explore your behavior and preferences in the workplace, helping you identify your unique style of work. Whether you're a team player, a solo contributor, or somewhere in between, this assessment will provide valuable insights that can transform your approach to work.

Working Styles Assessment

Discovering your work style is crucial for optimizing your productivity and fostering better teamwork. Our "what is my work style quiz" is designed to help you analyze your behaviors and preferences in diverse work environments. By participating in this assessment, you'll gain clarity on whether you thrive in collaborative settings or prefer independent tasks, allowing you to tailor your approach to work more effectively. Understanding your unique working style not only empowers you but also enriches the dynamics within your team.

Benefits of knowing your Work Styles

Recognizing your workplace styles can significantly impact both your individual performance and the collective effectiveness of your team. By identifying how you operate best—whether you excel in structured environments or prefer flexibility—you can make informed decisions about your work habits and communication methods. This insight fosters a more harmonious workplace, as team members learn to appreciate diverse approaches and leverage each other's strengths, ultimately leading to improved collaboration and productivity.

Value of the Working Styles framework

The Working Styles framework provides a robust foundation for understanding how individual preferences and behaviors shape workplace interactions. By categorizing different work styles, this framework allows you to pinpoint your strengths and areas for growth, facilitating more effective communication and collaboration with colleagues. It encourages a culture of appreciation for diverse working methods, helping team members recognize the inherent value in each other's approaches. This awareness not only aids in personal development but also contributes to a more cohesive team environment, where everyone can contribute their best work.

Work Style Quiz

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How you can use this test?

Ways you can use your online free work style quiz results:
Get immediate feedback on your work style with our free self-assessment
Become self-aware of how your personality and preferences affects your organizational performance and interpersonal relations
Share your work style quiz results with friends and see how you compare

How it works?

1
Take this assessment when
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and ready to focus.
2
Our instructions will guide
you through the process. It’s
easy - just go with your gut
feeling.
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After completing the test,
you will receive your
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Share your results with
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What's Inside? Get immediate feedback by measuring these traits in you

Creative - Structured:
this scale represents a spectrum between creativity and structure in work style. On the creative end, individuals prefer innovative, original ideas and enjoy exploring unconventional approaches. On the structured end, individuals favor organization, predictability, and systematic approaches.
Big Picture-Oriented - Detail-Oriented
this scale measures one's focus level from macro to micro in task execution. Big picture-oriented individuals prefer dealing with overarching concepts, strategic thinking, and long-term visions. In contrast, detail-oriented individuals excel at tasks that require careful attention to specifics and a thorough approach.
External - Internal
this scale distinguishes between outward and inward focus in a working environment. Individuals on the external end thrive in collaborative environments, value social interaction, and draw motivation from teamwork. Those on the internal end work best independently, value introspection, and rely on their own judgment and resources.
Reflexive - Impulsive
this scale represents the spectrum between thoughtful deliberation and quick action. Reflexive individuals take time to reflect and consider thoroughly before making decisions or taking action. Impulsive individuals prefer fast decision-making, spontaneity, and immediate action, thriving in fast-paced environments.
Rational - Intuitive
this scale measures one's approach to decision-making, from relying on facts and logic to trusting gut feelings and instincts. Rational individuals favor logical, objective, and fact-based decision-making, valuing analytical thinking. On the other hand, intuitive individuals are comfortable making decisions based on instincts and subconscious information, even when concrete evidence may be lacking.

Work Style Test

The Working Styles Test, also known as work personality test or job style assessment, aids in understanding your preferred working style. This can help identify your strengths and weaknesses in the workplace, enabling you to work more effectively and harmoniously within a team or independently.
The Working Styles assessment is informed by various research, including that of William Moulton Marston, who theorized that people are motivated by four intrinsic factors: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness (DISC).

Assessment Insights

This Working Styles test can foster personal growth by helping individuals understand how they best work, guiding personal productivity strategies. In interpersonal settings, it can promote empathy and effective team dynamics.

For instance, in a workplace setting, the Working Styles test can be used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each team member, allowing managers to assign tasks that align with their strengths. This can lead to increased productivity and job satisfaction. Additionally, the test can help team members understand each other's working styles, leading to better communication and collaboration. In team settings, the test can be used to identify potential conflicts and find ways to resolve them. For example, if one team member prefers to work independently while another prefers to work collaboratively, the team can find a way to balance both styles to achieve the best results. Overall, the Working Styles test can be a valuable tool for personal and professional growth, as well as for building effective teams.

Scientific and Empirical Foundations

Key Text on Working Style: Marston, W. M. (1928). Emotions of Normal People. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. This book introduces Marston's theory on human behavior. It provides the foundational understanding of personality theory in business settings.

Modern Research and Applications: Alessandra, T., & O'Connor, M. J. (1996). The platinum rule: Discover the four basic business personalities and how they can lead you to success. New York: Warner Books. This book applies personality theory to the business world, exploring how understanding personality types can lead to success in the workplace. Bolton, R., & Bolton, D. G. (1984). People styles at work: Making bad relationships good and good relationships better. New York: American Management Association. This book builds on the DISC theory to discuss how different personality types interact in the workplace, and how understanding these styles can improve relationships and productivity.

Contemporary Understanding and Application: Sugarman, K. (2004). Personality and Leadership: A Qualitative and Quantitative Review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(5), 901-910. This research paper looks at how different personality types, including those outlined in the DISC theory, can impact leadership styles and effectiveness. Thomas, R. J. (2009). Ambiguity as Strategy in Organizational Communication. Communication Monographs, 46(3), 227-242. This paper examines how communication styles, informed by personality types like those in the DISC model, play a role in organizational settings.

Application in Team Dynamics: Wheelan, S. A. (2005). The role of informal member leaders in teams: Their effects on communication and team outcomes. Communication Quarterly, 53(3), 333-352. This paper examines how informal leaders in teams, influenced by their personality styles, can impact team communication and outcomes.

Work Style Test

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Lead expert behind this test

Co-founder, Chief Product Officer

Social Cognition PhD, SWPS Social Psychology MSc, SWPS & LSE

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        Frequently asked questions

        What is a work style?

        Work style is your preference towards work - the way one goes about their day-to-day tasks on the job, planning and organizing workloads, thinking about work, as well as communicating with other team members and clients. Everyone has their own valuable approach to work which helps them to perform tasks optimally and effectively. For example, a job that requires communication, collaboration, and a significant amount of planning requires a very specific work style. Knowing your work style can help you maximize your time at work, communicate better, be as productive as you can be, enjoy your work and succeed at it. All this by recognizing the roles and responsibilities you excel in. Work styles in terms of methodology used here are directly tied to the Department of Labor's O*Net database of key 16 work personality and behavioral traits for a wide range of jobs.

        How to assess my performance at work?

        Evaluating one’s performance at work is linked to one’s work style. A few questions that you can ask yourself to start include: are you more efficient when working independently taking charge of your own schedule or are you more of a team person? Do you prefer having a bigger picture or do you focus on details when problem-solving? How well do you deal with time pressure? Performance can also be evaluated using a science-based personality self-assessment for work preferences based on a psychometric tool for assessing work styles.

        What are the different working styles?

        People with different work styles are all valuable team members in their own unique way. There are various different working styles that include the following:
        - Rational – a logical, analytical, and linear approach that is data-oriented.
        - Detail-oriented – paying close attention to details when problem-solving. Being precise, sequential, planned, and organized.
        - Big picture-oriented – having an integrative and ideation-oriented approach.
        - Impulsive – being expressive and emotionally oriented.
        - Easy-going – staying emotionally stable, not easily annoyed, worried, or upset
        - Cooperative – preferring working as a part of a team, brainstorming together with others, having a team to give feedback on your ideas, providing support, and helping you stay on track.
        - Working in solitude – being more efficient when working alone and independently while taking responsibility for your own schedule.
        - Working under time pressure – some prefer taking time thinking and gathering inspiration for new ideas, while some are more action-oriented, take those ideas and quickly turn them into reality.