Test your confidence

Test your confidence in a range of work situations.

Welcome to the White Water Women confidence survey.

Test your confidence in a range of work situations.

Select your answer for each of the following questions. Be honest! Don’t spend too much time pondering. Don’t worry about the impression you will make by giving a particular answer. There are no right or wrong answers. The results from this questionnaire will be used to develop your confidence profile.

Workplace Confidence Survey

Progress:

1. You enter a room full of strangers at a business conference. Which of the following statements best describes your behaviour?

You imagine that nobody wants to talk to you and stay at the edge of the room

You tell yourself it’s going to be ok and find a group to occasionally contribute to

You are in your element and set out to make a number of new contacts

2. In a discussion, you find that your views on a particular issue are at odds with the general tone. In fact, you are in a minority of one. Which of the following best describes your response?

You begin to doubt your opinion as having at least some validity - after all, these are intelligent people

You have reservations about the majority view but do not make an issue of it

You decline to accept the majority view and continue to state the opinion, which you hold, regardless of its unpopularity

3. How important is your appearance to how you feel?

Not important at all. I take a pride in my appearance but it doesn’t impact on my effectiveness

I’m very conscious of my appearance, If I don’t look good, I don’t feel good

I try to stay inconspicuous at work by wearing conventional clothes

4. You are working at your desk in the office and somebody is annoyed about something around you. How do you respond?

Look around to see whether it's you they are annoyed at

Ignore it - you'd know if you were causing a problem

Immediately assume it’s about you

5. You bump into your boss at a social event. Which of the following best describes your response?

You listen intently to what s/he has to say but offer few opinions of your own

You exchange small talk

You consciously set out to impress and present yourself in a good light

6. You are placed on a project with a very uncommunicative work colleague. What happens?

You make an effort to engage this person in conversation, but give up after a while

You spend your time at work together in comparative silence and wish you'd had a better colleague

You treat the situation as a challenge and work on drawing this person out of their shell

7. You are up for a promotion at work. The person who will make the decision is in the process of implementing changes that you feel are very damaging to the organisation. It is clear that this person takes a very different approach to yourself. What do you do?

Make your views known and accept the consequences

Bite your lip, as you don’t want to be in the spotlight

Find some receptive people who share your concerns and see how far you get in making your case heard

8. You find yourself sitting next to a person you do not know in the staff restaurant. S/he is reading a magazine. Which of the following statements best describes your probable actions?

You respond to the person if they initiate a conversation, but you are unlikely to make the first move

You wait for a suitable pretext (eg. they look up) to speak to the stranger and gauge their personality

You rapidly introduce a topic of conversation and spend much of your lunchtime chatting freely with the person

9. You are demonstrating something on the computer to your boss's boss, and the program does not behave as it should. How do you deal with this?

Perfectly relaxed - explain that the system is not operating correctly and suggest that you give it a finite time and then postpone the demonstration

Slightly flustered but persisting in trying to remedy the fault

Quite embarrassed, and concerned that your discomfort may be visible

10. You are giving a prepared presentation to a large group of strangers. Which of the following describes how you feel during your presentation?

Nervous to the point where your performance suffers

Aware of the signs of nervousness - dry mouth, wobbly knees etc - but able to perform your presentation pretty much as you rehearsed it

Rather exhilarated - it's a bit daunting, but also an experience to be enjoyed

11. You are about to take a group of visitors, whom you do not know, on a guided tour of your workplace. As you enter the reception area they are all chatting to one another and not paying attention to your arrival. Which of the following best describes what happens?

It takes a little while for you to gain everybody's attention, and you feel some tension as some people are still chatting while you are introducing yourself

Some members of the group acknowledge your presence with eye contact as you enter, and you quickly establish control of the group when you introduce yourself

As you walk into the reception area the murmur of background conversation falls quieter; you are able to reduce this still further simply by standing still and looking at those people who are still speaking

12. You meet up with two colleagues for a drink. How much of the conversation is yours?

I keep quiet as I listen more than I talk

I talk about as much as my colleagues

I relax and focus on drawing my colleagues out

13. Somebody takes your place in a queue. You say something, and when s/he turns around it is the head of your department. What do you do?

Smile but assert your position in the queue

Make small talk and don't mention the queue

Slightly annoyed but you wouldn’t dream of saying anything

14. A colleague has asked you to play a modest part in their amateur production of a play. How do you respond?

I'll think about it

Tell me more - I'm definitely interested

Definitely not

15. You tell a funny, true story to a colleague. Then he introduces you to another team and at some point in the evening, invites you to tell them the story. How do you feel?

Anxious - you're not really a storyteller and you don't know these people very well

Slightly self-conscious - you don't know them very well - but it's a good story

Fine. It's a good story and they'll probably laugh

16. You walk into a meeting to ask a question, and there is quite a discussion going on. What do you do?

Take a seat and wait for a natural break in the conversation to ask your question

Hover at the back of the room hoping someone notices you

Be your usual self-assured self and join in the conversation before asking your question

To see your confidence profile in detail, please fill in the form below:

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Test your confidence

Workplace Confidence Survey

To see your confidence profile in detail, please fill in the form below:

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