Personality Traits – Team Leader Placement
You are a project manager in the human resources department of a town hall in a large city that is undergoing departmental
restructuring. Below are the notes you took on 6 team leaders that need to be reassigned. Make an assessment of their
personalities from the notes you took. For quick reference for your computer files, you need to find 4 character adjectives for
each of the six people in the profiles below, 2 positive and 2 negative. Write the 4 adjectives in the boxes describing the team
leaders and read the 6 positions on the next page that you have to fill before deciding which person should go to which team.
Positive Traits
Easy-going Good-looking Forward-thinking
Highly-respected High-spirited Kind-hearted
Laid-back Mild-mannered Open-minded
Quick-thinking Quick-witted Strong-willed
Warm-hearted Well-behaved Well-dressed
Well-liked Well-informed Well-mannered
Well-meaning Well-read Widely-travelled
Roberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Roberta is always playing jokes on her
colleagues, which doesn’t always go down
too well. However, she is very good at
motivating people in a crisis and her team
love her. The door to her office is always
open and she is as loyal to her team as they are to her. Her
memory can be a bit faulty but her secretary is always there
to help her. Despite her frivolous nature, she takes finances
very seriously and controls every aspect of her team’s
budget. Her projects are usually completed under-budget
although this never causes problems with quality.
Brenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Brenda can be very deceitful and
doesn’t like to give out information. She
can very nice to a person’s face but the
complete opposite behind their back. As
such, some people don’t like working
with her. However, she is always the one to talk to in a
crisis. She can see her way out of any problem and has
the capacity to visualise how things will develop. This
has made her indispensible to her team although her
superior attitude hasn’t made her any friends, though
that doesn’t really bother her too much.
Wang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Wang has worked in the purchasing
department for 7 years and is one of our
top negotiators. She was a fashion model
before she started her current career and
has a very striking appearance and dress sense that can
distract people. However, Wang always has her eye on the
objective and usually gets what she wants. She researches
the competition thoroughly and always has the upper
hand during negotiations. However, she can be a little
bossy with her team and has been known to use
aggressive language when things haven’t gone well. In
fact, there have been complaints about her swearing.
Negative Traits
Absent-minded Accident-prone Bone-idle
Badly-dressed Bad-mannered Bad-tempered
Cold-hearted Foul-mouthed High-handed
Narrow-minded Old-fashioned Quick-tempered
Scatter-brained Self-conscious Self-centred
Self-important Self-satisfied Short-tempered Slow-witted
Stuck-up Tight-fisted Two-faced World-weary
Fred . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fred has exquisite manners and is very
elegant in his appearance and character
although he is a little lazy. He has
worked in lots of different countries and
speaks several languages fluently. He
worked in the diplomatic service for 5 years and is well -
versed in diplomatic procedures and protocol. He is very
good at delegating work to his team and seems to know
instinctively what their strengths and weaknesses are. He
is a very traditional man with expensive tastes but he has
always been popular with high-level officials and VIPs.
Sean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sean is one of those people that always
gets on well with his fellow workers. He is
always willing to help and is the person
that people turn to in an emotional crisis.
He is usually the first one to arrive
at work and nearly always the last one to leave. He is one of
those people that always looks scruffy no matter what
clothes he is wearing and people are always trying to groom
him. Part of this problem is that he is always having small
mishaps and often spills things on his clothes. Although it’s
necessary to explain things to him several times before he
understands what to do, he is always a dedicated worker.
Boris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Boris has done it all and has developed a
bit of a cynical attitude along the way.
However, he is very knowledgeable
regarding his job and his team see him as
a walking dictionary. He always knows
the answers to their questions. He isn’t the kind of person
to go to for advice as he doesn’t really have sympathy for
anybody but himself. He seems to think that he does all the
hard work and is the first one to congratulate himself when
something is a success. Unfortunately, he doesn’t see it as
necessary to extend these congratulations to the team. If
he is given a project though, it nearly always goes well.
Workplace Relations Counsellor – Finance
The post has been created
for the financial services
team who have perhaps the
most stressful job in the
town hall. Their main task is
to look for ways to cut back
on expenditure and this often involves laying
people off which, understandably, is one of the
main reasons for the high levels of stress. The post
requires somebody who is prepared to sit down
and listen to the concerns and worries of the team
and to identify those who are in a vulnerable
condition and who might need temporary
reassignment. A high degree of empathy is needed
from anybody who fills this post.
Systems Restructuring Officer
We need a team leader
to help us develop a
restructuring plan for our
IT systems. The current
infrastructure has proved
to be very ineffective and although we have
highly trained code writers and technicians
ready to start work, we have no plan in place.
We are not looking for an IT specialist, we
already have those in the team, what we need
is somebody who can concentrate on
identifying the most efficient uses of our IT
network and presenting a plan to the
technicians who will then carry out the work.
Contract Services Director
The post of Contract
Services Director is a
position of critical
responsibility. The right
person to fill the post
should not take the work
that needs to be done lightly. The successful
candidate would be responsible for assessing
and reviewing contracts and services to the
municipal authorities and also for heading up
the negotiations with his/her team. The team
currently in place has not changed for several
years and, while essentially good at what they
do, they are probably a little too comfortable
with their business contacts to be fully reliable.
Project Manager –Contracts
This team is youthful and
boisterous, although they
always get the job done.
However, they are a little
wasteful, and there have
been unnecessary
expenses incurred on several projects. As such,
the team has a history of problems with its
team leaders who have always treated them a
bit like children, which has never gone down
very well. We need somebody with a tactful
and fun attitude who can motivate them and
put their talents to good use while staying
within budgetary constraints.
Events and Ceremonies Director
This team has been
assembled rather quickly
to organise civic
ceremonies and events.
Unfortunately, the team
may have been assembled a little too quickly as
it would appear that nobody really understands
what they are doing. All the team members
have good employment records and have been
effective enough in previous roles, but in this
undertaking, everybody seems a little lost. We
need a team leader that has a thorough
knowledge of civic ceremonies with good
communication and organizational skills.
Policy Director
The post of Policy
Director is available to an
analytical individual with
a talent for problem-
solving and risk
assessment who will
head up a small team of researchers and legal
experts responsible for implementing the
policies of the local authority. The team needs
to be orientated toward the policies of the
current administration regardless of their
personal feelings and political affiliations. As
such, a thick skin is necessary to be effective in
this post. A generous salary is on offer to the
right candidate.