Productivity Style Assessment

I’m currently reading Carson Tate’s Book, Work Simply and I’m hooked!

In chapter 3, Carson Tate asked me to take the Productivity Style Assessment.  It is a measurement tool that drives self-awareness in helping us identify our preferred productivity style. It consists of 28 questions that asks about how we manage our time, projects and tasks.

I initially wanted to complete the assessment through the book but iBooks does not let me doodle anywhere in the page. So I ended up going to Carson Tate’s website and take the online Productivity Style Assessment. The assessment can be found at http://www.carsontate.com/assessment/.

I quickly answered the questions and made sure that I answer it the way I work today versus how I feel it should be. That way, I get accurate results.

In less than a minute, I got the results in my e-mail.  And the results?  My fondness for productivity are showing since I got very close scores to being a Prioritzer, Planner & Arranger! I must admit I’m not much of a visualizer.  I can’t wait to read the book further to understand how I can leverage my productivity methods in my daily life.

There are 4 Productivity Styles all in all.  With each style having a distinct characteristic. I love how the Productivity Style Guide is laid out. It’s clean and easy to read. I will have to read this over and over as I have tied scores in Prioritizer and Planner plus a decent high score in Arranger.

I intend to document all the personality tests that I’m taking so I can just refer back if I want to review. My Productivity Style Assessment results is as follows:

• PRIORITIZER (27 points)
  • prefers logical, analytical, fact-based, critical and realistic thinking.
  • tends to use time effectively and efficiently, focusing on the highest-value task and on achieving project outcomes.
  • able to accurately complete significant amounts of work and effectively prioritize tasks.
  • decision making style – makes decisions by gathering all of the facts, analyzing the issues, and developing theories. Prioritizers argue rationally and solve problems logically. They work precisely with numbers, statistics and data.
• PLANNER (27 points)
  • prefers organized, sequential, planned and detailed thinking.
  • budgets the time required to complete tasks, sequentially organizes tasks, and prepares accurate, detailed project plans.
  • doesn’t waste time on tasks and projects that are unproductive or unimportant and creates project plans that are sequential, detailed and concise.
  • careful about consulting and complying with laws, policies, regulations and/or quality and safety criteria when planning projects
  • maintains detailed lists and frequently completes work in advance of deadlines
  • decision making style – approaches decision making in a spirit of practicality. Planner often finds overlooked flaws by reading the fine print in documents and contracts. Once a planner has made a decision, he or he will stand firm, providing stable leadership and articulating plans and ideas in an orderly, consistent fashion. You can count on a Planner to organize and keep track of data, maintain accurate financial records, and develop detailed plans and procedures.
• ARRANGER (24 points)
  • prefers supportive, expressive and emotional thinking.
  • encourages teamwork to maximize work output and make decisions intuitively, in real time, as events unfold, blocking out time to complete work.
  • excels at partering with people to get work done and is an effective communicator with project teams.
  • likes to maintain visual lists, often using color and intuitively knows what tasks must be completed.
  • decision making style – tends to approach decision making by intuitively sensing how others will feel. An arranger recognizes interpersonal difficulties and picks up on nonverbal cues of stress. He or she is skilled at using an understanding of the emotional elements of a situation in persuading and teaching others.
• VISUALIZER (21 points)
  • prefers holistic, intuitive, integrating and synthesizing thinking.
  • visualizer sees the big picture and has the ability to work very quickly.
  • adroitly manages and juggles multiple tasks and projects.
  • able to synthesize disparate ideas into a cohesive whole, generating creative, innovative project ideas.
  • thinks strategically about projects, effectively managing multiple ideas simultaneously while being efficient in task execution
  • maintains visual lists, often using color
  • decision making style – makes decision by inventing imaginative, intuitive solutions to problems. They are perceptive and skilled at reading signs of coming change, which sometimes leads them to challenge established policies. They tend to recognize and seek out new possibilities, embrace ambiguity, and integrate ideas and concepts that others may consider incompatible or unrelated.

Once I finish reading the book – Work Simply, I hope to get more insights on productivity so that I get to change the way I work. I want to be as productive and as efficient as possible. Really excited in learning about working simply and taking back as much time for myself!