Crucial Confrontations

Self-Assessment: Measuring Your Crucial Confrontations Skills


WHERE DO YOU STAND?

To measure your skill level and see how Crucial Confrontations can best serve your needs, candidly review the following statements. Check "Yes" if they apply to you. Check "No" if they do not. The following questions explore how you typically respond when you’re in the middle of a stressful situation.

Choose What and If
1. To avoid getting into an argument, I tend to put off certain discussions longer than I should. Yes
 No
2. Sometimes when people disappoint or bother me, I confront them—only to realize that I talked about the easy problem, but not the real root problem. Yes
 No
3. Parts of my life would improve if I could just figure out how to talk about certain hot topics without taking too much risk. Yes
 No
4. Occasionally I talk myself out of holding a certain discussion by convincing myself it’s better to cope than it is to risk an ugly confrontation. Yes
 No
5. With some of the problems I care about the most, I find myself bringing up the same issue over and over again. Yes
 No
Master My Stories
6. When others do things that are mean or selfish and I’m less than kind in return, I tell myself that they deserved it. Yes
 No
7. When others don’t deliver on a promise, there are times when I judge their reasons for doing so more quickly than I should. Yes
 No
8. Sometimes I assume that others cause me problems on purpose, and then I act on this assumption when it may be false. Yes
 No
9. Occasionally I wonder if I’m too quick to anger. Yes
 No
10. There are times when I’ve totally blamed others for a problem only to learn that I was partially responsible. Yes
 No
Describe the Gap
11. Sometimes I bring up problems in a way that makes others defensive. Yes
 No
12. Occasionally I talk to someone about their bad behavior within earshot of others. Yes
 No
13. There are times when I can’t figure out how to give others completely honest feedback in a way that won’t offend them. Yes
 No
14. Sometimes when I bring up a problem I do too much talking and not enough listening. Yes
 No
15. When I bring up problems with others, there are times when I make it hard for them to share their views. Yes
 No
Make It Motivating
16. I can’t motivate some of the people to change because I don’t have enough power to do so. Yes
 No
17. In order to get people to want to do certain things, sometimes I rely on guilt or even threats. Yes
 No
18. There are times when I can’t figure out why people aren’t interested in doing what they should be doing. Yes
 No
19. Sometimes it’s hard to get others to understand that the behavior I want from them is really in their best interest. Yes
 No
20. There are people I routinely deal with who, to be honest, just can’t be motivated. Yes
 No
Make It Easy
21. When people find a job to be unattractive or noxious, I occasionally turn up the heat so they’ll do it no matter what. Yes
 No
22. When someone can’t do something, I tend to jump in with my advice, when all they really want is a chance to talk about their ideas. Yes
 No
23. Sometimes I think that individuals who bend over backwards to make jobs easy are pampering people who just need to do their job and be held accountable. Yes
 No
24. Occasionally after finishing a problem-solving discussion, I forget to check to see if the other person is committed to do what’s necessary. Yes
 No
25. There are times when I’ve asked others for their ideas but didn’t really need them because I already had a plan of my own. Yes
 No
Stay Focused and Flexible
26. When talking to others about problems, sometimes I get sidetracked and miss the original problem. Yes
 No
27. When people bring up whole new problems during a crucial confrontation, I don’t know what to do with the new issue. Yes
 No
28. When people get angry in the middle of a discussion, I don’t always know how to respond. Yes
 No
29. I’m pretty good at staying focused on an issue, but occasionally may miss talking about what the other person really wants to discuss. Yes
 No
30. When someone misses a commitment and should have updated me but didn’t, I generally let them off the hook—even though they didn’t have the courtesy to involve me. Yes
 No
Move to Action
31. Sometimes I work through a problem but forget to clarify who is supposed to do what by when. Yes
 No
32. There are times when I’m disappointed with what others have done because they have failed to understand exactly what I wanted them to do. Yes
 No
33. Sometimes I neglect to give others a specific deadline, only to be surprised when they don’t deliver by the time I expected them to. Yes
 No
34. I’m pretty sure that either my kids, my spouse, or some of the people I work with think I micromanage them. Yes
 No
35. Sometimes I give people assignments but don’t have adequate time to follow up. Yes
 No
Please provide the following information about yourself.
Your Crucial Confrontations Self-Assessment results will be automatically scored sent to you at the e-mail
address you provide. You will also receive information about your strengths and ideas for improving your weak spots.
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