Quick Quiz – The Nine Types of Difficult People

Welcome!

On this page you’ll find my Quick Quiz to help you identify the different types of difficult person you might encounter at work.

A complete version of the quiz along with full descriptions of the types can be found in my book, The Nine Types of Difficult People: How to spot them and quickly improve working relationships, published by Pearson.

There’s more information about the book, together with links to its page on Amazon and its own micro-site below. The micro-site is the hub for all the additional resources I’ve created to accompany my book. Please look there and on this current site for more tips, tools and strategies to help you deal with difficult people, tough teams, and other challenging situations at work.

Praise for the Nine types of Difficult People:

“A real gem of a book, full of clear, insightful and practical advice on how to deal with difficult people in a caring and effective manner.”
Bridget Caldwell, BAFTA and double Royal Television Society award-winning Director and Producer

“Compelling reading for anyone leading people. The book offers a practical, easy to understand framework, which will help you diagnose, address and resolve problems.”
Phil Jones MBE, Managing Director Brother UK, an Investors in People Platinum award-winning employer

“I have agonised about certain individuals and what they are doing to upset a high performing team. A book that should be on hand for any leader.”
Tony Attard OBE DL, Chairman of Panaz Group, Master of The Furniture Makers’ Company (City of London livery company), past High Sheriff of Lancashire

See the book on Amazon

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A word about ‘Difficult’ People

I hope you’ll grab a copy of my book if you don’t already have one. There you’ll discover more about what I mean by a ‘difficult’ person. It’s important to know that anyone described as ‘difficult’ is almost always someone trying very hard to do their best, in challenging circumstances and in the best and sometimes only way that they know how.

Circumstances, inflexibility of habit, and reactions to stress can make all of us a little tough to be around at times. When that gets to the point where it’s too much for the people around us at work to tolerate – that’s when you might want a resource like my book.

At those times, it can really help to know how to identify what type of difficult person someone has become, so that we can quickly improve working relationships. My goal here is for work to become a place where people can come together and support each other to achieve things that we can’t do on our own. And then everybody benefits.

Instructions for the Quiz

Below you’ll find two groups of descriptions, each with three options: Group One (A, B, C) and Group Two (I, II, III). Read each option in both groups and select the option that best describes the person you are dealing with.

Don’t worry if you don’t agree with every point; focus on the overall description. If you’re not sure, eliminate the least-fitting options in each group and pick the remaining ones.

If you can, bring this person to mind and create a mental image of them. Remember how they made you feel. Think about any other details of their behaviour at work.

You can run the quiz as many times as you want. Start when you’re ready. Press submit when you’re done and the result will appear below. You can use the descriptions that appear to get a good sense for whether you have identified the right type of difficult person.

Quick Quiz to Identify Types

Group One

First, select one option from Group One - A, B, or C.

This person's focus is typically at the level of discrete tasks or projects that have tangible outcomes. They want to get things done.

You may recognise them because they talk about what needs doing next, or what is the most pressing objective, or about a measurable result that was just achieved.

You may notice they become impatient, distracted or even uncomprehending if you question them about the needs and preferences of specific people around them. Similarly, they may be unlikely to share (or even recognise) many of their own emotions, apart from a sense of intolerance towards others.

This person's focus is typically at the level of systems, at the inter-connectedness and necessary meshing-together of different systems and processes. They are interested in 'how'; whether it's how to create change or how to optimise an approach or method.

You may recognise them talking about chains of consequences: “If you change that, it will affect this,” or “If we want to do X, then first we have to do Y”.

You may notice they become frustrated (and frustrating) if the people and workflows around them do not take such interdependencies into account, or fail to grasp the big-picture of how things need to align together.

This person's focus is typically at the level of people and the thoughts, feelings and social status that they hold. They are interested in both 'who' - which specific individuals or which groups of people are involved, as well as 'why' - why does somebody they feel that way, why should a certain task be important to people.

You may recognise that they frequently name specific individuals or groups when talking about their work.

You may notice they become highly concerned about things that might have an adverse impact on relationships at work. Similarly, they prefer colleagues and team members with whom they can establish high-levels of rapport and loyalty.

Group Two

Next, select one option from Group Two - I, II, or III.

This person has a tendency to 'circle the wagons', putting up a barrier around themselves. It often feels like they're disconnected from you or other parts of the organisation.

They might keep their team or department separate as well. You may notice that they try to protect their team members, perhaps by restricting access to them or by not cascading-down to them messages or requests from the wider organisation.

It can seem hard to truly win this person's trust or to completely gain their respect. You and other people may often feel judged or be made to feel inadequate by them. They may sabotage any attempts to control their domain; or sabotage attempts to change things which might indirectly impact their own degree of control.

This person has a tendency to go all-in or head-on, bringing large amounts of energy and pressure to bear all over the place. It often seems like their response to everything is to ramp-up the effort or to expand their scope.

You may notice that their team members or the people around them get burnt-out: overloaded by the range and complexity of what’s being attempted, dropping by the wayside because of the pace, or being unable to tackle yet another difficult task head-on.

Your interactions with them may often make you feel both weary and wary. Weary because their energy levels or the challenge they bring to things are tiring. And wary because you feel the need to constantly be reining them in, alert to the risk of them crossing the wrong boundary or upsetting the wrong people.

III

This person has a tendency to duck conflicts, avoid changes and worry excessively about what could go wrong. You may notice your interactions with them are characterised by a kind of absence; as if there was a gap in your defences. Or like trying to work with one hand tied behind your back.

Even though you might like them, it often feels as if they're unreliable - failing to address tricky issues that you’d agreed on, putting roadblocks in the way of change you'd asked them to deliver, or dropping the ball in crucial moments.

They may cause team members and colleagues to be both uncomfortable - waiting for something bad to happen - and undisciplined - taking advantage of the situation. You may need to pay close attention to spot it, but what this person most wants to feel is 'safe'.

Next Steps

In part two of my book you’ll find straightforward tools and tips for dealing with each type of difficult person.

While you’re here, please look around this current site at nickrobinson.org which has tons of useful articles.

Or head on over to my book’s micro-site for more free resources. They’ll help you to get the most out of my book and deal with all kinds of challenging situations, tough teams and difficult people at work.

Good navigating!

Nick

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