Illustration 4.1: Jackie

Job: Financial Manager
Required Personality Trait for the Job : Assertive
Jackie’s Score: Very Low
Productive Behaviours of Low Assertiveness
  • Open
  • Good listener
  • Eager to serve
Counterproductive Behaviour of Low Assertiveness (Overuse):
  • Unassertive
  • Easily persuaded, can't push back
  • Compliant, pleaser
Jackie is a chartered accountant who has recently been appointed into the position of Financial Manager. The plant he works at is expanding which means that there are numerous new capital expenditures that he needs to scrutinize. Part of his brief is to ensure that project teams do not undertake unnecessary expenditures and that capital budgets are not over run. Jackie reports to Gwede, the Group financial manager.
Jackie's profile shows that he is accommodating and unassertive. This is quickly picked up by the project teams and they begin exerting pressure on him to pursue their own agendas with respect to the projects they are developing. Struggling to assert himself, Jackie is persuaded to approve several unnecessary expenditures. He is also in the habit of falling back on Gwede when he is uncertain about taking decisions. This means that a lot of Gwede's time is taken up reviewing the financial information sent to him by Jackie and intervening in situations where Jackie is unable to assert himself and be decisive.
The net effect of this is unnecessary capital expenditures and a drag on Gwede's productivity.
Illustration 4.2: Ntombe
Required Personality Trait for the Job: Assertive
Ntombe’s Score: Above Average
Productive Behaviours:
  • Stands up for views
  • Persuasive
  • Decisive
Counterproductive Behaviour (Overuse):
  • Domineering
  • Aggressive
Ntombe is a chartered accountant who has recently been appointed into the position of Financial Manager. The plant she works at is expanding which means that there are numerous new capital expenditures that she needs to scrutinize. Part of her brief is to ensure that project teams do not undertake unnecessary expenditures and that capital budgets are not over run. Jackie reports to Gwede, the Group financial manager.
Jackie's profile shows that she has a healthy level of assertiveness. She is not easily influenced and has well established opinions and viewpoints. She has no problem in saying no when the situation demands it. She can take the lead and does not allow herself to be bullied or pressurized.
The project team members are under pressure and realise that the project will not easily be completed within budget. They exert pressure on Ntombe to authorise unbudgeted expenditures. Ntombe stands her ground and points out the implications on budget over runs and declines to authorise these expenditures. The project team escalates the matter to one of the directors who begins to pressurise her to authorise the budget over run. Ntombe once again is able to stand her ground and assert that her brief is to ensure that capital budgets are not over run. She suggests that the project team looks for a cheaper supplier.
The team, not being allowed the easy way out, go back to the drawing board, redesign some elements of the project and are able to stick to the budget. The net effect is that resources are not wasted.
As in previous examples, both Jackie and Ntombe were technically competent. The differentiator was their assertiveness (EQ) which impacted on the company bottom line.
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