Work Strengths Test Question 39 – Prioritising a mixed shared inbox
Read the scenario and rate every action independently. More than one action can receive the same rating.
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Scenario
You are covering a shared inbox while your supervisor attends a meeting. It contains routine requests, two messages marked urgent and one message that may affect a customer payment today. The team has clear priority rules, although one of the urgent messages is unclear. You are expected to keep work moving and can ask an experienced colleague for a quick view if needed.
Rate the actions
For each action, choose Counterproductive, Ineffective, Fairly Effective or Effective.
Action A
Handle the messages in the order they arrived so that everyone is treated consistently.
Rate this action:
CounterproductiveIneffectiveFairly EffectiveEffective
Action B
Apply the priority rules, deal with the payment-related message first and flag the unclear urgent message for a quick check.
Rate this action:
CounterproductiveIneffectiveFairly EffectiveEffective
Action C
Separate the clearly urgent messages from the routine work and ask the experienced colleague to sense-check the uncertain one.
Rate this action:
CounterproductiveIneffectiveFairly EffectiveEffective
Action D
Leave all urgent messages untouched until the supervisor returns so that no incorrect decision is made.
Rate this action:
CounterproductiveIneffectiveFairly EffectiveEffective
Click to reveal the answer
- Action A: Ineffective
- Action B: Effective
- Action C: Fairly Effective
- Action D: Counterproductive
Members can unlock the full explanation for all four actions below, including why each rating fits and what the question is testing.
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