The Season
Reading. Scores 0 to 100. Mixed evidence, a hard stretch. A season, not a verdict.
This test looks for patterns in how you experience work. It is not a clinical instrument and it does not diagnose anything. If you are being harassed, bullied or discriminated against, this test does not apply to you and the answer is not you; talk to HR, an employment lawyer or a therapist. If work is affecting your health, see a doctor.
Your evidence is mixed. The friction has not clearly followed you across jobs, it is not locked between you and one manager, and your score does not clear you either. This test calls that reading The Season: a temporary state, usually driven by workload, a change of role or manager, or a bad quarter. It describes a stretch of time, not a person.
Look at your bars to see what the season is made of. If Feedback or Ownership is your highest bar, the season is showing up in how you respond: tired people explain rather than listen, and busy people decide before they test. Those are the parts in your hands. If Pattern is low because the friction started with a recent change, the change is the thing to name.
Seasons end, but not on their own. A bad quarter becomes a reputation if nobody says out loud that it was a bad quarter. The work is to separate what the season is doing to you from what you are doing in the season.
If work is affecting your sleep or your health, that is not a season to wait out. See a doctor, and use the resources at the foot of this page.
What to do this week. Name the season in one sentence to your manager: the last two months have been heavy because of the change, and I know I have been shorter than usual. Then ask one question: is there anything I have done in that time that you would want me to change? Take this test again in three months. If the bars have dropped, the season has ended. If the same bars are still high, the season has become something else, and the reading will say what.
What to do with this result
If you do not manage people
Your one sentence. Name the season to your manager before they name it for you: the last two months have been heavy because of the change, and I know I have been shorter than usual. Then ask what, if anything, they would want you to change. Naming it early keeps it a season rather than a reputation.
Your check date. Put a date three months out in your calendar and take this test again then. If the bars have dropped, the season has ended. If Pattern or Friction has risen, read those results instead.
The free leadership style quiz shows which habits you would lead with once the season ends.
If you manage people
A season in a manager spreads further than a season in anyone else, because your team plans around it. If your reading is The Season, say so to them in one sentence, and give them a date when you expect it to ease. The leader burnout test tells you whether this is a heavy stretch or depletion, which needs a different fix. The 360 lite shows how the season looks from their side.
The 5 Minute Leader is a five minute daily rhythm for leading through a heavy stretch.
Next step
If you need support now
This page is not a crisis service and nobody reads your answers. If you are thinking about harming yourself or you are in danger, reach a person today. In the US, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or text HOME to 741741 to reach Crisis Text Line.
In the UK and Ireland, call Samaritans on 116 123, or text SHOUT to 85258. Anywhere else, call your local emergency number. If work is affecting your sleep or your health, see a doctor. A coach is not the right first call for that, and neither is a quiz.
If this is a legal matter
Harassment and discrimination at work are legal questions, and a quiz cannot answer them. In the US, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission explains what the law covers and how to file a charge at eeoc.gov. In the UK, ACAS gives free, impartial advice at acas.org.uk. An employment lawyer can tell you what applies to you. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
The other results
- The PatternThe same friction follows you across jobs. That part is yours.
- The PlaceLittle points at you. On this evidence, it is not you.
- The PairYou and this manager, together. The fix is between you.
About this result
This is one of 4 results from the Am I the Problem at Work: the common denominator test, a free tool that shows the score without an email. Aggregate figures are at the statistics page once 30 completions have been reached. More free tools are at the tools shelf.