What kind of boss do you have, and what does it teach you about leading?
Sixty percent of employed Americans told the Harris Poll in April 2026 that they have a toxic boss right now. Researchers who count behaviour instead of feelings put the figure nearer 15 to 20 percent (HRD Asia on the Harris Poll). Both can be true, because toxic means something different to everyone who says it.
This test does not ask you to label anyone. It asks about twelve things you have actually experienced: whether you know what is expected, how much of the work is yours to run, whose name travels with it, and whether the same news gets the same reaction on a good day and a bad one. You get a friction score from 0 to 100, the pattern with the most friction, and a script for your next one on one.
It takes about four minutes and shows your result without an email. If you manage people yourself, say so on the next screen. Your reports could answer these same twelve about you.
Boss Pattern Test: what kind of boss do you have
Someone who works with you sent you this test. It is the same twelve statements they answered, and nothing they entered came with the link. If you manage people, say so below and your result opens with the leader view first.
Is it my boss, and what do I do about it on Monday?
What you get
- Your score out of 100
- Which of the 4 results you land on
- Scores across Direction, Room, Credit and Steadiness
- Your strongest dimension and your gap, and where to start
This test scores behaviours you have experienced at work. It does not diagnose anyone. Narcissistic personality disorder is a clinical diagnosis that only a qualified mental health professional can make, and this page never uses that label for a result. Nothing here is HR, legal or medical advice. If your manager's behaviour leaves you frightened or unwell, talk to a therapist, your employee assistance programme or, in the US, call or text 988.
This test scores behaviours you have experienced at work. It does not diagnose anyone. Narcissistic personality disorder is a clinical diagnosis that only a qualified mental health professional can make, and this page never uses that label for a result. Nothing here is HR, legal or medical advice. If your manager's behaviour leaves you frightened or unwell, talk to a therapist, your employee assistance programme or, in the US, call or text 988.
Your next move
If you do not manage people
Your full result has a script for your next one on one and a three column rule: leave, stay and act, or stay and wait. Only the middle column needs a plan.
If you manage people
Your reports could answer these twelve statements about you. The management style quiz and the 360 lite show how you look from their side. Most bosses who score high on any of the four are not cruel. They are untrained.
Email me this result
Optional. Your score is already on screen. Enter your details and a copy of this result, your score, your level and your four dimension scores, is sent to you.
Done. Your result is on its way.
Related tools
The four results
Every completed run lands on one of these pages, with your own scores drawn from the link the tool gives you. Each one is readable without taking the tool.
- AbsentMost friction is direction. Usually untrained, rarely indifferent.
- ControllingMost friction is room. The how of your work is not yours.
- Self ServingMost friction is credit. Your name does not travel with your work.
- VolatileMost friction is steadiness. You manage a mood, not the work.
Signs of a toxic boss, written as behaviours
Search for the signs of a toxic boss or a narcissistic boss and you get lists of adjectives. Adjectives are hard to act on. This test uses four behaviour patterns instead.
- Direction. You hear about decisions after they are made, priorities change without a reason, and nobody has said what your work will be judged on.
- Room. Your work is rewritten rather than returned with notes, and you report more often than the work needs. This is the micromanaging boss pattern.
- Credit. Your ideas come back as someone else's, and mistakes are explained upward as the team's.
- Steadiness. The same news gets a different reaction depending on the day, and you plan your week around a mood.
Why the word narcissist is never a result here. The American Psychiatric Association estimates that 1 to 2 percent of people have narcissistic personality disorder, and it is a diagnosis only a clinician can make (MedlinePlus). Calling a difficult manager a narcissist feels accurate and changes nothing on Monday. Naming the behaviour does.
How this differs
Most boss quizzes online are yes or no lists that end in a verdict about a person, often a clinical one, and ask for your email before they tell you anything. This one scores behaviours you have experienced, never diagnoses anyone, shows the result first, and gives every result a second view for the reader who manages people. It is not a version of any psychological instrument. It is built by a leadership coaching firm, not a therapy practice, which is why half of every result is about leading.
What happens to your responses
Your score, your result and your dimension scores are shown on screen without an email address. An anonymous copy of the score and the dimension scores, with no name, email or free text, joins the aggregate statistics for this tool, which are published only when a cut has at least 30 completions. Email is optional. Only if you ask for the result by email is it written to your contact record, and only then. The full rules are on the methodology page.
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.
Common questions
Is this a narcissistic boss test?
No. It scores four patterns of behaviour you have experienced: direction, room, credit and steadiness. Narcissistic personality disorder is a clinical diagnosis that only a qualified mental health professional can make, and no result on this page uses that label.
What are the signs of a toxic boss?
In behaviour terms: you find out about decisions after they are made, your work is rewritten instead of returned with notes, your ideas come back as someone else's, and you plan your week around a mood. This test scores all four and tells you which one causes the most friction.
Will my manager see my answers?
No. Nothing you enter is sent to anyone. An anonymous copy of the scores, with no name, email or free text, joins the aggregate statistics. The send this test to your manager button copies a link to the blank test, never your answers.
I manage people. Why would I take this?
Because your reports could answer the same twelve statements about you. Take it about your own boss, then read the leader view on your result, which shows how each pattern looks from the manager's chair and what fixes it.
What should I do if my score is high?
Read which pattern drives it and use the script on your result page. If the behaviour includes harassment, threats or discrimination, this test does not apply: talk to HR, an employment lawyer, the EEOC in the US or ACAS in the UK.
Related tools
- Micromanaged or Managed: the micromanaging boss test4 min. Am I micromanaged, or managed closely for a reason, and what do I say on Monday?
- Toxic Workplace Test: the place, the boss or the week4 min. Is it the place, the boss, or the week, and what exactly is missing?
- Should I Quit My Job Quiz: the work, the boss, the deal or the mirror4 min. Should I quit, and what exactly would I be leaving?
- Management Style Quiz4 min. What is my management style, and what does it cost my team?
- Blind Spot 360 Lite4 min. How does my team actually see me, and where is the gap?
- Leadership Style Quiz12 min. How you exercise authority.
The numbers behind this tool
Aggregate results are published at Boss Pattern Statistics: What People Report About Bosses once a cut reaches 30 completions, under the Workplace Reality Index methodology. It is part of the Workplace Reality Index, which is kept separate from the leader indexes. More free tools are at the tools shelf.