Assessing Your Team's Inner Dwarves

There's a fairy tale going on in your office right now. Disagree? Try to remember that last meeting. Was there someone half asleep or nearly bored to tears? You were working with Sleepy. Was there a grouchy, my-way-or-the-highway person? Say hello to Grumpy. Got a few know-it-alls in your midst? You're working with a group of Docs. This is the premise behind the Snow White Test, a diagnostic tool designed to help meeting leaders identify and deal with the "Dwarf types" that populate meetings. The rationale is, when you identify which of the Seven Dwarves are in your meeting, you'll be able to run a more productive meeting by playing on each person's strengths and weaknesses.

Written by Sharon Livingston, founder of Executive Solutions Inc. in Syosset, New York, the Snow White test asks questions about where a person sits in meetings as well as what kind of comments he or she is likely to make during a meeting. Entrepreneurs can take the test to find out which Dwarf types are hanging out around the board room. You can even apply the techniques to meetings with clients or investors.