Newton Europe Assessment Tests

Newton Europe Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a programme coordinator at Newton Europe, and you write the weekly report the client’s steering group reads. The manager running the engagement tells you this week’s report is not good enough and asks you to do it again before Thursday’s meeting. They do not say what is wrong with it, and they are travelling all day tomorrow. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Rewrite the report the way you think they meant, and put it into Thursday's pack without telling the manager you were guessing at what they wanted changed.
   2. Ask the manager now for one example of what the report is missing, since they travel all day tomorrow, and agree what Thursday's version has to cover.
   3. Send the same report back with a note asking the manager to mark up what needs changing whenever they land tomorrow evening.
   4. Ask two colleagues who have read the report in previous weeks what they think the manager meant, and rewrite Thursday's version to whatever the two of them agree on.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Ask the manager now for one example of what the report is missing, since they travel all day tomorrow, and agree what Thursday's version has to cover.

   Least effective: A. Rewrite the report the way you think they meant, and put it into Thursday's pack without telling the manager you were guessing at what they wanted changed.

   A: Stays silent about a guess: the steering group reads a version nobody confirmed, and the manager discovers it was guesswork only if somebody in the meeting asks about it.

   C: Leaves no room to act on the answer: a mark-up late tomorrow evening puts the whole rewrite into the morning of the steering group meeting.

   D: Takes the answer from people who did not give the feedback: their reading of a remark they never heard can move Thursday's report further from what was actually wanted.

   The most effective response is to ask the manager now for one example of what the report is missing and agree what Thursday needs. Feedback that names no fault cannot be acted on, the one person who can make it specific is in front of you for a few more hours, and one worked example converts a complaint into a list of things Thursday’s report must do. It beats asking two colleagues what they think the manager meant and rewriting it to that, because two colleagues reconstructing a remark they did not hear can send the rewrite confidently in the wrong direction. It beats sending the same report back with a note asking the manager to mark it up, because a mark-up that arrives tomorrow night leaves the rewrite for the morning of the meeting, which is the position the manager was trying to avoid. The least effective response is rewriting the report the way you think they meant and putting it into Thursday’s pack: the other three all end with somebody able to say whether the new report is what was wanted, whereas this one sends a guess to the client’s steering group and keeps back the single fact the manager needed, which is that their feedback did not land. The principle: when criticism gives you nothing to act on, ask for the example while the person is still there, and never let a guess reach the client unlabelled.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are an improvement analyst at Newton Europe, in your third week timing a packing line at a client. You finish the timings two days early. While watching, you noticed that one check is carried out twice by two different people, which nobody has mentioned to you and which you have not measured. The manager running the engagement is on the site tomorrow. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Write the duplicated check up alongside your timings, and put it to the manager running the engagement tomorrow so that they can decide whether to chase it.
   2. Ask the client's line supervisor whether the double check is deliberate, and note whatever they say alongside the timings you have already finished.
   3. Spend the two spare days measuring the duplicated check yourself, so that there is proper evidence behind it before you put it in front of anybody at all.
   4. Leave the duplicated check out of your notes altogether, and hand the timings in on their own, two days ahead of when they were due.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Write the duplicated check up alongside your timings, and put it to the manager running the engagement tomorrow so that they can decide whether to chase it.

   Least effective: D. Leave the duplicated check out of your notes altogether, and hand the timings in on their own, two days ahead of when they were due.

   B: Checks with the wrong person first: the supervisor may well have set it up that way, and an answer from them arrives before anybody on your own side knows there was a question.

   C: Takes on unagreed work alone: two days go on something nobody has asked for, and the manager who could have said whether it was worth measuring finds out afterwards.

   D: Stays silent about the one thing nobody else saw: the timings were already finished, and the only observation three weeks on the floor produced that nobody has measured dies in your notebook.

   The most effective response is to write the duplicated check up alongside your timings and put it to the manager tomorrow. It costs nothing, it puts the observation in front of somebody tomorrow, and it leaves the judgement about whether to chase it with the person who can weigh it against the rest of the work. It beats spending the two spare days measuring the duplicated check yourself first, because two days of unasked-for measurement is a decision about the engagement’s time that is not yours to take. It beats asking the client’s line supervisor whether the double check is deliberate, because the supervisor’s answer reaches you before anybody on your own side knows the question exists. The least effective response is leaving the duplicated check out of your notes and handing the timings in on their own: the other three all end with somebody knowing what you saw, whereas this one is the only one where the observation goes nowhere at all, so three weeks of watching produce a set of timings and nothing else. The principle: bring what you notice to your own side, and let somebody with the whole picture decide what happens to it.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a project support officer at Newton Europe, in your second week at a client’s offices. The client’s team leader asks you to give one of their staff access to the engagement’s shared folder. On your first day you were told that access is arranged by the manager running the engagement, who is away from the site today but is answering messages. The team leader wants it done this morning. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Assume the request has already been agreed with your own manager, do nothing about it yourself, and wait to see whether the team leader raises it again later in the week.
   2. Tell the team leader you cannot help with it and suggest they raise the request with the manager running the engagement themselves when they are next on the site.
   3. Set the access up yourself straight away, because the team leader has asked in person and it is a small job that takes about five minutes to finish.
   4. Tell the team leader you will sort the access out, and ask the manager running the engagement today whether you may arrange it yourself.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell the team leader you will sort the access out, and ask the manager running the engagement today whether you may arrange it yourself.

   Least effective: C. Set the access up yourself straight away, because the team leader has asked in person and it is a small job that takes about five minutes to finish.

   A: Declines to check the one thing you were told: the team leader is left believing the access is coming, and the only person who could settle it in a message is never asked.

   B: Passes responsibility to others: a message today would settle it, and instead the client is sent to chase somebody who is not in the building.

   C: Breaches a control you were told about on your first day: a rule about who may reach the client's own material becomes yours to waive, on the ground that waiving it is quick.

   The most effective response is to ask the manager running the engagement today whether you may arrange the access. It gives the team leader an answer this morning, it keeps a decision about their system with the person who was named as owning it, and it uses the route that is open today. It beats assuming it has been agreed already and waiting to see whether the team leader raises it again, because a guess that somebody has already agreed it leaves the team leader expecting access nobody has arranged, when one message would have settled it. It beats telling the team leader to raise the request with the manager themselves, because the manager is reachable now and sending the client to wait for them turns a short question into several days. The least effective response is setting the access up yourself straight away because it takes five minutes: the other three all leave the decision with the person who was named as owning it, whereas this one treats five minutes of work as a reason to set aside a control you were told about on your first day, so who may reach the client’s material becomes yours to decide. The principle: when you are unsure whether something is yours to do, ask the person who owns it, and do it while the answer still helps.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a research analyst at Newton Europe, halfway through a set of interviews about whether a client’s customers would pay more for a faster delivery service. Most of the answers so far point the other way. At the end of a call, the client’s marketing manager asks you cheerfully whether it is looking like a yes. The full findings are three weeks away. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell the marketing manager the answers are mixed so far, which is true of almost any half-finished set of interviews, and leave the direction out of it.
   2. Tell the marketing manager the interviews so far are pointing away from a yes, that half of them are still to run, and offer to walk them through what you have next week.
   3. Tell the marketing manager you would rather not talk about the direction until all the interviews are done, and move the call on to something else.
   4. Tell the marketing manager it is looking positive, and promise the full findings will confirm it, so that the conversation stays comfortable until the work is done.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell the marketing manager the interviews so far are pointing away from a yes, that half of them are still to run, and offer to walk them through what you have next week.

   Least effective: D. Tell the marketing manager it is looking positive, and promise the full findings will confirm it, so that the conversation stays comfortable until the work is done.

   A: Softens a finding into no information: mixed describes the sample honestly and hides the one thing about it that would change what they do next.

   C: Treats a fair question as unanswerable: the direction of half a sample is a fact you hold, and refusing it teaches the manager to stop asking you things.

   D: Gives an assurance you cannot back: the manager spends three weeks planning for a yes, and the findings when they arrive contradict somebody on their own side who told them otherwise.

   The most effective response is to tell the marketing manager the interviews so far are pointing away from a yes. The manager asked a fair question, you hold a real answer, and giving it with the caveat that half the interviews are still to run lets them start thinking about a result they may not like while there is time to think. It beats saying you would rather not talk about the direction until the interviews are done, because the direction of half a sample is something you know, and declining to say it trains a client to stop asking. It beats telling the marketing manager the answers are mixed so far, because calling the answers mixed is technically true and removes exactly the information they came for. The least effective response is telling the marketing manager it is looking positive and promising the findings will confirm it: the other three all leave the manager with a fair picture of where the work is pointing, whereas this one tells them the opposite of what you have found, so they plan around a yes for three weeks and discover at the end that the person who knew had said otherwise. The principle: give an early answer with its uncertainty attached, and never trade a comfortable call for a worse surprise.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a programme coordinator at Newton Europe, and you write the weekly status report the client’s senior managers read. A milestone due last Friday has not been met: one of its two pieces of work is still open and needs another week. The report goes out this afternoon, and the manager running the engagement is with a client until five. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Hold the report back until the manager running the engagement is free at five, so that they can decide how the missed milestone is described before anybody reads it.
   2. Write the report showing the milestone as missed, with the new date and what is still open, and send it to the manager running the engagement before it goes out this afternoon.
   3. Send the report on time with the milestone left off it altogether, and raise the missed date with the manager running the engagement in the morning.
   4. Mark the milestone as complete in this week's report and put the piece that is still open into next week's actions, so the report the client reads shows the plan on track.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Write the report showing the milestone as missed, with the new date and what is still open, and send it to the manager running the engagement before it goes out this afternoon.

   Least effective: D. Mark the milestone as complete in this week's report and put the piece that is still open into next week's actions, so the report the client reads shows the plan on track.

   A: Delays a report the client plans their week around: the wording improves, and the report they expected this afternoon arrives after they have gone.

   C: Removes the item the report existed to carry: the client's managers read a status report that is silent on the one thing that changed this week.

   D: Alters a record the client acts on: the milestone reads as met in the one document their senior managers use, and the week that was lost has disappeared from it.

   The most effective response is to write the report showing the milestone as missed with the new date and what is still open. The report is yours to write, the missed date is a fact you hold, and writing it plainly with the new date gives the manager something to correct in the ten minutes before it goes rather than a decision to make from nothing. It beats holding the report back until the manager is free at five, because a report that arrives after the people who read it have left has missed the week it describes. It beats sending the report on time with the milestone left off it altogether, because a status report with the changed item removed is worse than a late one: the client reads it and learns nothing. The least effective response is marking the milestone as complete and moving the open piece into next week’s actions: the other three all leave the client able to see, sooner or later, that the date moved, whereas this one makes the record say the milestone was met when it was not, so decisions get taken on a plan that is only on track on paper. The principle: write down what happened, on time, and let the people who own it decide what to do about it.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a strategy analyst at Newton Europe, comparing costs across five sites for a manufacturer called Harnwell Foods. One site is far more expensive than the other four, and the average across all five is well above the level the client has said it expects. Leaving that site out would bring the average to almost exactly the expected level. The manager running the engagement wants the headline figure by tomorrow morning. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Leave the expensive site out of the comparison, give the manager the average of the other four, and assure them the figure covers every site you were asked to include.
   2. Give the manager the average across all five sites tomorrow, showing how far the one expensive site sits above the others and what the average becomes without it.
   3. Give the manager the five-site average with no comment on the spread, and answer questions about the one expensive site if anybody raises it later.
   4. Work through the expensive site's costs again tonight looking for an error that would bring it into line, and give the manager a single average in the morning either way.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Give the manager the average across all five sites tomorrow, showing how far the one expensive site sits above the others and what the average becomes without it.

   Least effective: A. Leave the expensive site out of the comparison, give the manager the average of the other four, and assure them the figure covers every site you were asked to include.

   A: Gives an assurance you cannot back: the manager takes a four-site number to the client as the answer for all five, and the one person who knows it is narrower has said the opposite.

   C: Leaves the reader to discover it: the fact that most affects how this average should be read is the one thing the manager is not shown.

   D: Acts on a hoped-for answer: the site may simply cost more, and a night of rechecking still hands over one number in the morning with the spread hidden inside it.

   The most effective response is to give the manager the average across all five sites, showing what it becomes without the expensive site. The manager asked for a figure that stands for all five sites, and they can only choose between two numbers if they can see both and know why they differ. It beats working through the expensive site’s costs again tonight to look for an error, because the site may simply cost more, and a night spent hunting for an error still hands over a single number with the spread buried in it. It beats giving the manager the five-site average with no comment on the spread, because the one thing that most affects how this average should be read is the thing the manager is never told. The least effective response is leaving the expensive site out and assuring the manager the figure covers every site you were asked to include: the other three all leave the manager able to see that a site is missing or unusual, whereas this one hands them a four-site figure described as covering five, so a number the client will be given rests on a statement you know to be untrue. The principle: show the spread and let the person who owns the figure choose, and never describe a narrower number as a wider one.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a strategy analyst at Newton Europe, on a market study with a colleague who joined it a fortnight ago. The manager running the study stops you in the corridor and asks, privately, what you make of your colleague and whether they should be trusted with next week’s client interviews. You have watched them struggle badly with one task and do well on two others. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Say your colleague is doing fine and would be good with the interviews, since a fortnight is short and a word against somebody in a corridor is hard to undo afterwards.
   2. Give the manager the three pieces of work you have watched, say plainly what happened in each of them, and leave the judgement about next week's interviews with them.
   3. Tell the manager you would rather not comment on a colleague, and suggest they watch next week's interviews themselves before deciding anything about who should run them.
   4. Criticise your colleague's grasp of the study, tell the manager they have struggled since the day they arrived, and leave out the two tasks that went well.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Give the manager the three pieces of work you have watched, say plainly what happened in each of them, and leave the judgement about next week's interviews with them.

   Least effective: D. Criticise your colleague's grasp of the study, tell the manager they have struggled since the day they arrived, and leave out the two tasks that went well.

   A: Shades the answer to protect the colleague: the manager sends somebody into client interviews on a recommendation with one real struggle left out of it.

   C: Withholds evidence the decision needs: you have watched three pieces of work the manager has not, and the interviews are arranged without any of it.

   D: Makes the judgement about the person rather than the evidence: a fortnight of one struggle and two successes reaches the manager as a character verdict with the successes taken out.

   The most effective response is to give the manager the three pieces of work you have watched and what happened in each. It answers the question that was asked, it hands over what you actually saw rather than a summary of your feelings about it, and it leaves the decision with the person whose decision it is. It beats telling the manager you would rather not comment and suggesting they watch the interviews themselves, because you hold three pieces of evidence the manager does not, and refusing to give them means next week is arranged blind. It beats saying your colleague is doing fine and would be good with the interviews, because a recommendation with the struggle removed sends a colleague into client interviews unprepared. The least effective response is criticising your colleague’s grasp of the study and leaving out the two tasks that went well: the other three all describe work, whereas this one turns a fortnight into a verdict on the person and keeps back the half of the evidence that would soften it, so the manager decides on something that is not the record. The principle: report what you saw, all of it, and leave the judgement to whoever has to make it.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are an insight analyst at Newton Europe, building reports on a client’s test system. While changing a setting this morning you deleted a table that two of the client’s own analysts use for their weekly figures. Nobody has mentioned it, and their weekly run is on Monday. Putting the table back would need the client’s technical team, who would ask how it was lost. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Ask the client's technical team to put the table back this morning without saying how it was lost, then get on with building the reports before Monday.
   2. Tell the client's two analysts directly that their table has gone, and let them raise it with their own technical team.
   3. Rebuild the table from the copy on your own machine and keep it to yourself, so that nothing has to be said.
   4. Tell the manager running the engagement now and ask the client's technical team to restore the table, saying plainly that you deleted it this morning.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell the manager running the engagement now and ask the client's technical team to restore the table, saying plainly that you deleted it this morning.

   Least effective: C. Rebuild the table from the copy on your own machine and keep it to yourself, so that nothing has to be said.

   A: Leaves out the part that matters: the table returns, and the people who decide who may change that system are missing the fact that it was you.

   B: Sends it round the wrong way: the analysts cannot say how the table was lost, and your own engagement first hears of the problem from the client.

   C: Conceals your own fault: the client's analysts run Monday's figures from a table nobody has checked, and the one person who knows what happened to it has decided not to say.

   The most effective response is to tell the manager now and ask the client’s technical team to restore the table, saying you deleted it. It gets the table back through the people who own the system, it does so before Monday, and it puts your own account of what happened on the record before anybody has to ask. It beats telling the client’s two analysts directly and leaving them to raise it, because the analysts cannot explain a loss they did not cause, and your engagement then learns about it from the client. It beats asking the technical team to put the table back without saying how it was lost, because a restore without the reason leaves the client unable to judge whether the same thing can happen again. The least effective response is rebuilding the table from the copy on your own machine and keeping it to yourself: the other three all end with the client’s own people knowing their table was lost, whereas this one substitutes your private copy for the real thing and closes the matter without anyone else ever knowing, so Monday’s figures rest on something no one has checked. The principle: your own mistake is the one you say out loud, and quickly.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a strategy analyst at Newton Europe, six weeks into a review for a client. Three emails arrive this morning from the client’s finance team, discussing which sites they intend to close and asking you to comment. Site closures are nothing to do with your review, and you appear to have been added to the list in error. The three emails have also gone into the engagement’s shared record of correspondence. The manager running the engagement is with the client all day. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Leave the three emails unopened until the manager is back this evening, and ask them then what ought to be done about your being on the list.
   2. Answer the parts of the emails that touch your own review, and leave the site closures to the finance team without raising how you came to be included.
   3. Remove the three emails from the engagement's shared record, and carry on with the review as though the finance team had never included you at all.
   4. Reply to the finance team saying you think you were included in error and asking them to check, then message the manager with what has arrived.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Reply to the finance team saying you think you were included in error and asking them to check, then message the manager with what has arrived.

   Least effective: C. Remove the three emails from the engagement's shared record, and carry on with the review as though the finance team had never included you at all.

   A: Waits while the list keeps sending: the finance team believe you are reading and expect comments, and a day goes by with more arriving.

   B: Treats the symptom as the whole problem: replying confirms you as a recipient, and the list carries on sending you a discussion you were never meant to be in.

   C: Alters a record of what the client sent: the correspondence file stops matching what happened, and if the client asks next month who saw the site plans there is nothing to answer with.

   The most effective response is to reply to the finance team that you think you were included in error, then message the manager. It stops the emails arriving, it does so through the people who control the list, and it puts your own account of what reached you in front of your manager the same day rather than after somebody notices. It beats leaving the emails unopened until the manager is back this evening, because a day of leaving them unopened is a day in which the finance team expect comments and keep sending. It beats answering the parts that touch your review and leaving the closures alone, because answering some of it confirms you as a reader of all of it and leaves the underlying mistake in place. The least effective response is removing the three emails from the engagement’s shared record: the other three all leave a true account of what arrived, whereas this one takes the client’s own emails out of the file that records them, so the one document that could later show exactly what you received and when has been made to say something that is not true. The principle: when something reaches you that should not have, fix the route and keep the record; never the other way round.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a client services associate at Newton Europe. A contact at the client has emailed the manager running the account to say you are slow to answer and hard to deal with. You were not copied in, and you heard about it from your manager this morning. You have that contact’s weekly call on Thursday. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Say nothing to anybody about it and work at answering faster, so that the contact sees the difference over the next few weeks.
    2. Email the contact yourself explaining why each of their requests took as long as it did, and ask them to come to you first next time.
    3. Ask your manager what the contact actually said, agree with them what you will do differently, and go into Thursday's call ready to talk about it.
    4. Stop going to the contact's weekly call because they complained about you, and send them your updates by email from now on instead.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: C. Ask your manager what the contact actually said, agree with them what you will do differently, and go into Thursday's call ready to talk about it.

    Least effective: D. Stop going to the contact's weekly call because they complained about you, and send them your updates by email from now on instead.

    A: Leaves the manager holding a complaint alone: they were told about you and have nothing to say back, and the contact hears from nobody at all.

    B: Answers a complaint with a defence: every point may be true, and the contact hears that their experience of working with you is being argued with.

    D: Withdraws after a complaint: the contact said you were hard to deal with, and the answer they receive is that you have removed yourself from the one conversation you had with them.

    The most effective response is to ask your manager what the contact actually said and agree what you will do differently. You know only your manager’s summary of it so far, the specifics are the part you can act on, and Thursday is the first occasion to show the contact something different. It beats emailing the contact yourself explaining why each of their requests took so long, because a defence of every request tells the contact their experience is being disputed rather than heard. It beats saying nothing and working at answering faster so the contact sees the difference, because the manager is left carrying a complaint with nothing to say, and the contact sees no response at all. The least effective response is stopping the weekly call because they complained and sending updates by email: the other three all keep you in contact with the client, whereas this one answers a complaint about being hard to deal with by removing yourself from the weekly call, which proves the point and takes the relationship with it. The principle: get the specifics, then use the next occasion to show the change.