Putting the candidates to the test

You've seen them and heard them, but what do you think of them? Do they have what it takes to be a great leader? Will they be able to get their political teams to do their best work? We've asked a panel of experts to run the candidate's personalities through a questionnaire. You can do it too.

And the results are...

Stephen Harper

Stéphane Dion

Gilles Duceppe

Jack Layton

Elizabeth May

NOW IN THE FINAL STRETCH...

In early September we initiated our Belbin Team Roles profiling as an interactive personality quiz to determine how you see our leaders as team players. We now have three sets of public data done at different times since the election was called. Our most recent one was done on public input after the leadership debates.

Our latest set of results, shown at the top of each of the party leader’s individual pages in this section of The Globe website, indicates that for Stephen Harper and Stéphane Dion  trends established prior to the debates have accelerated. For Gilles Duceppe, Jack Layton, and Elizabeth May the solid identity they have had from the start of this election process has remained constant.

The biggest change was in Stephen Harper’s overall profile. The strength of his Shaper role diminished considerably in his post debate profile. This “softening” may have created ambiguity around his “branding” in Belbin terms. For all the other leaders, their one or two top roles have become more and more distinct each time we have run a profile. For Stéphane Dion in particular this has been the case. A quick glance at Dion’s and Harper’s latest profile is quite illuminating. There is a clear distinction in Dion’s profile between his strong and weak roles. In Harper’s there is an evenness in his roles reminiscent of Dion’s profile at the beginning of his campaign when his image was unclear.

The images the leaders have been cultivating over the last month will play a role in the vote on Tuesday. It will be interesting to reflect, with hindsight, after the election, as to whether the team roles we have identified in our leaders and how they have projected their strengths has influenced voting patterns.