I am a company director, therefore I am Isn't that how it so often works?

Barking decisions from behind an acreage-sized desk, yet never actually taking the time to wonder if you really are as good as your letterhead says you must be.

If that's the case, a new business tool has been launched by Business Link Berkshire and Wiltshire which offers company directors the chance to find out for themselves how good they really are at their jobs.

Appropriately titled How Good a Director Are You?, it provides directors and owners and managers of small to medium sized companies with a complete online self-assessment questionnaire, designed to help them identify those areas in which they demonstrate strong ability and confidence and those in which they don't.

According to Helen Thompson, website manager at Business Link Berkshire and Wiltshire: "This is not a knowledge test of good practices, but an opportunity to look objectively at individuals' views and ideas on running a business and how effective these are."

She added: "When answering, we advise participants to try to think about what they do rather than what they should do.

"The more honest you are, the more you'll get from the questionnaire."

Rob Collins, a partner at Withy King solicitors in Newport Street, Swindon, and head of the firm's residential conveyancing team, said he found the test "quite encouraging".

"I was a bit worried at first," he added, "because you don't like to take tests in case you fail.

"But I thought the questions were well put together, and working my way through the test made me address those issues which normally you wouldn't think about too much.

"Plus, and I think this is important, when you deliberate about these issues on a daily basis, as we all should do as managers, you do find yourself wondering, 'am I the only one who's thinking about this?'

"So it's actually nice to see answers that put into context things you've already been thinking about."

How Good a Director Are You? can be found in the Diagnostic and Tools section of the Business Link website www.blbw.co.uk