Can Our Strengths Be Taken Too Far? Part 2 of 2

OK, I’ll admit I’m finding this is a tough project to do at this bird's eye view (by blogging) without the interaction of a classroom – covering behavior styles and learning to understand yourself and others is typically a live classroom module with loads of interaction and learning. Subtlety and levels of detail are missing here that would illuminate distinctions and fine points of different styles. (Maybe you'll have to take your own profile - there's an idea!).

I want this to have value at the high-level view and I also hope you’ll go on to explore more about yourself and others – MY GREATEST FEAR is that it will appear rote - it’s not a matter of being an automaton in your approaches and response to others, it’s learning to:

• Understand your own and others’ style for success in your business and life
• Recognize what they would most appreciate in your approach
• Then simply making a few adaptations of your own to create a winning outcome and a lasting relationship (if that’s what you’re looking for).

And it’s true that the deeper you go, the more you find in common with styles you may not have considered to be like you – we all have some (!! Almost everyone!!) of other styles in our makeup.

So let’s wrap up this segment of major characteristics of each style that I’ve been running since July 8 with the remainder of taking a strength too far - seriously overused - and creating a possible negative outcome.

S – Steadiness

As a strong S your basic fears are (and you behave in ways to negate this)

Loss of stability in relationships at home and at work

Loss of security, routine

When you go into “excess” (behaviors you may tend to overuse), you may come across to others as:

Wishy-washy, can’t make up your mind (you are slow to make decisions because you want to consider all the ramifications – for home and for work)

Avoiding dealing with a conflict situation, staying in a bad situation too long

Waiting for orders before acting

Not projecting a sense of urgency (I’ll repeat: you are slow to make decisions because you want to consider all the ramifications – for home and for work)

Too conforming

C – Conscientious

 As a strong C your basic fear is (and you behave in ways to negate this)

Criticism of your work (if others do criticize, they’d better be right!)

When you go into “excess” (behaviors you may tend to overuse), others may see you as:

Picky

Judgmental

Too critical of yourself and everyone else

Stuffy

Suffering from analysis paralysis

Remember the DiSC® model and it becomes easier to see how styles can conflict. You can see how the more action-oriented D and i get impatient with the S and C, but you can also see the value of all four strong styles working together.

But don’t worry!

After tomorrow’s QUIZ, I’ll give you simple tips for recognizing other styles quickly AND for making those simple adaptations to your own behaviors to create the winning outcome you want!

Question for you today: If you are a strong S or C, can you identify a behavior of yours that you could/should take down from “excess”?

Tomorrow: The QUIZ! What have you learned?

I’ll close today with:

My-Never-To-Be-Forgotten-Oft-Repeated-Very-Important-Note: Discovering your behavioral style is intended to help you understand more about your impact on and relationships with others and how you can use that information to improve or create strong and effective relationships – in your personal or professional world.

Understanding the styles of DiSC® is NOT an opportunity to stereotype and refer to someone as a “D” (or i, S or C). We all have some of each style within our range of behaviors so it’s unfair and possibility offensive to call someone by their primary style indicator. And remember that DiSC® is focusing on a particular role in your life – circumstances and situations may cause a change in that role and a change in behaviors. So can styles change? YES! No stereotyping or labeling allowed.

Resources:
The Universal Language Ô DISC, A Reference Manual, 1993, Target Training International, Ltd.

DiSC® Classic 2.0 Online Profile, Inscape Publishing, Minneapolis, MN
ProStar Coach, Performance Support Systems, Inc. Newport News, VA
My Real-World Experience – all over the place!
DiSC Research Reports

What we’ve been talking about is the high-level view of

 

Getting to Know Yourself…and Others™ -
A Self-Study Program in Building Stronger Relationships

This is the program all entrepreneurs can use to develop strong client relationships

Overused image: electronicsketchbook.blogspot.com