What Tendencies Do You Bring to Your Success?

What are the signals and clues we give as indicators of who we are and how we’d like to treated?

What's the best way to create a positive, productive and lasting relationship with a client or customer?

I'm going to recommend DiSC® - I use these profiles in all my coaching – why?

Every time I’ve used a DiSC® profile in a leadership class, the level of self-discovery is unbelievable.

People say:

This is so “me”!

Has someone been following me with a camera?

How else could all of these details be in here?!?

Did my spouse tell you all this??!!

These are great reactions – the accuracy of the profile is almost always

validated by the user’s response.

Most importantly, it worked for me the first time I was introduced to it. Short story: I had eight managers working for me in branch of a large corporation; my “ops” guy was great with money and figures and of course, I was responsible overall for the revenues, expenses and customer sat levels of my district. But every time he came into my office, loaded with ledgers and files, my eyes would glaze over and I’d say, “Just give me the bottom line.”

As you can imagine, there were hitches in our working relationship! I’d invited a corporate trainer in for our monthly professional dev series and he used DiSC profiles with us. Well! What a revelation!

I discovered I was a big picture person and Buddy was a major detail person. My behavior was very offensive to him, implying I had little interest in his work. Naturally, we reached a great compromise on how to handle the data mountain and became successful working partners. 

It seems so obvious as I look back on it, but I desperately needed to understand something about myself AND others to make it all work.

So what is DiSC?

DiSC is a model of human behavior that helps people understand “why they do what they do.” The dimensions of Dominance, influencing, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness make up the DiSC model and interact with other factors to describe human behavior.

Originally created by Dr. William Marston at Columbia University and researched and updated by Dr. John Geier and Inscape Publishing at the University of Minnesota, the DiSC model and its training assessments and various other tools have helped over 35 million people in 20+ languages over the last 40 years.

DiSC is profile of YOU, providing a snapshot of your preferred behaviors in a given setting such as your business environment. It’s really a picture of you in a current situation.

You get detail on how likely you are to behave in specific environments and what strengths or weaknesses you’re likely to exhibit – you also begin to understand how others see you.

Some people are assertive or active; they want to shape or change their environment to better suit themselves. Others are more responsive; they tend to accept things as they are and try to do the best job possible within their environment. Using these four factors: task vs. people, assertive vs. responsive, we can place people into one of four quadrants.

A DiSC® profile is not a "test" – there are no "good profiles" or "bad profiles." DiSC® is a learning resource that helps people understand their behavioral tendencies and can help teams communicate more effectively and work together more cohesively.

Here's a quick overview of the four styles:

• Dominance: Direct & Decisive
   High D's are strong-willed, strong-minded people who like accepting challenges, taking action, and getting immediate results.
• influence: Optimistic & Outgoing
   High i's are "people people" who like participating in teams, sharing ideas, and energizing and entertaining others.
• Steadiness: Sympathetic & Cooperative
   High S's are helpful people who like working behind the scenes, performing in consistent and predictable ways, and being good listeners.
• Conscientiousness: Concerned & Correct
   High C's are sticklers for quality and like planning ahead, employing systematic approaches, and checking and re-checking for accuracy.

Can you see some potential for collaboration and conflict between styles?

We'll look at that in detail this week as each style is examined.

Please remember…

DiSC® isn't an exam; there are no "right" or "wrong" answers or styles –

It’s all about what you DO with the information for and about yourself and others (remember the Platinum Rule©?)

DiSC® is...

    A universal language of behavior & emotions that crosses cultures – it doesn’t belong to any one ethnicity

    A description of how people approach problems, other people, pace and procedures

An observable language – the above-the-waterline-actions we can see

A neutral language - no right or wrong behaviors

DiSC® is not...

The total answer to work or personal situations

An indicator of yours or others’ intelligence or value
A measure of your or others’ skills, experience, education or training
The complete picture of any one individual
 

Tomorrow: D’s in Depth – their major characteristics, some famous D’s and more.

My Very Important Note: Discovering your behavioral style is intended to help you understand more about your impact on 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, MNProStar Coach, Performance Support Systems, Inc. Newport News, VA My Real-World Experience – all over the place!

DiSC Research Reports

Check out the program designed to help you know yourself better

AND

to help with those pesky personality differences you experience

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