What Are Your Strongest Teamwork Muscles? Part 1 of 2

Everyone who’s read this series has a pretty good idea of his or her own primary DiSC® style. True, we can go much deeper to  understand self and others and we’re going to spend time on that for the remainder of the month.

Most of us like who we are (we’ll hit some negatives about ourselves in a couple of days! OH NO – it can’t be!)

That makes it a good time to outline the great strengths we each bring to a team or a group of people working together - what muscles do we flex and how do they enrich a team?

Some of us work alone, others have co-workers, but we all interact with people on a daily basis – many of them of different styles. So let’s think about what the muscles - the strengths - of each style are because it’s so easy to fall into the trap of preferring or surrounding ourselves with people who are most like us.

And that is a trap! Where does the creativity of different points of view, of challenges, of new ideas come from if we’re so happy with our circle of “self” – all of that could be missed. (OK, D's, this is where you have to admit that other styles ARE worthy and have value to a team!)

In general you could sum it up as:

D  generates ideas

i   promotes the idea

S   supports and implements the idea

C   ensures quality in process and results

A huge generalization, but think about the famous people highlighted in previous posts – some were from sitcoms and you saw all four styles represented – what a great team they made.

I don’t watch sitcoms so my examples are fairly dated. Let me admit – and don’t hold this against me – that I am hooked on Burn Notice [USA on Thursday nights] and I like watching those four characters represent the four DiSC styles and make an entertaining team - and they all have strong back up styles.

Michael = D

Sam = i

Maddy/Mom = S

Fiona = C

In my own family the four siblings are the four styles – it’s amazing to watch and fun to manage! It certainly gives me clues about what to do and not to do just for the fun of it!

Today we’ll look at the two styles in the Active, Self-Paced, Assertive and Bold quadrants of the DiSC model – D and i

If you’re a strong D your value to the team or a group may be:

Being a bottom line organizer                                                   
Challenging the status quo

Innovation

Initiating activity

Dealing with challenges/problems

Tenacity

Getting things done

You’ll ask these types of questions:

 What’s in it for me? 

 Who’s in charge? (Shouldn't I be?)

 Obstacles? Let's charge them!

 Opportunities?  What can we get out of this?

 When do I get started? Let me at it!

A strong i - equally determined to get results - your value to the team or a groupmay be:

To articulate thoughts – your own and others - well

Sharing your can-do attitude  

Enthusiasm                                     

Making tasks fun

Motivating others - even charming others                                                 

Being a team player     

Negotiating conflict

In a group, you’ll ask questions like these:                                     

What about others’ opinions?  Have we involved everyone?

Can we have some fun at the same time we do the work? 

Can we keep our options open? 

How can I be part of the action? I WANT to be involved!

Tomorrow we'll do the same with S and C.

Question for you: Have you consciously appreciated what other styles bring to the success of a team? Let me admit that at times I’ve been impatient with team work (high D boorish behavior on my part) because I’m not in sole charge. But when I force myself to slow down and apply what I know about dealing with others effectively, I always learn something and that’s my mantra: you never stop learning – apparently true for me!

My-Still-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

Flexed muscle image: inmagine.com