Imagine dropping four people in an escape room from different corners of the world, all of whom speak a different language and come from different cultures. Asking them to collaborate and make it out would be difficult, to say the least. Not only would they be unable to effectively communicate, but what’s acceptable to one person will be offensive to another, resulting in the worst kind of inefficiency. That is what a workplace is like without a thorough understanding of DiSC personality types.
For you and your people, DiSC assessments are essential to maximize efficiency and productivity and optimize teamwork and collaboration. At Consilio, we have helped companies, from bootstrap startups to Fortune 100s, optimize leadership and productivity using DiSC training. Learn about the power of DiSC in our blog.
What Are DiSC Assessments?
These assessments provide a common language that people can use to better understand themselves and those they interact with. DiSC tests categorize people into four core personality profiles with unique strengths and weaknesses.
Using DiSC insights, leaders become more self-aware and attuned to the strengths and weaknesses of themselves and their people.
DiSC: The Only Observable Language
DiSC insights provide one of the few observable languages and, as a result, universal languages. Success in business hinges on communication, and DiSC training provides a common language that optimizes communication.
“One thing I say about DiSC all the time is it’s the only observable language out there, meaning we can go to a mall, ‘people watch,’ and reasonably discern a style preference. This is so helpful in business situations where you don’t have the benefit of taking the assessment.” – Stacey McKibbin, CEO, Consilio
What Are the DiSC Personality Types?
These assessments categorize individuals using four core DiSC personality types:
- Dominance: People with this profile want to shape their environment by overcoming opposition to accomplish results and “seeing the big picture.” They value confidence, and competition, and focus on the bottom line.
- influence: People with this profile aim to shape their environment using persuasion. They value openness, friendship, and building relationships.
- Steadiness: People with this profile enjoy working with others within existing circumstances, structures, and processes to accomplish tasks. They value cooperation, sincerity, and reliability.
- Conscientiousness: People with this profile work conscientiously within existing circumstances to ensure quality and precision. They value expertise, competency, and the ability to view situations objectively.
How to Approach the Different DiSC Personality Types
Communicating with the different DiSC personality types requires some adjusting and adaptability because they all are motivated by different goals and styles of communication:
- D: A D profile is driven to perfection, takes initiative, and is often characterized by diligence, determination, creativity, bluntness, focus, and competitive nature. They stick up for themselves and dig in their heels, and are motivated by control, personal accomplishment, and a desire for independence. When approaching a D personality profile, brevity is key. Give them the bottom line from the start, stay focused, stick to solutions instead of problems, be firm, and don’t generalize or repeat yourself.
- i: An i profile is motivated by social recognition, group activities, and relationships, and they prioritize taking action and collaboration. They tend to express their feelings openly and gossip and want to achieve victory with flair, build relationships, achieve status via authority and prestige, seek approval, be popular, and create excitement. When approaching an i profile, share personal experiences, give them time to ask questions and talk, emphasize positives, and refrain from overloading them with details and interrupting.
- S: An S profile is driven by cooperation, opportunities to help, and sincere appreciation. They tend to listen to others’ perspectives and withhold their needs from others. These individuals strive to create harmony and stability, maintain the status quo, accomplish tasks as a team, and value group acceptance. When approaching an S profile, be polite, personal, and friendly, and express your interest in them and what you expect from them. Avoid confrontation and provide ample clarification.
- C: A C profile is driven by chances to build knowledge, demonstrate expertise, and produce quality work. They focus on logic and objectivity and prioritize ensuring precision, maintaining stability, and challenging assumptions. When approaching a C profile, focus on facts and details and minimize “pep talk” or emotional language when approaching them. Ensure you are patient, diplomatic, systematic, and persistent in communicating.
Leadership Coaching that Offers DiSC Training
Understanding DiSC personality types is crucial to cultivating a positive work culture, optimizing communication, and maximizing productivity. With the help of the insights you gain from a DiSC test, you can bridge gaps between virtually anyone and elevate your performance and that of your entire team. But that’s just half the battle. You also need to learn how to recognize different profiles. Training can help hone all of the above.
