Learning how to communicate with others is essential for success. Has anyone’s style just grated on your nerves, but you didn’t know why? Perhaps someone sent you a long email and you just want them to get to the point. Maybe you are worried a colleague is mad at you because they were loud and assertive in the meeting you just left. Possibly you are frustrated because you want to make a change and are running into major resistance from a couple of people.

Each of these challenges could be better understood through an awareness of DISC profiles. Looking at the situations above:

• Long email: the colleague wants to make sure they give you all the information so you can make a decision, but you only want the high-level overview.

• Mad at you: the other person wants to get to the point and comes across as assertive, and possibly aggressive, but it is their passion coming through, not anger.

• Frustrated: the resistors might struggle with change and want to ensure that possible changes are well-thought out so that they do not cause more issues in the future.

There is power in knowing how you behave naturally or comfortably. To be able to identify your comfort zones and your blind spots demonstrates high levels of self-awareness. There is then real power in understanding other people’s tendencies as it can influence how you communicate with them so that you are meeting their needs.

I first became aware of DISC a few years ago when a company I was working for asked me to complete an assessment. I did it, came out an “S” and then thought about how wrong it was. A couple of years ago, however, I started learning more and realized the power of this tool (and I came to accept that yes, I absolutely was an S).

DISC is based on the work of Carl Jung and I could get into the psychology of the model, but I will leave that to people who can do it way better than me (see this page). Based on a quadrant model, DISC uses two intersecting axes. The vertical axis is a task versus people orientation and the horizontal axis is an active vs reserved focus. The resulting four quadrants give us:

• D (Dominance): task – active focus

• I (Influence): people – active focus

• S (Steadiness): people – reserved focus

• C (Conscientious): task – reserved focus

It is rare that we are all one style, however, but we do have a dominant one. DISC does not measure what you can do, or what you are good at, but rather, what is comfortable or natural and what is not. You can absolutely live in any quadrant at a given time. If it is not your dominant quadrant, however, it will just take more energy.

Used individually, the assessment gives you amazing insight. You will learn about your natural style, and about how comfortable, or uncomfortable you are with certain situations and specific traits to your style. You also learn about each of the four styles and The Individual Assessment Report gives you general information about the four styles, as well as, specific things to do and not to do with each of the four styles (based on your specific style).

While there is incredible power for an individual, the collective awareness gained through team reports is invaluable. Understanding where each team member sits on the DISC quadrant allows the team to communicate better collectively, and individually to each other. It also gives incredible insight into team strengths and blind spots.

I’ve seen the power of DISC in the past few years in various situations. One group spent a significant amount of time digging into DISC profiles to understand some tricky team dynamics. Before the first session, there were communication challenges, frustrations and even growing resentment. Through completing the assessments and looking at both individual behavioural styles, and the overall team balance, they gained incredible insight which completely shifted their team dynamic and helped them to truly start understanding each other. Discussions became easier, and people felt more heard and welcomed. They found it so valuable, that they decided to do DISC training annually.

A different group spent time looking at their compiled leadership team report and identified team strengths and blind spots. They were able to start discussions about how to address these blind spots so to improve the strength of the team.

Harnessing the power of DISC can be useful to anyone. Understanding how we naturally make decisions, communicate, interact with others, as well as, our strengths, motivators, situations that reduce motivation and how we react to pressure situations is extremely valuable. Learning to recognize the DISC profile of others and how to adjust our style to meet their needs allows us to dramatically improve our interactions with others. Taking it a step further, and analyzing our group or team allows incredible insight and a better team dynamic, and by extension, results.

I am excited to announce that I am officially Extended DISC Certified and can do assessments and training with you or your team!

Does any of this sound intriguing? Interested in learning more? Visit my DISC page or reach out and let’s chat about how I can help.

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