Managing Personalities with DiSC

Every workplace is made up of various and distinct personalities. A good leader recognizes the differences in each employee and doesn’t take a “one-size-fits-all” approach to management. Management would be easy if everyone was hard-working, collaborative, and always had a great attitude. If this were the case, your job would consist of watching a team of highly motivated people work happily and diligently. The reality, of course, is far different. Whether your organization is large or small, as a manager, it’s your job to make sure everyone on your team is as productive as possible. Front Line Leadership can give you the tools you need to manage your diverse team effectively.

What is DiSC?

DiSC is a behavior assessment tool based on the DiSC theory of psychologist William Moulton Marston. It centers on four different behavioral traits: dominance, influence, submission, and compliance. He argued that these behavioral types come from a person’s sense of self and his or her interaction with the environment. This theory was then developed into a behavioral assessment tool by industrial psychologist Walter Vernon Clarke. The DiSC assessment can be a beneficial tool to positively affect almost every aspect of your team. With each of the four behavioral styles, there is a different way to communicate and delegate tasks, compliment and correct, and motivate and counsel each teammate. Becoming more familiar with these styles can help you in various facets of your work. It can allow you to better understand the communication strengths and challenges you face within your team. It will also equip you with the tools to not only identify areas of potential conflict, but also reduce it. When you recognize the specific personalities within your team, you can build employee engagement by communicating in a way that resonates with the style of each employee. Utilizing the DiSC assessment will not only increase cooperation and collaboration, but keep every member of your team on the same page.

DiSC Application

While many trainers choose to become certified on DiSC, it’s not necessary to facilitate a productive seminar or workshop. However, facilitation kits are available for DiSC assessments. Front Line Leadership offers an instructional module called “Module 2 – Managing Personalities.” The objectives of this module are to:

• Better understand behavioral differences
• Discover your own unique communication strengths and weaknesses
• Understand the strengths, needs, and stressors of different styles
• Learn how to adapt your communication with different types of people

To ensure the effectiveness of the module, it is important to take the following steps to prepare for a session:

1. Identify at least one person with whom you need to communicate more effectively
2. Indicate why it is important to improve communication
3. Determine how you would benefit personally from improved communication

It is important that you fully understand the profile results of each team member to effectively manage them. DiSC theory looks at four basic styles to describe how people approach their work and relationships. These are represented by the four letters. The assessment goes much deeper than this, but a quick overview of each style is:

• “D” is for Dominance- People with the “D” style place an emphasis on shaping the environment by overcoming opposition to accomplish results.
• “I” is for Influence- People with the “I” style place an emphasis on shaping the environment by influencing or persuading others.
• “S” is for Steadiness- People with the “S” style place an emphasis on cooperating with others within existing circumstances to carry out the task.
• “C” is for Conscientiousness- People with the “C” style place an emphasis on working conscientiously within existing circumstances to ensure quality and accuracy.

The Takeaway

Understanding communication and behavioral styles can improve sales, teamwork, and unity among co-workers. The DiSC Assessment can help you do just that, as it measures behavior on four dimensions. DiSC is not a personality test – it will show how your salespeople sell, how your managers manage, and how individual behavioral styles affect your teammate’s actions and ability to work with others.