Previous post in the series: Workplace Politics
In the previous parts I started getting into communicating with the people you work with, personal skills, or handling workplace politics. In this part I’d like to provide an overview of the DiSC assessment concept. If you don’t know what this is, that’s fine, I’ll explain it and give examples, and it is a great tool to have.
What is DiSC Assessment?
“DiSC is a behavior assessment tool based on the DiSC theory of psychologist William Moulton Marston, which centers on four different personality traits which are currently Dominance (D), Influence (I), Steadiness (S), and Conscientiousness (C).” (Wikipedia).
The idea is that each trait (D, I, S and C) has their own personality characteristics and each person has some combination of these 4 which defines how they behave and think.
This is a huge topic and I’m no expert, so I’ll try to explain it shortly and then give some resources to read further about the topic. Also remember that as this is only an introduction, I will generalize a lot. Don’t think of it as good or bad, but as a way of life.
The disc
As you can see in the diagram, there are 2 axes in the DiSC assessment. In the top half you will find the people who tend to take action while in the bottom half are people who are more stable. In the right half you will find people that are more people-oriented while on the left more task-oriented individuals.
This divides the diagram into 4 different quarters: D (for Dominance), I (for Influence), S (for Steadiness) and C (for Conscientiousness) – DiSC.
D
“D” people are very task-oriented and are focused on getting things done. As a generalization, they make quick decisions, and they are usually more forceful and loud. They care more about the tasks, less about the people involved and they are mostly interested in finishing tasks successfully and on time.
I
“I” people are also focused on getting things done, but usually by being able to influence other people. They are social and into relationships, have many ideas and know how to motivate people in the right direction.
S
“S” people are the most stable and consistent people. They usually don’t like change, they are very loyal and great listeners. They are excellent team players, and usually slower thinkers as they like to think things through.
C
“C” people are careful and cautious. They are the “expert” type with lots of knowledge and analytical thinking. They need to plan everything before they start executing and they are oftentimes perfectionists.
Mix
The idea of the DiSC assessment is not to categorize people into one of the quarters, but to explain how much of each trait a person has. Usually “D” and “S” are contradicting as are “I” and “C”, but most people are a specific combination of all four characteristics, in different amounts.
The DiSC assessment is not a “test”, it is a tool, and a very important one. You can’t say it’s better to be X than Y. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses and each trait approaches a situation in a different way (not good or bad, just different).
I didn’t take the formal assessment, but I did take a couple of the free ones and I read and learned about it. I am mostly “I” and “S” (called “high I” and “high S”), and I’m least “D”. This means that I’m a very people-oriented person (which I am) and I’m quite stable and don’t like many changes (as “S” is the highest for me). For me, the important thing about DiSC is the understanding of the way each person thinks and reacts (versus how I think). This knowledge improves communication with other people, and even forces myself into a different behavior if needed.
More Info
I really urge people to read and learn about the DiSC assessment. I got exposed to it in a podcast I listened to. This podcast, “Manager Tools”, contains some basic episodes about being a good manager. When you dive into other episodes, there are some really interesting topics there. I started with the basics, then went to the search on their website and looked for specific topics that interested me. One of them was DiSC (there are quite a few episodes about it, including understanding DiSC, how to manage different types of people, etc.)
If you’re interested, here are the links:
- Manager Tools Basics
- Manager Tools Map (which allows searches and dive into topics)
If you’d like to read more, this is the official DiSC site:
If you’re interested in doing the assessment, there are lots of options. The more serious ones are paid assessments, but there are some more simple ones for free:
Using DiSC as a Consultant
Why is it important for consultants to know about this? Because our job is basically to work with other people. As I wrote in my post about workplace politics, as a consultant you will find yourself going to new places often, meeting new people you need to work with, and show results. If you are able to quickly assess how their personality translates into behaviour and communication styles, and know how to effectively work with them, you will do so more successfully.
Let me give you an example. A few years back I visited a client for a 2-day project to help them handle a performance issue they had. I already knew the manager who invited me and he appreciated me a lot. He “hinted” that the developer I would be working with is “hard” to handle, and they were…
As we started working together they were very pushy. When I started to explain something, they jumped right to a solution without hearing me out. When we wanted to do something, they took over and started immediately. This happened to be the same time that I was really into the DiSC topic and I had been listening to many lectures about it, so I realized quite immediately that they were a “hard D” (extremely “high D”): pushy, doesn’t always think things through before jumping into action, and doesn’t think too much about the people they are working with. It may sound negative, but it’s not; it doesn’t mean they are not a good person or a good developer. This is just the way they work, thinking about the task and the desired result and wanting to get it done. This type of person is actually very much appreciated because they almost always meet deadlines, and they provide good results.
The thing with “D” people is that they can sometimes be offensive, not because they are bad people, but because they are not as sensitive as other people. However, because of this, they are also not easily offended. For example, if you want to say something to a “high S” person, you will have to be empathetic, understanding, and calm. But if you say it the same way to a “high D” person, they will simply ignore you. So I vividly remember changing my tone (on purpose, I wanted to try this out) and my words to be more direct and straight to the point. This was back in Israel, where people are direct and speak in a way that may seem harsh to outsiders by default, so I took it up a few notches.
It worked like a charm. Not only were they not offended by me, but with my straight to the point direct (and short) sentences, they listened more and were more willing to cooperate, as I was communicating in “their language” style. Remember, a “high D” person is task oriented. They don’t care about bullshit, they just want to get the task done. When I presented my opinion in the same way (no bullshit, here is what we need to do and this is how to do it!), they could relate to it and we worked together towards the same goal.
Summary
This is just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more to learn about this, and you can also take the assessment yourself and find out what type you are. This is very relevant to work, and especially for people who get introduced to new people and new environments all the time. The DiSC assessment tool can help us communicate better with other people, and you can use it to change your tone in order to be more effective (like I did) and be a better consultant.
How can this affect your relationship with other people, employees, clients or consultants? Let me know what you think in the comments below.
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