DISC Profiling

DISC profiling allows a company to identify and understand a person’s behavioural traits. The tool also allows the employer to learn how the individual would respond to problems and challenges as well as how they would behave while in a team situation. This further allows for the creation of a conducive environment for maximum productivity. We would suggest using DISC to help form questions as part of the recruitment activity – never use it as a decision maker on its own.

In our experience DISC styles may change in three ways:

• Environment – When you think about your behavioural style in different situations, it probably differs in some ways from when you’re at work to when you’re at home or out with friends. This is true of most people. It is important when completing a DISC assessment to think about a specific environment when answering the questions, instead of answering them in a more generalised way. This is the best way to see the differences in your style between environments.
• Stress – When assessed during times of stress or when you are uncomfortable in a particular environment, your DISC style results may reflect that stress and uncertainty.
• Time – It is not uncommon for our behavioural style to change over time, as we learn, grow, change and increase our behavioural intelligence and self-awareness. If you take a DISC personality assessment periodically, you may notice differences in your style over time.

Assigning labels and rationalising poor behaviour is not what DISC is about.

DISC was designed as a way of helping people better understand themselves and another people’s preferences and priorities. It is a tool to help each of us adapt our preferred, natural behavioural style to meet the needs of another, in a healthy manner.

The DISC model helps you analyse your own preferred behavioural style, and those of your team members. By understanding your own profile, you can manage your work, so it suits your preferences. DISC profiling is a useful tool to help you address: • Communication misunderstandings • Clash of personalities • Conflict situations • Leadership challenges • Delayed or lightning fast decision making • Ineffective teams • Low employee morale and productivity

Workplace teams are the building blocks to all businesses. Knowing what makes people thrive is key to business success. Getting your team(s) to complete a DISC assessment will:

• Identify your teams’ powers and challenges.
• Improve your teams’ dynamics. By learning individuals’ behavioural preferences, you will understand how these various preferences come together in a team environment.
• Manage group conflict – by learning individuals’ behavioural preferences, you will be able to understand how particular traits may show in interpersonal relationships. DISC can provide insights on how various styles naturally interact with one another, including how to improve these interactions.
• Empower high performing individuals. Achievement-oriented individuals want to know how to play to their strengths. The DISC assessment is a road map toward high performance for individual players and a cohesive team.

We are all a blend of different styles but there can be a dominant factor in our behavioural preferences. By understanding DISC, we can adapt our behaviour in certain circumstances so we can learn to behave in line with any DISC style. Under pressure or stress, we will usually revert back to our dominant style, but we can learn to act in a specific DISC manner which allows us to get the most out of our relationships, both at home and at work.

There are several ways that DISC can help your business by:

• Helping people to adapt their behaviour giving strategies to improve their workplace effectiveness. Providing a common language to help teams understand one another and work better together.
• Improving employee and workplace communication and engagement.
• Improving diversity and creativity.
• Reducing conflicts and avoiding misunderstandings.
• Ultimately, increasing individual and organisational performance.

We use the DISC model because:

• It is simple
• It is descriptive
• It is accurate
• It is flexible

Definitely! Understanding our own and other’s behavioural preferences also allows us to understand how we all communicate differently. We can then adapt our style to that of the person we are communicating with, allowing more effective communication to take place.

By understanding your own behavioural preferences better, you will also start to learn more about other peoples. This means that you can then understand why your boss might behave in a certain way for example.