I'm about to kick off DISC for my department and I'm wondering whether I should instruct people to answer according to how they behave at work, rather than how they behave generally.
My wife was DISC certified back in her corporate trainer days, and that's how she was trained. For example, at work I feel like I'm a high D/high C. But at home, I'm still a high C, but my D goes way down and my S goes way up.
So for the good of the team, I want to know their behavioral tendencies on the job, and it would seem to do no harm to spell that out. I realize some, maybe most, people are not going to have varying profiles, though. So maybe such an instruction would cause them to overthink their answers and lead to a less accurate assessment.
What do you think?
Appreciate the community's thoughts on this--thanks!
No
I'd stick with the instructions.
As an aside, your email has a lot of high S in it. The second paragraph is about your wife. The third paragraph is about the good of the team. I mean, there are not one, but two closing paragraphs asking what other people think. Then you say thanks even before we did anything.
This may just be my biased opinion, but high S's are really good managers.
Disc: 5452
In reply to No by Brandon Rioja
Whole Lotta S
Thanks for the feedback, and your observation was really funny as well as holding some truth.
I had to chuckle. "At home my
I had to chuckle. "At home my D goes way down." I think that's a universal condition for most husbands.
I heard retired General Colin Powell speak a couple years ago. He talked about being one of the most powerful men in the world, but at home he was nothing special. He said he'd sit down with his wife for a cup of coffee, and she'd say something like, "Are you ever going to get around to fixing that storm door?"
In reply to I had to chuckle. "At home my by Lance Emerson
Honey-Do List
Sounds about right to me. Thanks for your comment. :-)
Agree, stick with instruction
Work behaviors are often influenced by our roles at work. If you are a manager, you likely exhibit more high D behviors with your own staff than with your peers or your boss or at home. Hence even if you are not a high D you might score that way if based upon interaction with your own staff. Also, I have know people who were not high I's but worked as trainers or speakers and in those context exhibit lots of high I behaviors. This is not their natural behavior. If you want to improve communication between your staff, you need to know what their actual (general) tendencies are, hence use the instructions as given.
In reply to Agree, stick with instruction by Michael Peterson
Excellent Point
That's an insightful point you make: that demonstrated dominant behaviors, especially at work, are not necessarily natural tendencies. So, better to communicate to the person in their native DISC language rather than their learned, adopted, DISC behaviors.
To your point, a previous boss was an off-the-charts high I in behavior, but later confided to me that he was in fact by nature an introvert and more of a C. "I" as a second language, as it were, for him...which explained a lot about the level of detail he tended to ask for.
Anyway, really appreciate your input on this--great point!