DISC Communication Styles
August 19th, 2008 by Clay Parker Jones
Yesterday, Deb St. John of PeopleWorks came in to talk to us about client service and personality types. Deb’s a former employee of HY, and now runs PeopleWorks with her husband in Iowa. A couple weeks back, the client service department took a test of communication styles–”choose a word from the list of 8 below that you MOST identify with, and choose one that you LEAST identify with”–and we had a chance to see how we all scored in contrast to each other.
According to these tests, there are 4 key modes of communicating that represent your “observable behavior”. That behavior is grounded by motivators and talents, which are significantly tougher to change than your observable behavior. And according to this method, there are “adapted” and “natural” styles of communicating (see the bar charts above… the orange is my adapted score and the blue is my natural score) which represent who we are at work and who we are at home, respectively.
The results were fascinating, brought on a bunch of discussion, and I think will help us all communicate more effectively both with internal folks and our clients. On to the 4 modes, with my natural/adapted scores in parentheses after the description:
- Dominance - How you handle problems or challenges (86/70)
- Influence - How you handle people and influence others (86/88)
- Steadiness - How you handle change and pace yourself (16/23)
- Compliance - How you handle rules and procedures set by others (17/39)
Basically, the higher the score in each category, the more you possessed that particular trait. My scores put me pretty squarely in the Dominant/Influencing category, also known as “Persuaders”. My adapted scores changes somewhat significantly, meaning that I reduce my “Dominance” and increase my “Compliance” when I’m at work. I guess that makes me easier to get along with, but I’m not sure.
The fun part, for me, was to read the criticisms… which makes sense because I scored a 100% on competitiveness.
Here’s the fulltext of my report:
“Clay is a self-starter who likes new projects and is most comfortable when involved in a wide scope of activities. He is deadline conscious and becomes irritated if deadlines are delayed or missed. He wants to be seen as a winner and has an inherent dislike for losing or failing. He tends to work hard and long to be successful. He prefers being a team player, and wants each player to contribute along with him. Clay is extremely results-oriented, with a sense of urgency to complete projects quickly. He is a goal-oriented manager who believes in harnessing people to help him achieve his goals. He prefers an environment with variety and change. He is at his best when many projects are underway at once. He is forward-looking, aggressive and competitive. His vision of results is one of his positive strengths. He needs to relax an pace himself. He may expend too much energy trying to control himself and others.
“Clay is decisive and prefers to work for a decisive manager. He can experience stress if his manager does not possess similar traits. Sometimes he becomes emotionally involved in the decision-making process. He is a good problem solver and troubleshooter, always seeking new ways to solve old problems. Sometimes he may be so opinionated about a particular problem that he has difficulty letting others participate in the process. Clay finds it easy to share his opinions, though many people see his decisions as high-risk decisions. However, after the decision is made, he tends to work hard for a successful outcome. He likes to make decisions quickly. He will work long hours until a tough problem is solved. After it is solved, Clay may become bored with any routine work that follows.
“Clay should exhibit more patience and ask questions to make sure that others have understood what he has said. he tends to influence people by being direct, friendly and results-oriented. He tends to be intolerant of people who seem ambiguous or think too slowly. He challenges people who volunteer their opinions. Clay likes people who present their case effectively. When they do, he can make a quicker assessment or decision. He likes people who give him options as compared to their opinions. The options may help him make decisions, and he values his own opinion over that of others. He may sometimes mask his feelings in friendly terms. If pressured, Clay’s true feelings may emerge. He may lack the patience to listen and communicate with slower acting people.”
According to the tests…
I see myself as:
Pioneering, competitive, positive, assertive, confident, winning
Other people might see me as:
Demanding, egotistical, nervy, aggressive
And at worst:
Abrasive, arbitrary, controlling, opinionated
How I deal with Problems
Clay tends to deal with problems and challenges in a demanding, driving and self-willed manner. He is individualistic in his approach and actively seeks goals. Clay will attack problems and likes a position with authority and work that will constantly challenge him to perform up to his ability. He seeks to win against all obstacles.
How I deal with People
Clay’s natural style is to user persuasion and emotion to the extreme. He is positive and seeks to win by the virtues of his personality and verbal skills. He will convince you that what he is saying is not only right, but is exactly what is needed. He displays enthusiasm for almost any project.
How I deal with Pace
Even when the environment is frantic, he can still maintain a sense of equilibrium. He is capable of taking inconsistency to a new height and to initiate change at the drop of a hat.
How I deal with Procedures
Clay is independent by nature and feels comfortable in situations where the constraints are few and far between. He will follow rules as long as he feels that the rules are his. He has a tendency to rebel from rules set by others and wants input into any constraints.
Clay has a tendency to…
- Resist participation as part of the team, unless seen as a leader.
- Make “off the cuff” remarks that are often seen as personal prods.
- Have difficulty finding balance between family and work.
- Be inconsistent because of many stops, starts and ever-changing direction.
- Dislike routine work or routine people–unless he sees the need to further his goals.
- Have trouble delegating–can’t wait, so does it himself.
- Keep too many balls in the air, and if his support is week he will have a tendency to drop some of those balls.
- Be impulsive and seek change for change’s sake. May change priorities daily.
Whew! A scathing review. But accurate, if you ask me. The point of all this is not to say, “he’s better for this, she’s better for that” but rather to help you better understand yourself and those around you. Now I know a little bit more about why it is I do the things I do. And to be sure, there are good things that come out of the D+I combination. Don’t really want to share those too much here, lest I seem even more egomaniacal.
exitcreative
