Archive for Conscientiousness
How to Keep DISC Fresh, Even If It’s Not New
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As coaches and trainers, if you have used or plan to use the DiSC®, it can be a valuable tool in measuring and getting to know and understand your clients. But remember, your clients might not share your enthusiasm. They might be polite, or some may even be just tolerant, and see it as “the flavor of the month’” greeting it as just another assessment. After all, we do get quizzed all the time. Sometimes, honestly, as trainers, coaches and organizations we do over assess people.
Depending on how you, personally, process this you might see it one of two ways. Those of you who are external may shrug and think that you have no control over your clients’ attitudes towards assessments and not be concerned. Now, if you tend more toward internal processing, you will be more aware of how your clients feel about them and take that into account.
Having worked with DiSC® for some time, I accept that. But I see it as modern version of 2600 year old model. I’ve noticed that my clients really like this concept. Think about it. This model goes all the way back to the work of the great philosophers Hippocrates, Aristotle, Plato, and many others who tried to understand human behavior. There just really is not much new under the sun. The work of Hippocrates, Aristotle, Plato and all of the forefathers of our more modern version of DiSC® were built on the same four quadrant models of behavior. In fact, some of you may be familiar with the terms sanguine, phlegmatic, bilious, and melancholic. These are the four models of behavior that preceded DiSC®.
In 1928 a psychologist by the name of William Molten Marston wrote a book called “The Emotions of Normal People.” He, essentially, took 2600 years of work by all those people before him and put it into a cultural context to fit today’s society. When you look at Marston’s original work, he referred to D’s as dominance and I’s as influence, but he referred to S’s as submissive, C’s as compliant, and I’s as inducement. As I said, nothing new here, but a fresh take on human behavior that continues to earn more validation and confirmation that what we are doing works!
DISC Profile Benefits from a Focus to be Effective
Posted by: | CommentsThe focus is really important when you do a DiSC profile. When you give clients a DiSC profile, be very clear about the specific situation you are focusing on. Your measurement will only show behavior in a distinct set of circumstances.
Remember the DiSC® provides a nonjudgmental language for exploring behavioral issues across four primary dimensions:
- Dominance: Direct and Decisive
- Influence: Optimistic and Outgoing
- Steadiness: Sympathetic and Cooperative
- Conscientiousness: Concerned and Correct
Let me explain what I mean. I will use my own profile as an illustration. I have done profiles with various focuses. They include, how I am as a:
- Trainer
- Coach
- Manager of my own business
- Manager of people
For me, the two constants is my D. My dominant trait is above the midline. And the midline is about 3.5 or 4, like at the 4 line. My S is always below the midline. But as a manager I’m a creative pattern. My D is above the midline. But my I and my S are below the midline, and my also C comes up. So that is what makes me a creative pattern. When I am training, my D drops down a little bit, but is still above the midline. My I actually inches above the D, but the S and the C are low.
I am always a high D and a low S. But my I and C can change dramatically, depending on my circumstances at any given moment.
Whatever your profile, be aware that if you show it to your best friend or your spouse, they might say “That doesn’t seem like you.” That’s because you may not be that way when you’re with them. You likely have a different set of behaviors with your friends or loved ones.
I have had so much success with my clients by having them take the assessment, even from multiple work perspectives. Some senior managers come to me saying they are experiencing difficulty in managing their employees. So that’s where I start the coaching process, having them take the profile on how they manage their employees.
Then these same managers might express an issue with peers. For instance, they are in a meeting with the senior VP of marketing, senior VP of technology, senior VP of sales, and the senior VP of manufacturing. Now that’s a whole different ballgame. I’ll have them take a profile on how they are in that environment. Like my profile, they will usually see a constant. We don’t turn into completely different people. You are likely to see some scores that remain the same, but other scores may comes up or go down.
So, when you ask your clients or employees to complete their profile you can choose whether you want them just to take a general work focus or you want to ask them to have a more specific work focus. Either one will work.
Crawl, Walk, Run – the natural learning curve at work
Posted by: | CommentsPeople do not like to be labeled, put in a box, catagorized or sterotyped by assessments. Yet, when people first learn the DISC model all of those actions are a natural state of the learning process.
You’re a high D. She’s a high S. He’s such a C. Her i’s so high we call her “Your i-ness.”
I liken this to the fact that as infants we have to crawl before we can walk, and walk before we can run. So, in this sense, we do “label, box, categorize and stereotype” people.
It is a learning technique; part of the learning curve. It’s not a reality. If only people were that simple.
As people hone their observation skills and refine the nuances of human behavior they become so much more sophisticated in their assessment of observable style. The reality is that all people have scores in all 4 style areas. So the “labeling” phase is a place to begin the DISC journey.
Frustration of Forced Response
Posted by: | CommentsWhen responding to the The DiSC® Classic Profiles you are asked to choose one word, out of four (in 28 sets of four), that “most” describes your behavior and one word that “least” describes your behavior in a given situation. In other words, you are asked to participate in a “forced response” format. Many people who have taken the profile experience multiple words that most or least described them.
The experience is often described as very frustrating because of being forced to choose one most/least, and only one, response per set.
It becomes easier once you understand that the four words represent the 4 quadrants in the profile. And that the power in the profile is in forcing people to make those finer distinctions, and that each one of those words is attached to a DISC behavioral style; one of the four quadrants, the dominance, influence, steadiness, or conscientiousness. So those are some of the basics about how the model is constructed.
Now, what we’ll do is we’ll take a quick look at the four styles and then each week we’ll go in a little bit deeper to those. And as I’m going through each style what I’d like you to do is think about people that you know, friends, family, clients or even yourself and let me know if you feel like you might fall into that category and then I’ll ask you to tell us something that gave you a clue.
Wonder Woman, DISC and the Polygraph
Posted by: | CommentsFew people know that William Moulton Marston:
1. Was Instrumental in the modern day Polygraph – Marston is given credit as the creator of one component of the modern polygraph, the systolic blood-pressure test used in an attempt to detect deception. The idea came to him when his wife told him that when she got excited or mad she felt her blood pressure rise. From his work on the systolic blood-pressure test Marston became convinced that women were more reliable, accurate and honest than men. As a result he became a champion of women’s causes.
2. Created the female superhero Wonder Woman – Marston was a feminist theorist, who lived with his wife and another woman in a polyamourous relationship. Both of these women served as examples of strong women in his life. Marston felt that women were grossly underestimated, and in an effort to change that sterotype created a strong, proactive, female superhero in Wonder Woman! The idea behind this superhero is that she would triumph not with fists or power but with love.
3. Developed the original DISC model – Marston wrote Emotions of Normal People in 1928. Marston saw people behaving along two axes, with their attention being either passive or active, depending on the individual’s perception of his or her environment as either favorable or unfavorable (antagonistic). Four quadrants formed with each describing a particular behavioral pattern:
- Dominance produces activity in an antagonistic environment
- Inducement produces activity in a favourable environment
- Steadiness produces passivity in a favourable environment
- Compliance produces passivity in an antagonistic environment.
Although he never actually created an assessment – that came years later once the model was in the public domain, there are a number of variations on Marston’s theme available to the public. (See DISC Model in Public Domain).
For more information on Marston you can visit his Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Moulton_Marston
Who did you make “feel good” today?
Posted by: | CommentsToday I want to share something written by a friend and colleague, Cathy Wodarski. I hope you enjoy!
“Recently I went to a new salon for a facial. (If you are one of my male readers, please stay with me for a moment here and read on. This is really not about the facial.)
After I got settled on the table, listening to the soft music in a dimly-lit room, my facialist came in. As she started my facial, I asked her why she became an aesthetician. Her story touched me and made me “feel good.” She said: “I used to work in a floral shop. In fact, it was the only job I ever had out of high school. This was my trade. One day I bought a chance for a facial, and you can imagine how excited I was when I won. I had never had a facial before and was amazed at how much I enjoyed it. As I was getting my facial, I was thinking of how good she was making me feel and I also told myself I could do this, I could make people feel good.” The rest of the story is that she is now working for a great salon making people “feel good” every day.
We all have an opportunity to make someone feel good but too often don’t. In DiSC terms, a “feel good” experience could look like this:
- A sincere compliment to “C” types supported with data on why you are complimenting them means a lot. (Remember, best done one/one not in a public setting.)
- Letting those with the “S” trait know how the entire team has benefited through their efforts. This could be in the form of a letter, in person or email.
- For our “i” it doesn’t take much. A “hey, good job’ with others within earshot works wonders. Just remember, our “i” likes to celebrate and have fun.
- Lastly the “D” types want the reward for making it happen along with kudos. Be to the point but let them know they were instrumental in the outcome.
So think about it. Whose day will you make by taking the time to make them feel good?!”
Thanks, Cathy, for sharing your insights!
