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A practical example of DiSC style analysis from the FlashPoint team
Everything DiSC® is a behavioral assessment highlighting your specific priorities, preferences, and tendencies in the workplace. The aim of Everything DiSC® is to provide us with knowledge about ourselves and others in order to create more effective relationships with coworkers.
Although the basic DiSC® profile types are D, i, S, and C, there are actually 12 unique combinations. Each style has at least three priorities and some have an extra one or two priorities (also known as a “tail” in DiSC® terms) that fall outside the typical preferences or tendencies of a specific style.
In addition to providing information on your own style, the assessment also provides tips for communicating with and adapting to other styles. This is the heart of DiSC®—learning to better understand how others’ preferences can guide your behavior to create a healthier working relationship where you both get to be your best selves.
Example: is DiSC Style
For instance, I am an iS, which means I like to collaborate, have variety in my work, move quickly, provide support, and start with the big picture. I tend to be highly enthusiastic and use my passion to motivate others.
I also lean towards a Di (i.e., a tail), which means I want to keep things moving. I tend to prefer innovation rather than process and become quite drained if I have to spend extended periods of time wading through details (made more draining when doing it alone!).
Just like Rachel T., I am also an iS. This means that I tend to be enthusiastic, collaborative, and supportive when it comes to projects. I enjoy having solid relationships with my coworkers and value doing a variety of things in my daily work. Knowing how my work contributes to the bigger picture is important to me and I like to move quickly to complete projects and tasks.
But unlike Rachel T., I lean toward a C style (a tail that lies on the opposite side of the DiSC spectrum when compared to Rachel T.’s Di tail). That means that I also value structure, processes, and clarity. Unlike Rachel T., I enjoy making sure the details are perfect and find it challenging to deal with uncertain or unclear tasks that she might find exciting or energizing. And it also means that I sometimes prefer to work solo on projects (and find it draining when working collaboratively for long periods of time).
In practice, though we have the same DiSC® style (and the same name!), we have a variety of differences in how we prefer to work and communicate. That’s why we find DiSC® helpful; it gives me an idea of when I might need to slow down and leave some space for Rachel S. to think and work solo on a project. And it gives Rachel S. an idea of when she might need to speed up to meet me in the middle.
Everything DiSC® is a registered trademark of John Wiley and Sons.
