Part of the American ethos is that each one of us is unique.
We are individuals with rights and freedoms, the “unalienable rights” the founders wrote about in the Declaration of Independence.
And, thankfully, that is true.
But when it comes to communication in the modern workplace, we are not that different. There are, in fact, basically four of us.
That’s the premise of the DISC behavioral test, which many of you have either heard of or used in the past. At FiveFour, we use the DISC as one of the first steps in our work transforming companies.
I should note at this point that we know there are more than four types of people in the world. What the DISC assessment does is give people insight into our differences. Once we understand the people we interact with every day – family, friends and coworkers – we can communicate more effectively.
The four DISC behavioral styles are Dominant, Influential, Steady and Compliant. It’s a natural reaction to think it sounds like oversimplification. The premise is that nobody is just one style. When it comes to behavioral style, we are a mix of the four areas.
Generally, you are high in one area and low in another. So, you may be high in Influential traits – talkative, sociable and lively – and low in Compliant — private, analytical, and logical. It’s also natural for most of us to adapt our behavior. We may consciously or unconsciously keep our “I” under wraps and defer to more of our “C” in certain situations.
What does that all mean?
Much of the difficulty we see in companies is not that people don’t want to do a good job. Generally, we all want to succeed. But messages get muddled or lost. We don’t fully understand that our co-worker, boss or employee may interpret what we say – and how we say it – differently that we intend.
Communication isn’t easy and a simple test isn’t going to solve every problem. But it’s a start.
We use an interactive, online version of the DISC that allows us to demonstrate the connections in any given group of people. It’s not just enough to know the differences, however. We also use training to help everybody learn how to see behavioral differences and how best to communicate with each type.
The DISC doesn’t reveal our deep secrets. These are observable, external behaviors that you can easily learn and apply in your daily life.
In fact, we use it our own organization. We purposefully talk about our differences, so we don’t forget that — while we’re not like everybody else — we’re not that different either.
If you want to talk more about the DISC and how it might integrate with your business or organization, let me know. I think you’ll find it a valuable tool toward building a healthy company culture.
- Nathan Schock, nathans@fivefourtraining.com