Have you ever tried to comprehend someone else’s behavior when they do things that you never would? People can be difficult to understand, and can be difficult to interact with and talk to. To better understand one another the people of all times have created personality theories, models and assessments to provide a rationale for why and how people behave the way they do.
Whether in school, in the workplace, or even via social media platforms, you’ve likely encountered personality profiles. They include myer brgs type Indicator (MBTI), DISC assessment, Enneagram and the Big Five.
These tests are excellent to learn more about your personality styles and habits, how you react under pressure and how you interact with other people. In the last few years, businesses are increasingly using tests of personality in the workplace. Dori Meinert at SHRM. Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that some 60% of employees are now being asked to complete workplace assessments, with companies using the tests for hiring and career advancement.
In this guide we will go over what personality assessments are and more specifically what they are and how DISC profiles work. We will also provide useful tips on how to incorporate the DISC profiles in the team building process.
Learn:
What personality tests are
What is the DISC personality assessment is
How to utilize the 4 DISC personality types as a team building exercise
Tips for delivering team building exercises using the DISC profiles
A Personality Test for the Beginner
According to The Institute of Psychometric Coaching, personality tests are designed to gauge your personality as well as your behavior through a self-reported questionnaire. The questions are usually hidden (i.e. it’s not clear from the questions what the answer measures) In the end the answers are a personality profile. There is no right or incorrect solutions the personality test. Instead, your answers provide suggestions on how you’ll respond in different situations.
There are more than 30 personality tests on Wikipedia. Each test is different and gives different results. For instance, for instance, the Holland Codes (RIASEC) test will help you determine your personality type and occupations, whereas it is the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) examines 16 personality traits across five dimensions. It is a report of an individual’s disposition.
Why do you need to take a personality test? From a person’s point of view, a personality assessment makes you think about yourself… what you tend to behave according to your personality, what you like about yourself, and how you interact with others and the world who surround you. It’s a method of learning more about the things that make you tick.
If you’re using a reliable and valid profile trustworthy profile, the findings of a personality profile usually immediately resonate with the person and cause them to think, “Yes, that’s me!” But no matter what the individual’s response to the results the report of a personality profile is helpful because it offers a description of the person’s motivators as well as their fears, strengths, and challenges, which leads to self-reflection and growth.
From an organizational perspective From an organizational perspective, personality tests can provide a company with additional information on potential employees as well as existing ones. In cases where collaboration and teamwork are crucial to achieve success, understanding the personality of each employee’s individual. This can help with role definition team formation, project assignments, and the hiring process. Personality styles can be used to build an engaging work environment.
There are several reasons why personality profiles are popular in the workplace. These tools can:
Define an individual’s strengths and strengths and
Utilize the opportunity to draw out an individual’s natural gifts and to minimize blind spots within a team setting
Help assess a candidate’s suitability for a role
Find out if a person would be a good fit with the corporate culture
DISC coaching for teams UK is often used by leaders and managers to coach their team members
The DISC Personality Assessment
A popular and widely used personality tests used by corporate settings is one of them, the DISC assessment. The foundation of the test can be traced back all the way to American psychotherapist William Moulton Marston.
It was in 1920 that Marston came up with a hypothesis about our emotional responses to various stimuli. The theory was developed into the concept of a four-dimensional model that was anchored with the four emotion categories: dominance Influence and Submission as well as Compliance. Marston’s model was refined by Dr. John Geier in the 1970s when he authored his DISC Personal Profile System. Over time, the words behind the letters D-I-S-C were changed to terms like Dominant, Interactive or Influencing, Supportive or steady, and Conscientious or Compliant.
Typically the DISC profile is based on an online questionnaire comprising between 24 and 28 questions. In each one, the person is provided with four words and must select one word that best describes them and one word that explains them the most.
After the survey is completed Once the questionnaire is finished, a graph is drawn which reveals the individual’s DISC pattern. The theory behind DISC personality styles is that we’re not just one type, but a mix of all four dimensions. In reality, the majority of people have a style they prefer which is the one that feels their own. The natural style is simple to display. Styles that are lower on the graph require more energy to display.
Most often, a DISC test will produce three graphs of an person. The first graph is “the self-mask,” which is the public self that others view. The second graph is “the the core,” which demonstrates how the person responds naturally to pressure and stress. The third is “the mirror,” where it shows how the individual perceives their self-image and behavior. The graphs may be similar or very different, depending upon the person.
So what exactly do the four dimensions refer to? In order to make the styles easier to understand and remember Merrick Rosenberg, the CEO of Take Flight Learning, came up with a fresh way to describe the DISC models in his book, The Chameleon: Life-Changing Wisdom for Everyone Who has an inclination or knows someone who has. In this book, he presented an engaging and memorable way to relate to the DISC patterns to 4 birds.
“D” is a reference to Dominant and is symbolized by an Eagle. They are daring, decisive, direct, and driven.
“I” refers to Interactive and is represented by a parrot. Parrots are imaginative, influential as well as intuitive and inspirational.
“S” means Supportive and is represented by Doves. Dove. Doves are honest, loyal compassionate and content.
“C” refers to Conscientious and is symbolized by an Owl. They are sceptical and critical, but also concise and consistently.
Rosenberg invented the DISC styles with the help of four birds in order to offer an appealing, easy-to-remember approach to getting people involved with using the DISC system. The pairing of each dimension with the respective bird is in line with our perceptions of how those birds typically behave, allowing us to retain the information through associative learning.
At work, DISC styles have many uses. They are useful for recruitment, deployment of staff for career development, and team building.
Making use of DISC Personality Profiles in Team Building
Teamwork and collaboration essentially are based on how members communicate with each other and how they adapt to different personality types and the way they work as a unit. So how can the DISC system assist teams to perform better?
A well-functioning team can be described as one with varied in their capabilities and aligned in their desire to reach the same objectives. Effectively working as a team is about managing the relationships among team members in a way that encourages the team to move forward. The DISC styles provide a framework with which to better understand the motivations and preferences of each person in the team.
Jede DISC dimension has a distinct purpose in the context of a team structure. Also, it is about being balanced. Imagine a team populated with dominating Eagles. That would likely lead to an internal struggle for leadership as each Eagle is trying to assert his dominance over the others! On the other hand it is likely that a group of Conscientious Owls would be too cautious, too orthodox and may have trouble transitioning from planning to actual action.
Each team has a distinct purpose or objective as well as DISC will help your team become more efficient. If you’re creating an entirely new team the DISC styles can help ensure that you’ve got the right mixture of Eagles or Parrots Doves and Owls so that the team will be successful.
For teams that are already in place, knowing the individual’s DISC preference can make everyone aware of one another’s styles. This allows people to become more tolerant of each other. If your team seems like it is stuck in a “storming” phase You can utilize the DISC styles to interact with your team members more efficiently. Once you are aware of the preferred DISC style (or which bird they are) you will be able to better relate to them, appreciate their strengths, and appreciate what they can bring for the group, as well as also be better prepared to help them grow professionally.
Tips for delivering team building activities using DISC
First step of course it is to have the members of your group to complete an DISC assessment. There are a variety of online resources that provide the test (some even cost nothing! ) If you are building a team budget and you want to make use of a statistically valid and realizable test, you may be interested in the Taking Flight with DISC assessment and training program. The program will aid the team to gain insight into themselves, each other and the best way to collaborate to achieve team goals. The program employs the four Birds Remember the Eagle, Parrot, Dove and Owl? — to ensure that the session is not just fun, but memorable.
A key element of a group building session that uses DISC can be the facilitator process. The DISC system offers a structure that can be used to facilitate an open DISCussion about the dynamics and personalities of an organization. This requires a well-organized facilitator who can make sure that everyone is involved in the conversation, and asks challenging questions to help deepen the discussion and so on.
When you deliver a DISC-related team development activity, keep a watchful eye on how participants are responding to the activity. Group building activities, in general, can be very stressful for some personality types and typically, people stay in silence instead of discussing their frustrations. These are typically the Conscientious Owls as well as the supportive Doves.
If you have a person who appears to be hesitant or unhappy with participants, you can take the possibility of asking them to be “observers” instead. Their role would then be to watch the proceedings and then share their findings with the group at the conclusion of the activity. This is a great method to encourage participation in team building, without being active during the activity. It also gives the participants more control.
