More Situational Leaders, Thanks to the DISC Methodology

Leaders in an organization are the gears of all people, relationships, activities, and instances that unfold within a company. Thus, while indifferent and indecisive leadership only has harmful consequences, leadership exercised through exemplarity and positive influence is contagious, expands, and multiplies in all directions of the organization. The DISC model, created by William Marston, has been used for decades, among other things, to develop such exemplary leadership in companies.

Basically, because it allows us to understand human behavior and capitalize on the wealth of diversity. That is, it helps us identify a person’s behavioral profile to know their needs, what they like, what motivates them, what they expect, and from this understanding, know how to lead them, motivate them, communicate effectively with them, and even predict how they will behave in certain situations. In other words, it allows us to understand what they need to perform better. “People are different, but thanks to DISC, predictably different.”

In this way, the DISC model defines 4 predictable styles of behavior:
• Dominance. How we respond to challenges and obstacles.
• Influence. How we relate to and influence others.
• Steadiness. How we respond to the pace and changes in the environment.
• Conscientiousness. How we respond to rules and procedures.

This information, made available to management leaders, executives, and middle managers, is invaluable. There is a course for becoming an expert behavioral analyst in DISC, which, through two face-to-face sessions combining theoretical knowledge of the methodology and experiential practices, aims to deepen self-knowledge and self-management of the leader so that they can later tune in and positively influence others, and, with all this, facilitate and contribute to the construction of healthy work ecosystems.

Now, how is it possible for this virtuous circle to occur? Let’s see. As mentioned earlier, by first working on oneself, “self-knowledge.” For example, the reader could try to identify with one of these 4 styles right now, although in most cases, it’s challenging to categorize oneself into just one. This is not accidental. It’s because everyone—without exception—has these 4 factors in different intensities, although one or more of them predominates over the others; it’s the place we inhabit most frequently, comfortably and effortlessly. However, DISC encourages us to delve into it, to know our areas of improvement, and to explore other styles to broaden our action patterns, to adapt more naturally, to communicate better, and to understand how people operate.

For instance, DISC reveals what each person can contribute to each team. That is, there are people highly goal-oriented who don’t give as much importance to the processes to reach them; others focus on people and relationships, prioritizing them over systems; some consider how to reach the goal more important than the goal itself; while others prioritize task fulfillment over people. This knowledge will allow the leader to adopt adaptive solutions according to the complexity of the task/project and tailor the profiles accordingly.

However, another characteristic worth mentioning regarding the methodology is that there are no good or bad, better or worse profiles; that is, each has its particularities, and each result provides accurate information about strengths to enhance and weaknesses to improve. For example, if a DISC Test results in a highly dominant profile, then we will likely have to work on aspects like active listening and empathy. Why? Because each profile is also associated with a predominant emotion that, under stress, tends to manifest itself significantly.

Broadly speaking, it would be something like this:
D => Anger.
I => Excess of optimism.
S => Hides their emotions.
C => Fear of criticism (need for recognition for a job well done).

Therefore, among countless possible combinations that each profile can have, we can know, for example, if it’s someone decisive, quick, focused, and sometimes a bit aggressive; someone calm, hardworking, stable, and somewhat insecure; someone optimistic, sociable, innovative, and somewhat dreamy, or someone analytical, conscientious, calculative, and somewhat fearful.

Leaders, upon completing a DISC training, will be able to:
• Optimize their intra and interpersonal communication.
• Maximize the potential of their behavioral style.
• Learn to positively influence others.
• Break down relationship barriers and resolve conflicts.
• Use the most effective system for communicating, teaching, leading, and motivating.
• Learn the professional use of DISC assessments.

For the company, the benefits are numerous, including:
• Improve communication at all levels of the company.
• Minimize conflicts and improve their management.
• Increase performance, commitment, and well-being of individuals.
• Promote company values that are replicated in all directions within the company and beyond (customers, suppliers, etc.).
• Improve the alignment of profiles and positions.
• Be more effective in personnel selection.
• Highlight the contribution of each member to the organization.
• Develop a talent culture.

DISC is a methodology derived from a scientifically validated theory, from which a test tool was subsequently developed in the form of a test that has proven to be decisive in the world of personal and professional development. Among other things because it allows us to change the golden rule that says “treat others as you like to be treated,” to the platinum rule that indicates: “treat others as they prefer to be treated.”

Just for this level of understanding, it is a fundamental methodology for leadership and personnel selection, and for other areas that involve encountering others such as coaching, education, consulting, sales, etc.

In this post, you can delve deeper:

8 Dimensions of DISC Leadership You Should Know

I hope this is useful. Warm regards,

Juan Daniel Pérez F