What motivates you to work well with others?

I am fascinated with personality profiles as most of you know.  In my Personalized Faith Plan I use the Myers-Briggs, Multiple Intelligences, the Lion, Otter, Golden Retriever, Beaver Animal Questions, and more.  I discovered the DiSC a couple of years ago and couldn’t be happier.

The reason I like this one so much is that it is specifically designed to help you in Business!  It is a model that provides a common language for teams, leaders, and sales people.  Do you know your DiSC letter(s).  Now I am not trained in DiSC, so I want to make that disclaimer BUT I do know how to USE the designations to help you identify and use it on many levels.

Let’s have some fun.  Look at this list of words.  Start to circle the ones that best describe you.  Now, don’t circle the ones you wish you had or that you aspire to have.  We will get to that later.  Really, there is no wrong here.  You bring a set of skills, talents and expertise to the table at work, in a team, or at a networking event.  We need you to step up to your personality and own it.

 

•Accurate ◊Amicable •Analytical ■Adventuresome ■Authoritative Charming ■Competitive Confident •Conscientious Convincing •Courteous ■Daring ■Decisive •Diplomatic ■Direct Enthusiastic •Fact-finder ◊Friendly ◊Good listener Good mixer •High standards ■Innovative

Inspiring •Mature Open-minded Optimistic ◊Patient/ •Patient ■Persistent Persuasive Popular ◊Predictable ■Problem-solver •Restrained ■Results-oriented ■Risk-taker ■Self-starter ◊Sincere ◊Stable ◊Steady ◊Systematic/•Systematic Talkative ◊Team player Trusting ◊Understanding

 

The symbols do mean something, however, if you have taken the DiSC before you know they are color coordinated.  I was not able to put the colors in (don’t be confused).  Have you circled all the words that describe you?  Count them up in each symbol and record your findings.

Before I tell which symbol belongs to which letter, let’s discuss what each means.

• D is defined as Dominance. This person is motivated by competition and winning.  They want results, are self-confident and direct.
• i is defined as Influence. This person is motivated by social recognition and collaboration. They are magnetic and enthusiastic.
• S personalities are defined by Steadiness. This person is motivated by cooperation and providing support. They are deliberate and sincere and want harmony.
• C is defined as Conscientious. This person is motivated by opportunities to gain knowledge and show their quality work. They are meticulous and systematic.

Have you figured out where you sit?  Let’s check: Square is D; No symbol is i; Diamond is S; and, Circle/Dot is C.  (Just a note here, if you look up DiSC® on the internet, it must have the lowercase i to be the original).

How can DiSC help you?  First, by increasing your own self-knowledge you are off to a good start.  The DiSC awareness can help you build better teams, develop yourself as a more effective leader, improve your customer service skills, and deal with conflict more productively.  By understanding that others are motivated differently than you, it opens new possibilities for working together, gaining customer loyalty, and building business relationships.

During the month of March, I will be tearing apart the DiSC to show you how to use it in practical ways in your every day.  This tool has become a go to for me as I think about collaborating with others, writing copy, sending emails, talking on the phone and looking for clues as to how to respond in any situation.

I hope you find this as exciting as I do and are eager to know more.  It will change the way you listen and observe others.

Be filled to overflowing,

 

Deneen