DISC Behavioural Profile Tool

What is DISC?

DISC is the universal language of observable human behaviour. It’s validity can be proven just by watching people. Every day we live in a wonderful laboratory where we can observe people and learn how to better communicate. Scientific research has proven that people in terms of ‘how they act’, universally have similar characteristics.

Research has shown that:

1. Some people are forceful, direct, results oriented.
2. Some people are optimistic, fun, talkative.
3. Some are steady, patient, relaxed.
4. Some are precise, accurate, detail oriented.

• Dominance – how you approach problems and deal with challenges.
• Influence – how you interact with and attempt to influence others.
• Steadiness – how you respond to change and levels of activity.
• Compliance – how you respond to rules and regulations set by others.

By learning these characteristics, we can improve communication skills, improve our ability to relate to others, increase sales, take the hit and miss out of recruitment, improve on customer service, reduce work place conflict and lead to more effective and efficient teams that understand and respect each other.

DISC is a tool that can be used in many applications including:

Gaining Commitment and Cooperation
People tend to trust and work well with those who seem like themselves. The most effective way to gain the commitment and cooperation of others is to ‘get into their world’ and ‘blend’ with their behavioural style. Observe a person’s body language, ‘how’ they act and interact with others. Notice clues in their work or living area. By applying the DISC language you will immediately be able to adapt to their style.

Building Effective Teams
People tend to be too hard on each other, continually value judging behaviour; therefore, team development tends to be slowed or halted due to people problems. An awareness of behavioural differences has an immediate impact on communication, conflict resolution and motivation for the team. Investment always precedes return. Investment in training the team on the DISC language gets an immediate return in team development.

Resolving and Preventing conflict
Understanding style similarities and differences will be the first step in resolving and preventing conflict. By meeting the person’s behavioural needs, you will be able to diffuse many problems before they even happen. People prefer to be managed a certain way. Some like structure some don’t. Some linked to work with people and some prefer to work alone.

Gaining Endorsement
Other words for endorsement are ‘credibility’ or ‘influence’. Every interaction you have with a person either increases or decrease your endorsement. By knowing a person’s behavioural style, you can immediately adapt to their style and gain endorsement.

Courtesy of DTS Training