Having researched and written about the DISC assessment for quite some time, I felt pretty confident in my understanding of the assessment’s four personality types: Dominant, Influential, Steady, and Conscientious. And in writing about the different types in detail, I felt pretty confident that I was an “S”: a bit slower paced, but prioritizing relationship-building over task completion. I like working with people collaboratively, yet I’m a pretty laid-back person. You won’t find me being the first person to speak up in a meeting. And it’s just important to me that my colleagues live up to their potential as it is that I do. I’m happy to do what I can to support them.
So I decided to take the DiSC myself (available here) to determine if my suspicions were correct. The answer? Yes, but there’s a lot more to it.
The three graphs here represent how I might behave in different situations. As we’ve discussed before, the DiSC is unique in that it focuses on not just one dominant personality trait, but it also factors in the other traits that influence my specific profile. So yes, I was right: I am primarily a Steady person. The “S” type is dominant in all three instances of this graph.
BUT, all three also show a high presentation of “C”: Conscientiousness. Conscientious people are also slower-paced, but they tend to be more task-oriented than focused on relationships. They pride themselves on being detail-oriented and accurate. I enjoy working collaboratively, but I’m also a copyeditor and a content writer. Accuracy is my bread and butter. It was also interesting to see that I have a few “I” or Influence tendencies. I sometimes feel the need to be persuasive and motivating when I am trying to get something accomplished. It’s not a major factor in my overall personality, but I did think it was interesting that the assessment picked up on it.
One of the most interesting parts of the assessment for me was my detailed Behavioral Profile Overview. This consists of about a page of analysis about my specific type, and explaining how these different pieces fit together for an SCi. A lot of the S parts I already suspected. For example:
“[Y]ou tend to be optimistic and encourage others with your sense of optimism. This comes not only from your natural positive spirit, but also from your high sincerity-factor.”
Sounds about right. But where the profile really came in handy was pointing out where the S and C types overlap. This provided insight to my personality style that I hadn’t ever considered. Take this part about my expectations:
“Your pattern of responses shows that you tend to be patient with others, although you set high expectations for yourself as well as others. This trait come from a combination of your high sincerity-factor coupled with your high desire for quality control. You provide the best performance you can do on the job on a daily basis, and you expect no less from others on the team. You may be disappointed when others don’t meet those standards.”
The “high sincerity-factor” that the overview describes is typical of an S personality, while the “quality control” aspect is more in line with the C. And it’s true! I struggle when it feels like others aren’t doing as good of a job as they should be; I feel resentful when I have to pick up the slack. But the S part of my personality makes it difficult to know how to approach these problems, because I prioritize relationships over tasks and don’t want to demoralize or cause conflict with anyone. Having this insight helped me understand some of my tendencies and hangups in a new way.
Later this week, I’ll share some more about what I learned from my DiSC profile. Stay tuned!
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