Get to know your communication style and how it affects others
They say self-awareness is the first step to improvement, so it makes perfect sense to improve your skills by first understanding your communication style. If you can’t communicate effectively, then your business won’t flourish. It’s as simple as that. Understanding your own behaviors and how they affect those you work with, your family…even strangers, is a very powerful thing. If you take it to the next step and begin communicating with others fully aware of those behaviors and tendencies, you will naturally become a better leader and most likely improve business as you do so. DiSC is one of the ways that we can assess communication styles. The Alternative Board-Denver West uses a proprietary test to evaluate your personal communication style and uncovers ways to improve that are real and tangible. Here, we break down what these communication and behavioral styles mean, and highlight just a few of the many benefits to owning this powerful self-knowledge.
What is DiSC®?
DiSC is the leading personal assessment tool used by more than 1 million people each year to improve work productivity, teamwork and communication. As a trained DiSC assessment administrator, I can personally tell you there is real power in understanding your own communication style, as well as those of your management team. During a DiSC assessment, you are asked to complete a series of questions that produce a detailed report about your behavior and communication style. This is NOT a personality test. DiSC is an observable language. This provides a common language that you can use to better understand yourself and as a tool to adapt behaviors with others.
DiSC stands for:
Dominance–Person places emphasis on accomplishing results, the bottom line, confidence
Influence–Person places emphasis on influencing or persuading others, openness, relationships
Steadiness–Person places emphasis on cooperation, sincerity, dependability
Conscientiousness–Person places emphasis on quality and accuracy, expertise, competency
How Does DiSC Improve my Team?
Behavioral research suggests that the most effective people are those who understand themselves, both their strengths and weaknesses, so they can develop strategies to meet the demands of their environment. DiSC profiles help you and your team increase your self-knowledge in the following areas: how you respond to conflict, what drives you, what induces stress and how you solve problems. This knowledge can facilitate improved teamwork and minimize conflict. Understanding your DiSC profile helps you develop stronger sales skills by identifying and responding to customer styles. You will begin to think within the framework of DiSC when conducting business. Your management style will improve by understanding the dispositions and priorities of employees and team members. Overall, you and your team will evolve into more well-rounded, effective leaders by understanding yourselves and each other better.
Analyzing the Results
If you work with The Alternative Board-Denver West and myself to assess either yourself or your team through the DiSC method, I will personally help you analyze the results and navigate what that means for your business. From a high level, here are the behaviors that each of the DiSC traits typically represent:
Dominant Behaviors—
- Sees the big picture
- Can be blunt
- Accepts challenges
- Gets straight to the point
- Can anger quickly
Influencing Behaviors—
- Shows enthusiasm
- Is optimistic
- Likes to collaborate
- Trusting
- Dislikes being ignored
Steadiness Behaviors—
- Very loyal, a workhorse
- Doesn’t like to be rushed
- Calm manner & approach
- Supportive actions
- Humility
Conscientiousness Behaviors—
- Process and detail oriented
- Enjoys independence
- Objective reasoning
- Fears being wrong
Getting Specific
Your specific DiSC assessment will not only cover your individual characteristics as they relate to the workplace, but it will also address the value you bring to the organization, your personal communication checklist, tips to improve communication with others, the ideal work environment for you, and perceptions of you, both internal and external. A sample report can be viewed here, where you can see in detail how personalized this assessment is. Whether performed for yourself or a team member, you can see how valuable it is to know these aspects of the personality in the workplace to better understand the individual’s motivations, work style, areas for improvement, and, most importantly, keys to effectively managing this person. No effective exercise is complete without an action plan, so we will work together to fill out the final piece of the report together, knowing that you have tangible results that you can apply in your everyday work life.
Click here to read “How to Leverage DISC in a Group Setting.”
So, what do you think you are? Are you ready to take the next step in the discover process? I’m here whenever you’d like to get started. Just drop me a line.
By Blair Koch
