Novocain and Everything DiSC Comparison Reports?
Have you ever thought about all the things we have in our lives today, that we can hardly imagine how we survived before they were invented? How did we write term papers before personal computers? Make popcorn before microwaves? Get a cavity filled before Novocain? How did we live without the Internet, Google, Amazon, cellphones, and texting? Now you can add Everything DiSC® Comparison Reports to this list.
“Come on, really!?,” you say. Ok, I admit they may not be as indispensable as Novocain… but while Novocain dulls the pain, Comparison Reports can help prevent or reduce the very real pain of the interpersonal variety.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Everything DiSC Comparison Reports compare the DiSC styles of two people, highlight their differences and similarities, and provide tips for working more effectively with each other. People are encouraged to have a conversation about their similarities and differences, and consider how their working relationship may be impacted as a result. Afterwards, each person is asked to consider how they’ll apply what they’ve learned about working with the other.
So why are these reports so valuable?
- They’re the perfect tool to use in conflict resolution or when two people are struggling to work with each other. (And more importantly, in preventing conflict or struggle from happening in the first place!) Continue reading “Novocain and Everything DiSC Comparison Reports?” »
We invite you to dialogue…
Dialogue. A word from the middle ages.
According to the dusty dictionary on my bookshelf, a dialogue is a conversation between two or more people. The practice of dialogue is powerful. It focuses on communication between people. It’s about sharing multiple perspectives, which often leads to problem-solving or exchanging opinions.
Blog. A word from 1999.
And it’s not in my bookshelf dictionary. (Which I just realized was published in 1981…Probably time for a new dictionary!) So I turned to Google, and found that “blog” is defined as “a web site on which an individual or group of users record opinions, information, etc. on a regular basis.”
So where’s the dialogue on the Everything DiSC blog? Continue reading “We invite you to dialogue…” »
Customer service training shifts to more interaction, technology, and DiSC
Imagine walking into a training session. There are no tables, just chairs set up in a horseshoe. There 
are no workbooks, the facilitator hands you an iPad instead. Is this what training will look like in the future?
Nope! It’s what training looks like right now in Honda’s Dealer Development session “Building Lifetime Customer Loyalty.”
Continue reading “Customer service training shifts to more interaction, technology, and DiSC” »
How do YOU write an email?
It never occurred to me that there could be different approaches to writing emails—that how I write an email might be different than how others do.
Until one day, my husband posted an ad on Craigslist to sell our coffee table. An interested buyer responded and asked if she could come by and see it. His response: “The table is still available. Come by this afternoon after 3 pm.”
My reaction to his response: “You can’t send an email like that! It’s too short and impersonal!” He had absolutely no idea what I meant. And then I remembered his DiSC style (Di) and my DiSC style (i). Although I was introduced to DiSC a few years ago, it hadn’t occurred to me that DiSC styles might inform the way we write our emails too.
With my i style, I prioritize enthusiasm and enjoy meeting new people. When I create an email, it’s very important to me Continue reading “How do YOU write an email?” »
Everything DiSC Activity: Telling Your DiSC Story
Here’s a great activity to build into your Everything DiSC® training sessions to help people share more in-depth details about their DiSC® style. This activity is designed to be used after participants have been introduced to their primary DiSC styles. It’s a great way to keep DiSC alive in your organization!
Handout: Blank sheet of paper with Everything DiSC® Map in the corner. (Completed example below.)
FACILITATION:
SAY: Pure styles are just the beginning of DiSC®. As we have mentioned throughout our session, everyone is made up of all four DiSC styles. One way we see this is through primary and secondary styles. This activity is designed to dig a little deeper into DiSC, and to help you tell your DiSC story.
SAY: Write your name at the top left hand corner of the handout. Next to your name, list your primary and secondary style(s), and make each style into a separate column. Place your dot on the DiSC circle. To help others learn more about you, list real things that others will see you do that reflect your primary and your secondary style. (5-10 minutes)
- Based on your blended style, what differences do you see between your responses from this activity in comparison to the Day in the Life (primary style) activity?
- What are the benefits of understanding DiSC® and learning directly from people how they tend to behave in the workplace?
- How can you use this knowledge to benefit your workplace relationships and your organization?
ASK: Please tape your handout next to the poster that represents your primary style. (Completed example on left.) Take a few minutes now to walk around the room and read all of the handouts to learn more about your coworkers. (10 minutes)
ASK: What did you discover through this activity and your table group discussions?
SAY: I’ll leave these handouts up so you get the opportunity to read everyone’s handout and keep learning about your coworkers.
~What other activities have you used to help people see beyond their primary DiSC style?~
More Everything DiSC Success Stories
Wondering how DiSC can help to transform organizations? Hear how one organization used Everything DiSC to to increase organizational performance and productivity.
The Organizational Challenge
In a large law firm with a staff dedicated to supporting hundreds of lawyers with high expectations, team performance and productivity are key to success.
Since team performance and productivity were suffering, management saw an opportunity for teams to learn how to work better together. Since their team members changed on each project, they needed skills to work better with their
manager, direct reports, and all other team members.
Solution
The Human Resources management team decided to pilot the Everything DiSC® Management program themselves. The half-day session was meant to test two things:
- Would the program be accepted by other work groups?
- Would it give employees a tool to help them work better with others?
If this training met their goals, the next step would be to train another pilot group of managers from various departments. Continue reading “More Everything DiSC Success Stories” »
DiSC Styles and Occupations
One of the advantages of the Everything DiSC® model is that we can place people on a common map. We can also plot groups of people, as averages, and compare them. Below are eight different occupations and how they map on DiSC®.
For me, the two most notable finds are:
1) Each of the occupations are closely associated with a DiSC style that makes sense, given the demands of that occupation.
2) The association between an occupation and a given DiSC style is modest at best.
Everything DiSC Success Stories
Wondering how DiSC can help to transform organizations? Here’s how one organization used Everything DiSC to increase savings in time, energy, money, and improve efficiency on both individual and company levels.
The Organizational Challenge
Five sales teams in an agricultural cooperative from five different divisions had little training in the service skills arena—training has historically been on product knowledge. Even with little formal sales training, they’ve done remarkably well, particularly in the past two years. But after several years of personnel and leadership change and two years of record-high sales, they became concerned about maintaining their position in the market.
Many of the recent changes shifted the sales focus from a consultative sale to transactional sale. They were concerned about maintaining their current customer-base while continuing to expand the business. In addition, the five sales teams were too focused on their own divisions, not considering their role as a part of the larger company team. The teams needed to build awareness of how they could assist and complement each other in their sales endeavors.
Solution
The Everything DiSC Sales Profile was given to all salespeople, to help them understand their own personal selling-style. They were led through the activities in the Everything DiSC Sales Facilitation Kit, which included practicing adapting their natural selling style to the needs of customers who have a variety of buying styles.
Everything DiSC: What happened to the Classical Patterns?
This is the final installment of a seven-week series on the different ways that the DiSC® model can be measured and represented. We’re placing a particular emphasis on contrasting the new Everything DiSC® circular model with the DiSC Classic graph model, and examining the benefits of this new approach. This week’s focus is on the difference in the assessment measurement and participant experience when taking the two assessments.
Although the Everything DiSC profiles do not technically refer to a Classical Pattern, (like in DiSC Classic profiles) Everything DiSC profiles allow facilitators to glean the same information from a quick glance at the Everything DiSC circle.
Continue reading “Everything DiSC: What happened to the Classical Patterns?” »
The Assessment Experience: DiSC Classic vs. Everything DiSC
In the DiSC Classic assessment, participants are shown 28 boxes that contain four words each. In each box, they are asked to choose one that is most like them and one that is least like them (ipsative/forced-choice scale). Consequently, participants review a total of 112 words.
Example of Ipsative/Forced-Choice scale used in DiSC Classic assessments:
One of the original reasons for using the forced-choice measurement methodology is because Continue reading “The Assessment Experience: DiSC Classic vs. Everything DiSC” »
