Data Dome Blog: News and Events

We at Data Dome would like you to join us in welcoming the newest addition to our facilitation team: Rico Pena.

Rico has combined his 25 years entrepreneurial experience, DISC training and his military background into a tactical approach to business that delivers results with measurable military precision and creative out-of-the-box solutions.

“Rico is a strong addition to our growing Data Dome family. I’m excited to welcome him to our DISC facilitation team,” said Art Schoeck, Founder and CEO of Data Dome. “Rico brings an international perspective – he’s delivered results around the world for Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurial leaders.”

Rico’s positive attitude and military discipline make him a dedicated and sought-after trainer and speaker.

To find out more about Rico Pena and the rest of the Data Dome team, please visit his bio on our About the Team page.

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“Well if you would only listen…” “You never listen to me.” “I told you, but obviously you weren’t listening.”

Ah, listening. It seems like such a simple thing to do, but how often have you heard (or said) complaints like those above? Maybe good listening isn’t so simple after all.

So what makes good listening so complex?

If we look to behavioral styles we can find some clues. Observing behaviors through the lens of DISC helps us see that those who exhibit certain styles are demonstrating patterns that can predict how they listen. Many articles like this one on good listening, “How to be a Good Listener”, frame the advice in terms of modifying the behavior to be more effective.

Let’s look at the core styles in the context of effective listening:

High D‘s are oriented around achieving results, and are not shy about making fast decisions or bringing pressure to bear on a situation. If a conversation does not support the high D’s current agenda then that person may lose interest in the conversation. Being forceful by nature the high D is not hesitant to interrupt or walk away when someone is speaking to them. Their observed behavior prioritizes problem solving over social considerations so unless their D is accompanied by a fairly high I don’t expect the high D to be a patient listener. If you want to keep the high D’s attention make your message short, and to the point. Think bullet points, not back-story.

The high I is typically observed to be talkative, but does a talker make a good listener? Not usually. The high I individual is usually counted among the worst listeners. High I’s tend to seek out a lot of verbal interaction, but their focus tends to be more on the appearance they are making, and their social status rather than paying attention to the content of a conversation. When not the one speaking, the classic high I spends the majority of their time thinking of what they are going to say rather than focusing on and considering what is being said to them. A high I with a low S will be talkative and restless in a conversation – they’ll flit around a cocktail party or networking reception making small talk with everyone, but never sticking around in one conversation long enough to absorb much of the conversation because they’re always spotting someone else they “have to say hello to”.

A low S exacerbates the high I’s weak listening ability, but what kind of a listener is a high S? The high S demonstrates behavior that supports good listening: they tend to avoid confrontation, so they are unlikely to interrupt a speaker; they prefer things to move at a slower, steadier pace, and are reticent to upset the status quo – which means you will seldom see a high S walking away from someone who is in the middle of telling a story (no matter how much that story may go on and on). The high S observes, but doesn’t tend to reveal what they have in mind so their focus tends to be on what the other person is saying rather than emulating the high I’s tendency to be thinking up the next interesting thing to say.

Last but not least we have the high C. If high S’s make the best listeners then high C’s are the second best among the core DISC styles. The high C is process-oriented and attentive to detail. A high C makes use of conversations as a form of information gathering. They are very attentive to details revealed in even a casual discussion and will feel compelled to correct any errors made by the person speaking. These could be errors in facts or grammar, but the net result is that the high C can be perceived as snobby for this behavior. The C applies structure to the act of listening, observing rules of politeness and formality, even parliamentary procedure in a group setting. A high C with a fairly high D may interrupt you, but not because of disinterest, they just may feel they have a more efficient way of harvesting the information in the conversation and may tend to turn a chat into a mild interrogation.

Of course other combinations of DISC behavior scores will reveal more complex listening styles, as well as the individual’s preferences for ways of communicating verbally. A high C will prefer to listen to another high C because of the shared affinity for structured presentation and accurate information. One high I may not be listening to the high I that is speaking to them, but they are together more at ease feeding off of each other’s enthusiasm and energy than that same high I might feel in a discussion with a high S.

Going beyond observable behaviors, values and motivators add more complexity to the art of effective listening. If a listener’s values are similar to those of the speaker, then they will be naturally more interested and likely to listen. If they have opposing values, the listener will have a natural tendency to disregard what the speaker is saying. These tendencies may mitigate or aggravate the listening issues predicted by the behavioral styles of the people in question. Once again we find that the Golden Rule falls a bit short when it comes to communication. The effective communicator doesn’t speak to listeners in the manner that the communicator would like to hear, but rather adapts their communication to the listening style preferences of the audience.

To be a great listener able to traverse conversations with colleagues of multiple behavioral profiles and diverse motivations and values generally requires a high degree of emotional intelligence. The more emotionally mature individual may learn how to overcome poor listening skills by developing more empathy for others, and learning to recognize and adapt their behaviors to better suit the situation. They can then be far more effective at listening than one who has not matured yet and is highly self-centered.

Objective assessments give us the ability to measure all of these factors and can be tremendously valuable in predicting effective listening skills and identifying opportunities to coach individuals in improving this ability. For an example of a well-rounded assessment that can be useful in this manner see this sample report.

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Whether you think they are the boon or the bane of the business world, one thing is certain, in corporate culture meetings are a fact of life. Some meetings are long and tedious, some are short and decisive, some involve the whole company, others just a task team of stakeholders. Google is famous for stand-up meeting where the lack of chairs are intended to promote an attitude of meet for only as long as is necessary. So what can we expect from our cast of DISC characters when it’s time for a sit-down?

Dorothy is a high D and the only meetings she really likes are the ones that she is running. When she’s directing the meeting (usually one she’s called on the spur of the moment) they tend to be short and to the point and they don’t happen unless there is a specific purpose to the meeting. Sounds great, but unfortunately sometimes Dorothy can be in such a rush to move the meeting agenda that she can overlook the input of quieter members of the team or gloss over important details. She sometimes falls into the habit of challenging and too-quickly dismissing ideas if they aren’t clearly presented or challenge her authority. Dorothy tends to dodge meetings if they aren’t ones she has initiated. When she does sit in a meeting she usually presses the agenda to nail down action items and generally “get on with it”.

Isaac is a high I and he loves meetings, or rather he loves the socializing that often happens just before and just after the meeting. If anyone is likely to linger in the conference room chatting with colleagues after the meeting is done it will be Isaac and his other high I friends. During the meeting Isaac’s interest will depend a lot on the style of the meeting if it is a lecture or company announcement with no interaction he’ll get bored, but will sit through it so as not to risk the social ostracism of sneaking out early. On the other hand if the meeting is very participatory Isaac will happily chime in to maintain status and will talk on subjects regardless of whether he is actually moving the agenda toward a conclusion. If Isaac calls a meeting it is seldom planned in advance, and sometimes it is hard to tell with all the talk and laughter if the impromptu gathering is a meeting or an office party.

Samantha is a high S and as such doesn’t give off a lot of signals whether she is enjoying the meeting or not, but she is loyal to her boss Dorothy and always backs her point of view. She also always sits in the same chair if she can, and gets a bit flustered if the meeting isn’t in the usual conference room or if someone has taken her favorite seat. The meetings she is most comfortable in are the regular weekly staff meetings, the ones that feel like a regular family dinner where the agenda and the cast of characters are all the same. On the other hand, when she is called into an unplanned meeting she gets stressed and worried that a new decision from management may change the status quo that she finds comfortable.

Chester is a high C and is always a stickler for following parliamentary procedures at meetings. If he calls the meeting, attendance gets taken and people are allotted a set amount of time for replies. Any question raised during a meeting is then reviewed by going around the room getting responses one person at a time. Chester’s meetings always start right on-time. He begins with a review of the minutes from his previous meeting and always end with detailed action items which he then repeats in his after-meeting memos to the staff. Nobody is allowed to leave until the meeting is officially adjourned. Dorothy particularly tries to avoid Chester’s meetings.

As we often do in our World According to DISC blog posts, we’ve shared with you here some one-dimensional examples to illustrate the traits associated with the core DISC styles. But meetings are a very multi-dimensional part of the fabric of a workplace. A recent study of more than 5000 CEOs conducted by the London School of Economics and Harvard Business School, has indicated that meetings are where CEOs spend as much as a full third of their time. The leadership of these companies usually only get about 6 hours per week in which they are able to work alone. CEOs often crave more alone time to build strategy and think creatively, but a lion’s share of their time is spent in meetings where they must contend with the communication dynamics of all the DISC styles. Learning to understand DISC behaviors and finesse the communication landscape of meetings can be vital to an organization’s success and overall culture.

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