Data Dome Blog: News and Events

It is hard to miss all the news lately about Facebook and the privacy concerns that juggernaut of the social media world has raised. From the BBC’s report of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s admission that he “missed the mark”, to reports in BusinessWeek, PC World and many other news outlets, not to mention countless blogs, it is clear that Facebook has stumbled and the whole issue of online privacy is now front and center in many users’ minds.

Here at Data Dome we like to look at these kind of topical issues from the perspective of the classic DISC behavioral styles as a means of helping you understand how your employees, or friends and family, might be interacting with social media from a privacy perspective:

Meet Darlene, a high D. She used to consider Facebook a time-waster, but she joined when enough of her clients were there that she felt it would be productive. She got angry when she read accusations that Facebook is being cavalier with user’s private information: If there is one thing she can’t stand it is feeling that she has been taken advantage of. She went right to her profile to lock down her private information, but found the process too cumbersome (patience is not one of her virtues) and gave up, next she tried to delete her account, but that was too cumbersome too, so she simply stopped logging into her account. She has now flagged all social media friend requests as spam.

And then there is Ira the high I. He joined Facebook the very first time a friend invited him. He also tends to skip the details so he didn’t pay much attention to privacy settings when he made his account. He’s been having so much fun playing social games on Facebook and reconnecting with past friends, alumni, and co-workers that he has essentially built his life story online. He’s not happy about the privacy issues in the news, but doesn’t want to abandon all his friends. He won’t move his profile until most of his friends move theirs.

Sandra the high S might surprise some of you. Sandra didn’t join Facebook until most of her family insisted that it was the best way to share family pictures. Some might think that despite any negative press she wouldn’t quit because that would mean making a change. Although she has a real aversion to change and will not normally buck the status quo, in this case her behavior is more strongly influenced by her protective attitude toward her close friends and family. She feels that this flip-flopping on privacy practices and Facebook’s alleged “apologize after rather than ask permission before” attitude on the subject threatens the safety of the relationships she most cares about. Her account is now cancelled (and she might not try another social media site for a very long time).

Last but not least is Charles the high C. Charles was also reluctant to join Facebook, but he gave it a try because he is a model train enthusiast and belonged to a club that had setup a Facebook page to share information on historical routes and timetables and to post photos of train setups so members could rate them according to historical accuracy. He was very thorough creating his original profile, read the terms of service letter for letter, and created the precise profile he wanted. Thus when Facebook enacted changes to the privacy status without prior warning, he felt that they had broken protocol. Feeling a need to reassert control, he first went step-by step through the process of reconfirming every privacy detail of his account. Then, once he was satisfied that his account was now secure, he went ahead and eliminated his profile.

Facebook is front and center in the online privacy debate, but every day we are presented more opportunities and innovative ways to connect with each other online. Tools and their repercussions are constantly evolving at a faster pace than our behavioral styles. We often take a look at the lighter-side of DISC behavior in this ongoing World According to DISC series, but we encourage you to not take your online privacy lightly. No matter what your behavioral style it is far easier to share information online than it is to hide it away again once it has been shared.

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Art Schoeck was recently asked the following question via our Ask the Expert form:

** I recently completed a DISC assessment that I found to be very insightful; however, on the Success Insights Wheel my Adapted Behavior was “non-placeable.” My Adapted Behavior was just above the line in all categories. Other than telling me that it is “rare,” my assessment administrator didn’t have any further insight. Can you help me understand this? I would love to know why my Adapted Behavior is “non-placeable.” **

Art’s answer:

When all points are above the line, it usually indicates that an individual, at the time of completing the assessment questionnaire, feels a need or desire to act as “everything to everybody”. That is, the individual’s behavior is adapting to an elevated level across all DISC categories. In essence, they are trying to be all of the descriptors around the wheel at the same time. This indicates a lot of pressure and may stem from a temporary situation or role being played. That is why it is “Non-placable”.

This result with adapted marks being all “north of the border” is not as rare as it once was. Many organizations are trying to make do with less people: With fewer employees doing the work of what used to be many more, they are required to cover more ground, and so we are seeing more shift into this adapted behavior of actually trying to be everything to everybody. This is also appearing amongst candidates during the job application process – as the job hunt and economic stresses linger on, some candidates begin to feel desperate and express that via a willingness to adapt behavior in this all things to all people manner. When encountered it is often necessary to apply further diagnostics to better understand the situation and the impact on behavioral style.

In a workplace scenario, if an individual’s Success Insights Wheel showed adaptive behavior that was above the line on all categories, a worthwhile next step would be to review the behavioral job description to determine if the subject and the supervisor agree on the role the individual should be playing and the commensurate behavioral expectations. This would involve a customized and personal interaction facilitated by a Certified Professional Behavioral Strategist.

What’s your question?

Data Dome founder and member of TTI’s prestigious International Faculty, Art Schoeck, often receives questions through our Ask the Expert form. We try to answer questions here on this blog that are representative of common questions regarding DISC and other assessment tools. Do you have a question about DISC? If so please submit it via the Ask the Expert form. Although it may not be possible to answer every question individually, we will be using the “Ask the Expert” category of this blog to answer the DISC-related questions most important to our readers.

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It seems that the press loves to trot out the “Good Cop, Bad Cop” concept whenever President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are mentioned together. Newsweek, The Telegraph UK, The Atlantic Sentinel, and a host of other publications and blogs have all used the metaphor to compare the styles of these two public figures as they engage in the nation’s foreign policy interests. Why do they do it? It’s an easy idea to remember and the archetype relationship is fairly well understood, but when it comes to describing behavioral styles, DISC provides us with some finer tools.

If we look at a stereotypical politician it would not be surprising to assume that this person scores high in the D column as ambition, authority, ego and drive are all associated with the profession. It would also not surprise you to learn that many politicians score highly in the I column as well. To get elected one must shake a lot of hands, influence a lot of people, have magnetism, charisma, and generally enjoy the company of others. After all, no politician gets elected alone. S and C are tougher to assume when it comes to a politician, one might campaign as an advocate for change (low S), or one might be a strong advocate for maintaining the status quo (high S). Many politicians come from the legal field where meticulous attention to detail is in demand, but few lawyers who go into politics are those high C‘s – the need to occasionally sway with changes in the political breeze can run counter to the urge for uncompromising perfectionism.

If we look at the press on President Obama we often see him characterized as a diplomat, a consensus-builder, and he is certainly charismatic to the point where he was labeled “the celebrity” candidate during the lead-up to his election. Hillary is often described in articles as forceful, driving with a “push for a deal” style – unafraid to “play the heavy” or as Newsweek puts it, “political hardball, Hillary style”. Based on these adjectives one could surmise that the President is a highly charismatic, influential and empathetic high I, who also happens to be the former president of the Harvard Law Review and likes to be thorough and meticulous in his fact gathering before making a decision – it seems unlikely that his C would be low. Yet there are those who say he often gathers his facts from the same sources and that despite the emphasis on change in his campaign he hasn’t actually changed much since taking office – is this evidence that he may really be more of a natural high S? Additionally his D is certainly high, no many persons with the ambition to become president would have a low one, but is it as high as Ms. Clinton’s?

The Secretary of State is forceful and accomplishment-oriented with an ego that seeks center stage. She’s unafraid to drive policy and take action making the most of the power and authority that come with her position. Clearly her D is near the top of the scale. On the other hand is her I perhaps adjusted in the public eye to one that is higher than natural for her? When contrasting the two political figures, Obama’s charisma seems to flow naturally from his always cool-as-cucumber presence, whereas even in celebration Clinton often seems to present a deliberateness in her smile. Is her I naturally low?

Regardless of politics or individual behavior profiles, the measure of any good cop – bad cop pairing is in their effectiveness together. History will tell us if they can channel their natural and adapted styles into policy that builds a stronger nation and safer world.

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You know we like to have a little fun here at Data Dome, especially with this World According to DISC series of posts and articles. We like to take look at some illustrative examples of the four key behavioral categories when they are expressed in the extreme and conjecture on how these behaviors could be expressed in familiar scenarios. We hope you find them both instructive and humorous – particularly if you recognize a little bit of yourself in any of the behavioral examples. This post however deals with serious business: Mother’s Day.

Yes the holiday that built the greeting card industry, the day that’s bigger than Christmas in the floral world, the day of overcooked pancakes served in bed and overloaded phone lines, the day we collectively celebrate our moms, even Mother’s Day is not immune to the revealing power of a DISC behavioral profile:

Consider for example Danny the High D – he’s set up his mom in the best retirement community in Florida and he’s already told his assistant to arrange for two dozen roses and a fruit basket to be delivered to her on Sunday. He won’t be going down to visit himself because he’s got to whip his sales team into line during the mandatory 7am sales meeting he instituted for every Monday morning and he just won’t have the time to get back and forth. But don’t worry his son is under strict orders to remind him to call her before noon on Sunday. Interestingly Doris, his High D mom ended up sending the delivery guy back to exchange the roses for some “decent looking flowers”, because she’s not going to let some cheap florist pull one over on her hard-working and important son.

Now by contrast Isabel the High I hasn’t bought any flowers. She hasn’t remembered yet that it is Mother’s Day, because she misplaced her planner, which was mostly blank, but was in a cool shade of pink-dyed leather that people always remarked on so she liked it as a conversation starter. Coincidentally she happened to call her mom anyway, and has been chatting happily with her for the last hour and a half without even realizing the occasion. Her mom, Irene, is also a high I and suddenly had to rush off the phone when she realized she was late for the garden club meeting (which had been rescheduled anyway, but Irene hadn’t checked her email in a couple of days).

Stan the High S on the other hand traveled to his hometown to see his mom like he does every year. He always flies Delta with his family and then rents a sedan from Enterprise every year. This year they were out of sedans and he was very upset about it, but he didn’t want to upset the person at the counter. He ended up getting a subcompact, which is what the rep at the counter recommended even though he thought the mini-van might be more practical for the weekend, but the rep guaranteed that the subcompact is easier to park and that the kids and the luggage would all fit fine so Stan didn’t want to make a fuss. Stan’s mom, Stella, is also a High S. She dutifully stayed in bed on the big morning awaiting her breakfast even though she had already been awake for 2 hours – she didn’t want to break the family tradition.

Catherine the High C arranged a month ago for a bouquet to be delivered at exactly 10am on Sunday morning. She chose irises because her research had shown her that for her mom’s region of NJ this weekend was the optimal blooming time for locally grown irises. She’s planning to call her mom at precisely 10:15am because her analysis of past call logs have shown that is the most likely time to reach her mom still at home, but not still asleep. Charlotte, her High C mom, loved the irises when they arrived, but noted one had a longer stem than the others. She pulled out her tape measure, verified the length of each flower stem, trimmed the excess off the longer plant, remeasured to verify they were now all the same length and then put them in a vase.

Okay, so maybe we weren’t that serious. In fact we were hoping to make you smile, but understanding DISC profiles can give you a serious advantage in building stronger, more balanced and effective teams within your company. And remember, no matter what your DISC profile says your behavioral style is… it’s always nice to behave like a good son or daughter on Mother’s Day!

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Data Dome has created our very own LinkedIn group for alumni of our Advanced Experiential DISC Behavioral Certification class.

Over the years Art Schoeck has trained some of the best and brightest in the industry and we wanted to provide a forum for this elite community to share experiences, create dialogue around areas of professional interest, and work towards mutual growth in our understanding and application of DISC behavioral insights.

We’ve also created a reciprocal page on this website that we hope you will bookmark: http://datadome.com/linkedingroup.php. Here we will gather information relevant to our community and announce continuing education, refresher courses, tips and other resources relevant to our alumni.

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Well after a lot of hype and anticipation the iPad a.k.a. the “game changer” hit the market and love it or loathe it, Steve Jobs’ new vision for how we interact with computers is making its mark on our culture. Apps are already appearing in abundance and legions of users are taking the plunge with the new device, including our old friends the High D, High I, High S and High C…

The High D was the first in town to get the iPad, but he didn’t wait in line – that’s what assistants are for, right? He wanted THE BEST model, but when his assistant called from the store to ask which configuration to buy he lost patience and just barked at the assistant to “get the job done and get back to work”. First app loaded: Dragon Dictation.

The High I was shopping at the mall the day the iPads came out, but she didn’t know it ahead of time. She just got there and saw a big line outside the store and struck up a conversation with some of the folks in the line. Before long she knew half the line by first name and was having such a good time she ended up at the counter before she realized it – and she just HAD TO show it to her co-workers so she bought it on impulse. Then spent the rest of the day touring the office so all her friends could see it. First app loaded: Facebook.

The High S is just getting comfortable with his desktop and is worried that the office IT department is going to switch him to a laptop, which would mean taking away the desktop computer. He wouldn’t say no of course because he wouldn’t want to upset the technician, but he has no idea how he would be able to get any work done on the new machine, and where would he put his sticky notes? When a friend showed him an iPad he was upset to see him touch the screen – you’re not supposed to touch computer screens, right? First app loaded: N/A, still using Lotus Notes.

The High C pre-ordered her iPad. She read up on the lines that formed when the iPhone was released and used the data to plan a meticulous schedule for an efficient pick-up the day her iPad arrived. She was originally going to pass on the iPad because a line-by-line comparison of specs with several tablet computers and netbooks revealed missing features. In the end her spread-sheet analysis of increased productivity due to the extended battery life won her over to make the purchase. First app loaded: Project Planner.

DISC behavior is seldom this polarized around a single behavioral style, but we hope you found this to be an amusing and informative speculation. Part of the remarkable value of DISC is that understanding a person’s profile can help anticipate behaviors even when someone is shopping for Apple’s hot new gadget!

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It’s that time of year – we’re just a few days away from April 15th, let’s have a little fun and take a look at how our classic DISC behavioral profiles are handling tax season:

The High D – Just called the accountant, doesn’t understand why she can’t drop everything to work on his filing RIGHT NOW. Gave his receipts to an assistant with orders to organize them and deliver them to the accountant.

The High I – Is chatting with all the friends made at their CPA’s office. It’s the third trip there because of forgetting to bring receipts and 1099 forms.

The High S – Finished filing last month like they always do. Was very upset two years ago when their trusted tax accountant retired and they had to start with someone new. Will take a vacation this year with their return just like they have for the last ten years in a row.

The High C – Hasn’t missed a deduction in 20 years. Always files the long form. Thinks popular tax software cuts too many corners. Receipts are neatly filed and cross-indexed by alphabet, date, and project code.

We hope you enjoyed this lighthearted look at how various behaviors measured by DISC might be expressed during tax season. Hopefully you’re all set for Thursday, and as they say… Many happy returns!

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Sometimes around the office we find that people are “reaching their limit” or “at the breaking point”, but we don’t know why or how things got so out of control. Understanding the impact of various situations and how they relate to differing behavioral styles can help you to better understand your coworkers and perhaps recognize and avoid repeating patterns that in the past were inadvertently causing stress levels to rise.

Previously, as part of our “World According to DISC” series we discussed ways in which one can “stress out” a classic High D, High I, High S and High C (The World According to DISC™: How We Stress Someone Out in Style). But what if someone’s most telling category is one in which they score significantly low instead of high?

How to stress out a Low D:
Tell them that they have to “step up and take the reins”. Put them in charge of a team. Let them know that everyone is counting on them to the lead the way.

How to stress out a Low I:
Ask them to cheer up a co-worker or plan an office party. Give them a big enthusiastic pep talk. Give them projects that involve lots of team interaction. Ask them to drum up enthusiasm for a new initiative among the staff.

How to stress out a Low S:
Force them to work a highly repetitive task. Ask them to work a rigid checklist of activity. Make them wait for extended periods. Demand multiple layers of process and approval for very action.

How to stress out a Low C:
Put them on a quality initiative. Tell them that every fact must be rigorously checked and documented. Ask them to provide detailed annotations. Request that they adhere strictly to the facts and avoid injecting opinion.

Behave Responsibly
We certainly don’t advocate setting out to “stress out” your coworkers, but what we hope is that you will find these examples helpful in recognizing that sometimes, without meaning to, we can say or suggest the wrong thing in the wrong way and end up adding significantly to our coworker’s stress levels.

DISC profiles are powerful allies in learning how to adjust your communication and management style to meet the needs of your employees. Without taking the time to learn the styles and how best to communicate to each, it is too easy to find yourself bringing anxiety and stress when you thought you were bringing solutions.

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Art Schoeck was recently asked the following question via our Ask the Expert form:

“On the page that describes the two DISC charts, why are both the most (Adaptive) and least (Natural) scores presented? With today’s culture it seems to me that Most and Least really do not apply, especially with many people working from home, and other cultural issues blurring the line between home and work. Wouldn’t it be less confusing if only one score was presented?”

Art’s answer:

Actually for the very reasons you state it is more vital than ever to examine what adjustments individuals are making to survive/excel in this environment.

Although the two graphs may at first seem like a lot of information to take in, once you get comfortable reading the graphs you realize how useful they are in understanding any changes in behavior that are being caused by the demands of the environment – critical observations that provide important insights into everything from job placement and team fit to strategies for communication and remediation of undesirable behaviors.

These are hectic times that have changed the boundaries of the workplace, but working from home is still work and as such can require activities and modes of communication that are not necessarily part of our natural style. Analyzing our adaptive behaviors is required to see if the person assessed is adjusting as efficiently and appropriately as necessary to be successful, especially if the person does not have a boss and is having to self-manage. These critical comparisons could be severely hindered without the handy reference of both Adaptive and Natural behavioral profiles.

What’s your question?

Data Dome founder, Art Schoeck, often receives questions through our Ask the Expert form. We try to answer questions here on this blog that are representative of common questions regarding DISC and other assessment tools.

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Originally broadcast in 2007, Art Schoeck, founder and CEO of Data Dome, Inc., was interviewed by Jeff Davis on Business Radio 1160′s “Atlanta’s Business,” a half-hour show that focuses on the movers and shakers of Atlanta’s business community.

Host Jeff Davis and Schoeck discussed the topic “The Three Worst Hiring Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” during the show that aired in early April. Schoeck is an expert on employee assessments and behavioral style strategies for the workplace.

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