DataDome Blog

Here at Data Dome we talk a lot about behavioral styles and how DISC can be used to measure both natural and adapted behaviors, but it is important to remember that behaviors alone are only part of the story. Examining values and motivators are essential for understanding an employee and for creating harmonious and productive work environments. One of the original thinkers in the area of values and motivators was the German philosopher and psychologist, Eduard Spranger.

In his book, Types of Men (1914), Spranger put forth his major contribution to personality theory; what he called value attitudes:

• The Theoretical whose dominant interest is the discovery of truth
• The Economic who is interested in what is useful
• The Aesthetic whose highest value is form and harmony
• The Social whose highest value is love of people
• The Political whose interest is primarily in power
• The Religious whose highest value is unity

Later, TTI founder, Bill Bonnstetter, changed the names of three of Spranger’s six attitudes:

• Economic became Utilitarian
• Political became Individualistic
• Religious became Traditional

These updated names are now a familiar part of the tools we use today.

Later this month, Behavioral Style Strategist and President of Data Dome, Inc. Art Schoeck, will once again be bringing his expertise to the Scarlett Leadership Institute’s Signature Executive retreat. Participants will receive advanced training in leadership applications and strategies using the insights of DISC behavioral style analysis. Attendees include executives from HCA, LP Bldg Products, Tristar Energy, Brisgestone Americas, HealthSpring and Ingram Barge amongst others.

About the Signature Executive Program
The Scarlett Leadership Institute, located at Belmont University in Nashville Tennessee, hosts the Signature Executive Program, which offers a unique and engaging means of transferring leadership experience to the next generation of business leaders. Open only to high potential individuals nominated by senior leadership in their organizations, the Institute brings together world-class business minds from Fortune 500 companies and successful leading-edge organizations to interact with a selected class of participants. This “for-leaders by-leaders” executive education program was designed by leading business minds to develop the people and talent they most need to support the continued success of their organizations. It offers a unique opportunity because it asks for a unique commitment: a written pledge from both the participating individual and a senior on-the-job mentor in the sponsoring organization.

Last year’s participants were asked to complete an evaluation – many indicated that Art Schoeck’s seminar was their favorite piece in this exclusive and sought-after week-long leadership program.

One of the most pivotal times in the development of a business is that moment when the entrepreneur chooses to go to the next level: to build an organization. It is a time to remember that many of the habits that were so beneficial initially – pioneering, big-picture thinking, risk-taking, forging ahead no matter the obstacles, doing anything and everything it takes to make it go – may now need to be balanced by other skills and energies to create an effective and successful team.

Stepping back and adjusting focus on making the right hires, however, could be an uncomfortable change of pace from the forging ahead full steam pattern you’ve been living. Your pioneering ways may have gotten you off the ground, but it is a strong team that will take you further, and to build one you must recognize that interviewing, training, and developing relationships will take time and effort.

The key to growth is defining who you really need and then finding them, hiring, them and keeping them. But there are pitfalls everywhere. Too often, when first expanding, entrepreneurs will set out to find copies of themselves: persons as energetic, dynamic, willing and risk-taking as they are. They might be duplicating their strengths, but they are then not compensating for their weaknesses.

It is easy to understand the tendency to hire people like yourself: you communicate easier, you tend to motivate similarly, but it can be a trap. Your business needs are not satisfied by duplicating yourself, but rather by complementing your skills and behaviors – a pattern that has worked well for “Yin and Yang” pairs like Bernard Marcus & Arthur Blank, William Hewlett & Dave Packard, Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak – different styles bringing different strengths together to grow their companies from humble beginnings.

Take the time needed to define each position on your new team. No skimping. Strategic planning is useless if you don’t find the right people to execute your gameplan. Finding people with the technical skills is relatively easy: resume, references, etc. The soft skills are a different matter, and are actually more important.

There are great tools available today to match the soft skills of the person with the soft skills appropriate for the job. You can go a step further and motivate each new member of your team by identifying their passions in life; their values, and making sure that between their work and time away from work, they can fulfill those passions.

It takes time to find the right people, more time to train them, and even more time to listen to, adjust and motivate them; but, the rewards are unparalleled. So often the new entrepreneur takes too long to realize that simple replication is not a growth plan, control tactics work only in the short term, and turnover just plain hurts. Performance and productivity are greatly enhanced only when the entrepreneur lets go of one-style “do as I do” thinking and changes to a focus on building teams of complementary behaviors.

Remember: people are the number one resource of a company.