- What is DISC?
- Workplace Motivators
- DISC Adjectives
- World According to DISC
- Assessment Guidelines
DISC – What is Behavioral Style Profiling?
Sample Reports and DISC Profiles
If you manage others in your organization and have purchasing authority, you may qualify for a free DISC profile behavioral style assessment. Use our contact form to order. We also offer a complimentary needs assessment (call us at 404-814-0739), and you can download sample DISC profiles and behavioral style reports from our sample profiles page . Behavioral style profiles do not measure intelligence, hard skills, values, or interests. Some of the customizations of behavioral profiles are:
- Management-Staff (formerly Employee-Manager)
- Interviewing Insights – General
- Executive
- Sales
- Interviewing Insights-Sales
- Customer Service / Call Center
- Communicating with Style
- Team Building
- Time Management
- Workplace Motivators / Priority Values
- Job Analysis of the Work Environment
- Job Style vs. Applicant Style
- Career Planning Insights
Please note: All sample assessments and DISC profiles are available in PDF format. For assistance with PDF files, please refer to our File Help page.
What is a DISC behavioral profile?
(shared slides available: DISC: an Introduction)
There are hundreds of different DISC interpretations, tools and training products. These are all based on 4-quadrant DISC behavioral style theory. As an assessments clearinghouse and consultancy, we have done the research for you and can recommend the most advanced and effective of these tools for your needs. The DISC profiles that we recommend have easy-to-understand narrative reports with highly targeted information that can be used for self-awareness, as well as for personal, team, and corporate vitality planning.A DISC profile is an accurate description of our observable actions and behaviors. It is not a test. There is no right or wrong DISC profile, no good or bad style. Every style combination has strengths and weaknesses, value to the organization and typical blind spots that might create problems if unaddressed. A profile narrates exactly how we prefer to do things and in what kind of environment we prefer to do them.
- How do I prefer to communicate with others?
- How do I go about achieving my goals?
- What type of work environment do I need to thrive and be motivated?
- What do I need to thrive and be motivated?
- What behaviors do I tend to exhibit under stress?
Each behavioral style profile report is a detailed, personalized narrative that addresses how a person responds to Problems, People, Pace and Procedures.
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Problems (Dominance)
– How you respond to problems and challenges.
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People (Influence)
– How you influence others to your point of view.
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Pace (Steadiness)
– How you respond to the pace of the environment.
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Procedures (Compliance)
– How you respond to rules and procedures set by others.
Developing a clear self-awareness and then understanding – and learning to adapt to – styles that are different from ourselves will always produce more effective communications, better “people information” and, therefore, better decision-making. Understanding our own specific role or position within a group or team context is the complete extension of good communication. Understanding styles corrects misconceptions, miscommunications, and misunderstandings that might have existed and plagued performance for some time. Benefits include reduced conflict, increased productivity, better work teams, and a better working environment for self-motivation.
Related: Why Would Our Organization Want to Use Behavioral Style Profiles?
Why Data Dome for DISC profiles?
- Free consultation to discuss your needs and goals.
- A wide variety of DISC specialized reports and applications.
- Validated DISC assessments offer 384 graph combinations (not just 4, 16, or even 64).
- Effective and ethical application of these tools has been proven to reduce turnover, increase productivity, build working teams, encourage effective communication, reduce conflict, promote mutual understanding, and develop an environment for self-motivation.
Your consultation is free. Call us today at 404-814-0739.
We Support You
We Will Guide You in Behavioral Styles Application Processes
- Effective Communication Skills
- Leadership Development
- Creating Behavioral Team Synergy
- Productivity and Optimal Performance
- Engagement and Commitment
- Making the Hardest Sales
- How to Salvage Your Hiring Mistakes
- Turning Arguments to Agreements
- Managing and Inspiring Change
- Objectively Identify Optimal Position Behaviors
- Career Planning
- Time Management: How Our Style Wastes Our Time
- Keeping Talent, Lowering Labor Cost
- Getting to the Root of Workplace Anxiety
- Identifying Style-Based Time Wasters
- Preventing and Treating Burnout
- Effective Right-sizing
- Workplace Optimization
- Poor Performance Troubleshooting
What kind of information is included in the DISC behavioral style profile reports we recommend?
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Description of your Natural, Basic Style
– How you actually prefer to do things without feeling that you have to play a role. This is your home or comfort style, where you are most yourself.
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Description of your Adapted, Response Style
– The adaptive behaviors you tend to exhibit in order to meet your perception of what it takes to thrive, excel, or just survive in the working role on the job.
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Comparison of Natural and Adapted Styles
– What changes there might be in intensities of focus from home to work, what additional energy or stress is required for the adjustments you feel are appropriate to the job.
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Value to the Organization
– Focuses on the strengths of your natural style.
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Checklist for Communicating
– A description of the way you most prefer others to communicate with you, what someone should do and should not do to communicate most effectively with you.
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Ideal Environment
– Identifies the characteristics of the work environment that are most conducive to activating the strengths of your natural style.
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How Others Perceive You
– Your Adapted Style (how people are likely to perceive the adapted style you “wear to work”), Increasing Stress (the emergence of your natural style over your adapted style under increasing pressure), and Under Extreme Pressure (the most intense tendencies of each style under very stressful positions or situations).
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Management Keys
– Shows what basic needs must be met in order for you to work at optimum productivity and performance.
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Areas for Improvement
– Lists the possible limitations and blind spots of your behavioral style. Exellent for identifying behaviors that might hinder you.
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Style Analysis Graphs
– Visual aids for understanding the narratives. There is an adjective graph and a wheel graph for your style.
- Depending on the version you select, targeted information and special sections will be included in that particular report. For example, the Sales Profile includes a section on how to sell to different styles, the Executive Profile has information on leadership, and the Interview Insights Profile includes recommended interview questions.
WORKPLACE MOTIVATORS
Motivational Insights with the Workplace Motivators Report
A person’s performance can be directly related to Workplace Motivators. The Motivational Insights report allows individuals to understand how their prioritized values affect choices and provide purpose and direction in their lives. When combined with the behavioral assessment, the picture of the individual is complete – both HOW he or she will behave and WHY – the values and motivational drivers behind his or her actions. Values are the drivers behind our behavior. Abstract concepts in themselves, values are principles or standards by which we act. Values are beliefs held so strongly that they affect the behavior of an individual or an organization.
This tool has direct application as a key part of a selection and development process. Values help to initiate one’s behavior, and are sometimes called the hidden motivators because they are not always readily observed. The profile’s narrative report illuminates these motivating factors and attitudes and allows people to understand the driving forces behind their decisions. For example, if you were to develop a bonus program, would you know what “perks” would actually motivate a person? If you’re giving money to a person with a low economic, high aesthetic value, it would be a mistake. You might better motivate him or her with the prospect of a newly designed office. Which would be most motivational: a cash bonus, a trip to a technological convention, a pass to a major classical art exhibition, to be given an assistant, or to be freed of the tasks of managing others? If you know what is most valued, you know how to motivate.
Consciously or unconsciously, every decision or course of action we take is based on our beliefs, ethics and values. Values direct our actions and offer stimuli for behavior. Every great achievement was the result of someone seeing the value of the results. Values provide the initiative for the diligent pursuit of a goal or vision. Attitudes and values are a type of window through which we see the world and seek fulfillment in our lives. If we are participating in a discussion, activity, or career that is in line with our attitudes, we will value the experience. Conversely, if we are in a conversation, activity or career that is against our dominant attitudes, we will be indifferent or even negative toward the experience, possibly causing stress. If our values are not being lived at work or home, then our lives feel empty and we eventually search for that fulfillment elsewhere.
Identifying the values of individuals, teams and organizations reduces conflicts, increases talent retention, improves efficiency and productivity, and energizes any group working together toward common goals. The benefits include reduced turnover, enormous cost savings and increased satisfaction of stakeholders.
The Workplace Motivators Report has direct application as a key part of a selection and development process. Values help to initiate one’s behavior, and are sometimes called the hidden motivators because they are not always readily observed. The profile’s narrative report illuminates these motivating factors and attitudes and allows people to understand the driving forces behind their decisions. For example, if you were to develop a bonus program, would you know what “perks” would actually motivate a person? If you’re giving money to a person with a low economic, high aesthetic value, it would be a mistake. You might better motivate him or her with the prospect of a newly designed office. Which would be most motivational: a cash bonus, a trip to a technological convention, a pass to a major classical art exhibition, to be given an assistant, or to be freed of the tasks of managing others? If you know what is most valued, you know how to motivate.
The Workplace Motivators profile measures the relative weight one places on the Theoretical, Utilitarian, Aesthetic, Social, Individualistic and Traditional.
Each value is ranked as being Strong, Situational, or Indifferent. The report then addresses each of the values and gives descriptors of actions and initiatives you might expect to see exhibited from the person based on the value. Data Dome can provide assessment of the following interests and values:
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Theoretical
The discovery of truth. The chief aim in life is to order and systematize knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself. It manifests as an appetite for learning.
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Utilitarian/Economic
Practical interest in money and what is useful. Time and resources are meted out with an eye to future economic gain. It manifests as utility, requiring a return on investment (time or money).
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Aesthetic
Interest in form, balance and harmony. Life is a series of episodic events, each enjoyed for its own sake. Has a heightened sense of beauty and inner vision (not necessarily talented in creative artistry). In corporate life, this values requires a harmonious work environment (not typically supported by “the cubicle”.
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Social
Inherent desire to help others. Seeks to eliminate hate and conflict. Other persons are ends in themselves (not means). Altruistic, kind, empathetic, and generous, even to their own detriment.
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Individualistic/Political
A desire to exert power and influence (most leaders). Others may be seen only through their own eyes and used as simply the means to an end.
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Traditional/Regulatory
Unity and order. Following a specific system for living, and the need to be regulated by that system. Seeks to comprehend the cosmos as a whole and to relate themselves to a global totality. May alternate between the negation and affirmation of life, or seek mystical oneness. Dislikes change and chaos. May also exhibit inflexibility with regard to their convictions.
Shared slides: Introduction to Workplace Motivators
Values interact with one another.
Values can and do change over a period of time.
Some values eclipse others as needs and wants are satisfied. Values are also affected by interactions with family, friends, teachers, religious issues, geographic location, the media, leaders, and so on.The textual content of the the Workplace Motivators report is based on robust statistical analysis, real-time and virtual focus group input, and a database of tens of thousands of people. The personalized report includes:
- An individualized section explaining the respondent’s rankings in:
- General Characteristics Value to the Organization
- Keys to Managing and Motivating
- Training, Professional Development and Learning Insights
- Continuous Quality Improvement
- A Norms and Comparisons section (respondent vs. national mean)
- A Values Graph and a Values Wheel (visual representations of results)
- A Values Action Plan affirming strengths and encouraging growth and development
- A Team-Building summary to facilitate sharing with team members
Much more detailed Motivators/Values descriptions are available through our workshops and seminars.
We offer seminars that combine an analysis of behavioral style with values. Feel free to contact us.
Sample Workplace Motivators Report
Please note: All sample profiles are available in PDF format. For assistance with PDF files, please refer to our File Help page.
DISC Adjectives
A handy reference for reviewing DISC behavioral styles..
Below are some adjectives commonly associated with the various high and low elements of a DISC profile quadrant. You can also download this handy DISC Adjective PDF for reference.
high D
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high I
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high S
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high C
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low D
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low I
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low S
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low C
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THE WORLD ACCORDING TO DISC
The World According to DISC™ is our way of describing the set of insights into the everyday world that we have gained as practicing DISC behavioral style analysts and strategists.
Some of these are published on the site, others are used in seminars and other forms of training. A book manuscript is in progress and will be offered for sale when it is published.
GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSMENTS
Government Info for Employers and Managers: Guidelines for Assessments
At Data Dome we recognize the power of assessment tools and that is why it is of paramount importance to use these tools in an ethical and responsible matter. The U.S. Department of Labor offers some excellent guidance on the subject of assessments therefore we recommend the following reading:
Testing and Assessment Consumer Guides
Testing and Assessment: A Guide to Good Practices for Workforce Investment Professionals (December 2007) Tests and Other Assessments: Helping You Make Better Career Decisions (updated October 2000) Testing and Assessment: An Employer’s Guide to Good Practices (updated October 2000) Testing and Assessment: A Guide to Good Practices for Workforce Investment Professionals (December 2007)
This Guide helps workforce development professionals effectively use assessment instruments to promote talent development. Appropriate use of assessments enables workforce professionals to assist clients in exploring career options, identifying skill gaps and education needs, applying for appropriate job openings, and obtaining industry recognized credentials. Using the guide you can:
evaluate and select assessment tools/procedures for career exploration, skill identification, knowledge demands, and career readiness; learn about administration and scoring of assessment tools to meet business and individual client needs; interpret assessment results accurately and effectively; and understand professional and legal standards related to assessment use in career counseling, training, and other talent development activities.
Download:
Testing and Assessment: A Guide to Good Practices for Workforce Investment Professionals (PDF – 307 KB)
Tests and Other Assessments: Helping You Make Better Career Decisions (updated October 2000)
This Guide is focused toward clients of workforce development programs. It explains how assessment instruments are used in employment selection and career counseling and gives tips and strategies for taking tests and other assessments. This Guide can help test takers, career counselors, and employers learn and understand test-taking strategies by answering test takers questions in easy-to-understand terms.
This updated version of the guide contains links to Web sites that provide additional information or services relevant to the various topics addressed in the guide.
Download:
Tests and Other Assessments: Helping You Make Better Career Decisions (PDF – 833 KB)
Testing and Assessment: An Employer’s Guide to Good Practices (updated October 2000)
This Guide can help managers and workforce development professionals understand and use employment testing and assessment practices to meet their organization’s human resources goals. It conveys the essential concepts of employment testing in easy-to-understand terms enabling managers and professionals to:
evaluate and select assessment tools and procedures that maximize chances for getting the right fit between jobs and employees; administer and score assessment tools for their particular needs; interpret assessment results; and understand the professional and legal standards to be followed when conducting personnel assessment. This updated version of the guide contains links to Web sites that provide additional information or services relevant to the various topics addressed in the guide.
Download:
Testing and Assessment: An Employer’s Guide to Good Practices (PDF – 1.7 MB)
Visit the O*NET Resource Center
These guides are made available and maintained by the O*Net Resource Center. The Occupational Information Network (O*NET) is being developed under the sponsorship of the US Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA) through a grant to the North Carolina Employment Security Commission which operates the National Center for O*NET Development.
Contact us for a free consultation on using the right assessment tools for your needs, or to make suggestions for additional books to add to our list. In a hurry? Call 404-814-0739.
