As business owners and entrepreneurs, we are always looking for new tools and techniques to help us grow and improve our craft. Whether that’s a new training programme to undertake or a new article to read, owning a business is a constant learning and improvement process. But one of the tools that I believe isn’t used nearly enough by business owners is psychometric profiling. So today, I want to talk a little bit about what the DISC analysis is, my preferred profile, and what benefits it can have for the business owner looking to grow.

 

What is a DISC Profile?

DISC profiling has been around for donkeys’ years in the psychology circles, but it’s only recently come into the business world too. It was originally designed by William Moulton Marston (the same man who invented polygraph tests) in 1982 as a way of figuring out which of 4 distinctive behavioural traits an individual fell into. These traits were:

  • Dominance
  • Influence
  • Steadiness
  • Contentiousness/Compliant

His theory was that these 4 traits show how different people illustrate their emotions, and therefore how they responded to their environment, and their sense of self. He only ever used it as a behavioural analysis tool for psychologists – it was Walter Clarke who developed the modern day DISC analysis tool 26 years later.

 

Modern Day DISC

Fast forward to today, and DISC profiles are used everywhere as a way to understand how people behave, and more importantly, why. It doesn’t measure intelligence, mental health, values or anything like that. It just gives you an idea of your natural thinking and behaviour. This is important because it’s what drives how you respond to challenges, how you deal with change, influence others, and how you respond to rules and procedures.

DISC profiles are best done as a sort of ‘speed quiz’, with participants answering each question as quickly as they can. By putting a time pressure on, people have less time to think through their answers and give what they think is the ‘right’ answer. Instead they just answer with their gut. This is what gives us a genuine reflection of their behaviours and thought patterns, which is exactly what we want!

 

Why is DISC Useful for Business Owners?

While DISC profiling started in psychiatry, it’s become one of the most amazing tools a business owner can have. Not because it helps you generate income or anything – but because it helps you understand yourself better.  Knowing how your mind works means you can develop working patterns that you will stick to, become a better manager, create better communication towards your team and your clients,  make more informed decisions, and just work better as an individual and as part of a team.

It does this because it identifies your behavioural characteristics. Each profile stands for a different set. For example:

 

Dominance – Sees the big picture, can be blunt, accepts challenges, gets straight to the point, perceives themselves as more powerful than the environment. Great at getting jobs started.

Influence – Shows enthusiasm, is optimistic, likes to collaborate, LOVES being part of a team, dislikes being ignored.

Steadiness – Doesn’t like to be rushed, calm manner, calm approach, supportive actions.

Contentiousness/Compliant – Enjoys independence, objective reasoning, wants the details, fears being wrong. Is a perfectionist

 

The thing to remember here is that all DISC styles are equally valuable. The idea isn’t to find out if you’re better than anyone else. It’s to get a better understanding of yourself and how you think. In my opinion it’s one of the most underrated business and personal development activities you can do. Getting to know your own personality also gives you the ability to build a supporting cast of complementary styles of people for your team – which is why some businesses will use a DISC profile as part of their recruitment process.

You might find that you score highly with 2 or even 3 personality types, and that’s OK! Everyone lands in a different place on the scale, and looking at where you fall means you can understand your own decisions better. You know, those gut calls you never quite knew the reason for? It also helps you understand what’s holding you back in certain areas, so you know where the work needs to happen.

 

If you’re intrigued by DISC profiling and want to know what personality type you are, just book in a coffee chat with me, and we’ll get the ball rolling!