I just received my second DiSC Assessment and I feel like a failure

And how to use DiSC to improve team performance, productivity and become a more effective leader

Seven years ago, my boss got everyone to complete a DiSC profile. The whole organisation completed the questionnaire and then sat through a facilitated workshop. It was the most important thing I have done on my leadership journey. Just last week, I completed my second DiSC profile assessment, and when I got my results back, I felt like a failure.

Photo by Ben Sweet on Unsplash

The DiSC profile is a process for categorising your behavioural style. D — Dominance, i — Influence, S — Steadiness, and C — Conscientious. It identifies your tendencies or preferences across a two-axis plot. The axes are controlled (do you like to be the one making decisions — the D and i profiles are high on control) and affiliation (do you prioritise decisions that the data says is right, or what the most people say is right — the i and S profiles are high on affiliation).

Your behavioural preferences are then characterised against those tendencies. There are no good or bad profiles, just differences, and everyone has a mix of all of the profiles. They just prioritise in one area. The below figure describes the preferences of each sector (there is commonality with “The Four…