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 Temperaments” and some overlap with Myers-Briggs).

My Everything DiSC; screengrab from Authors report

I’ll explain why I felt like a failure after I explain a little bit more about DisC and why I think it is very important for improving organisational performance.

Understanding a DiSC report

Here are some of the key parts of my most recent DiSC report and what they mean.

The Cornerstone Principles of DiSC

All DiSC styles and priorities are equally valuable and everyone is a blend of all four styles;

• Your work style is also influenced by other factors such as life experiences, education, and maturity.
• Understanding yourself better is the first step to…