How personality profiles and training lead to sustainable team success
Talent management models are shifting as more employees trade full-time employment for contractual, project-based work. With the emergence of the so-called “gig economy,” a new set of challenges has emerged for team leaders. To maximize organizational effectiveness, it is now more important than ever to engage team members in their daily work by making it clear how each individual contributes to the mission, while simultaneously making sure that team members understand how to work toward common goals.
Based on the DISC theory of psychologist William Moulton Marston and transformed into a behavioral assessment tool by industrial psychologist Walter Vernon Clarke, the DiSC assessment centers on four different behavioral traits including dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness:
Dominance puts an emphasis on accomplishing results, the bottom line, and confidence.
Influence manifests as the pursuit of influencing or persuading others, openness and relationships.
Steadiness focuses on cooperation, sincerity, and dependability.
Conscientiousness emphasizes quality and accuracy, expertise, and competency.
One of the unique features of the DiSC profile is its ability to improve team dynamics by identifying individual contributors’ leading behaviors and illuminating how these traits work together in a group environment. Leaders and members of high-performing as well as conflict-laden teams, can benefit from completing the DiSC assessment to more effectively understand and manage interpersonal interactions. Team leaders in particular can influence team dynamics by understanding how the behavioral characteristics and patterns caused by their dominant trait can help or hinder team efficacy.
Training is key
For the benefits of DiSC and other assessment tools to have a measurable impact, investing in training is crucial. Seasoned facilitators ensure that employees not only learn more about their behaviors and strengths, but understand how to apply these skills on the job. A properly implemented DiSC training can help team members experience a higher level of job satisfaction in the workplace.
During a recent DiSC assessment led by Cynuria Consulting, participants envisioned using strategies they learned from the workshop in the following ways:
Improving customer communication
Better understanding team and processes
Reflecting on sales situations and customer and co-worker interactions
Adapting to customers, especially when defusing situations
Empathizing with stakeholders
Cynuria Consulting offers a variety of workshops to teach leaders how to successfully implement these tools by offering a two-hour, half-day, and full-day training sessions. Contact us to learn more about how we can help bring the power of behavior assessments to life in your organization.