The DISC model has a very long history – it has been around for over 2,000 years. Beginning in the early to mid-20th century, it gained popularity. Many organizations recognized that it could be used to help people understand themselves, to improve communication within teams, for leadership development, as well as customer service and sales training. In its most basic form, DISC reveals how an individual interacts with other people and approaches work. An overlooked value is using DISC to build top performing teams.
With advances in the study of human behavior and technology, practitioners continue to find ways to make the model simpler, more intuitive, and more relevant. The CriteriaOne® DISC Wheel is just one of those improvements.
The most popular way to represent the DISC model has been the line-graph format. The line graph (located near the back of your CriteriaOne® DISC report) is just one of many ways to view and discuss DISC.
But no man is an island. Therefore it is important to demonstrate how different styles might behave, interact, and react with each other. Our CriteriaOne® “wheel” representation is designed to create a visual at a glance. A single individual can be compared to the style required by his job. A more popular use of the DISC personality wheel, often called a DISC map, has been to compare team members to each other. The DISC personality wheel highlights different collaborative and conflict tendencies as well as conflicts between managers and employees.
When using the DISC personality wheel, a person’s style may be represented within each of the four basic quadrants – —D, I, S, and C. Although each of us is a blend of all four styles, most people strongly prefer one or two styles. A person who is located close to the outer edge of the circle is strongly inclined toward one or two of the characteristics of his or her DISC style. If located between the outer edge and the center of the circle, behavior for the dominant style may be moderate. When positioned closer to the center of the circle there is a slight inclination toward the strongest style but behavior may be heavily influenced by an adjacent or opposing style as well.
For example, we may have a participant whose preferred style is D. He or she’s style is located in the
D quadrant. But he or she’s second strongest style is C. (See line-graph above.) His or her placement would be in the D quadrant but “pulled” closer to the “C” quadrant (represented by the “star.”) Alternatively a D style whose second strongest style was S might find him- or herself closer to the center position on the wheel (represented by the “triangle.”)
DISC Team Map
What is the significance of the DISC personality wheel at work? Each of us has a preferred working and relating style. Participants located in the same quadrant share similar communication and work styles. Communication and collaboration is easier and conflict kept to a minimum. Participants in opposing or adjacent quadrants approach work and people differently. Therefore, participants located in different quadrants are at the greatest risk for interpersonal and work conflict. Thus is the importance of using a DISC employee assessment.
In the DISC team map to the left, most members of the team are located on the right side; only 2 members are located in the D quadrant. The significance varies based on the purpose of the team, their jobs, company culture, and how well each team member understands other team members’ roles. But without some basic acknowledgement that these difference exist, conflicts and disruptions will likely occur most notably between those team members residing in the I and C quadrants as well D and S. Our DISC employee assessment can help to avoid these conflicts.
For more information about our DISC employee assessment and how it builds leadership skills and helps teams collaborate better and embrace conflict, contact us today.
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