The "C" in DiSC®

The DISC prodcasts have largely

The DISC prodcasts have largely focused on interaction between the team leader and his team or to those they report to. This has been a fantastic help. I have the cheat sheet pinned on my board. And with each of the four podcasts, I've gone back to listen to the previous ones. I now have the complete set !
When you do the round-up you talked about, focusing on the weaknesses/strengths and how they demonstrate themselves, would you also be willing to talk about how the team leader can assist interaction between the team members? Using the DISC model concepts for my communication is good, but I have sometimes found myself 'refereeeing' between members whose different styles can cause issues. Diversity strengthens team effectiveness. I would value practical steps on how to coach individuals around intra-team relations.

nachapman- Thanks for the kind

nachapman-

Thanks for the kind words. We're thrilled that you're USING our ideas: that's why we're doing this.

Yes, we'll do what you suggest, in a good bit of detail. You're right about diversity. It's essential...but at the expense of friciton, often.

That said, it's likely that we're going to provide those casts at some reasonable price. We'll bundle them with some proprietary guidance and the providing of the DiSC profile for team members. We can only go so far in paying for stuff we provide for free.

We're working on it now... glad it's on your mind as well!

Mark

Finally...the "C". I thought maybe you

Finally...the "C". I thought maybe you had forgotten me.

You state that the "C" and the "I" are opposites. That doesn't necessarily mean that one cannot be high "C" and high "I" at the same time, right?

P.S. Why is the "I" in DiSC lowercased?

No, it's possible that one could be

No, it's possible that one could be both high C and I, though it's not common. The natural tendencies of C's and I's are opposites. C's are more reserved and task focused, while High I's are assertive and people focused.

Believe it or not, the I is lowercase because of a typographical error early on.... just like Lands' End.

Mark

Mark, I attended your workshop at the

Mark, I attended your workshop at the Arthritis Foundation in Tucson. Great stuff! You had my attention the whole time, even after I'd spent three days in back-to-back sessions, brain-numb from info-overload. So thank you!!

The DiSC model is very helpful. Simpler and much more comprehendible than the Myers-Briggs. The handshake info is invaluable, too. It might take a martini or something for me to go for the ask down on one knees, but I promise I'll try it someday soon!

I hope Kate, Travis and Drake are well! ;) - Jessi

Jessi- So glad you enjoyed my

Jessi-

So glad you enjoyed my presentation. I had a great time getting to know all of you, and have been asked to hold dates for some repeat performances.

We GREATLY prefer DiSC to MB here... for the very reason you state. It has high "utility," I like to say.

Nice work on remembering the important stuff too.

It's a privilege to serve you.

Mark

Mark, If you get a spare moment,

Mark,

If you get a spare moment, would you be so kind as to email me? I have a question regarding a sensitive matter I'd rather not post. jessidobos@hotmail.com

Thanks!

Jessi

Mark/Mike Great podcasts - thanks

Mark/Mike

Great podcasts - thanks for taking the time to produce and make them available. I've been using DISC for a number of years now and greatly appreciate the "refresher" that you provided. In fact, I prefer your approach to quickly recognizing the styles than that which I was taught.

I'm interested in your feelings wrt how the DISC model is best used in a group setting. It makes perfect sense when meeting with one person (or multiple people of the same type). However, I've always been challenged at how best to apply it when dealing with a group setting. nachapman's comments (above) are one example - refereeeing - but mine are more focused on group meetings - for example, group discussions or group-based decisions. Pre-work isn't always sufficient to prep the team.

Again, I enjoy your casts and look forward to the weekly Manager-Tools "fix."

Rick

I teach the beginning management course

I teach the beginning management course –the one for non-business majors—at East Carolina University. My sections are online and I would like to inquire about using some of your podcasts. For my students it would be better for me to upload selected podcasts to our servers. Given the educational use and with proper references this might be “legal” anyway. However I would like your permission and advice.
To simulate the discussion that would go on in a face to face class I have my students either watch video or listen to audio files and react to them.
Your cast on time management would be especially useful.

I hope to hear from you.
Thanks

Rick- You've brought up a great

Rick-

You've brought up a great point about advanced use of the DISC model. Without giving an hour long answer by mail, I can say that there is no "group" disc... rather just individuals. We will share, in future casts of some sort, more details on how to do this. It takes advance knowledge of the individuals to use DISC well in a group setting.

Stay tuned! Glad you're a member.

Mark

Mark, I am interested in hearing your

Mark,
I am interested in hearing your thoughts and your experience using the DiSC model in an international context. Is your experience mainly focused on westerners, or in your opinion is it just as good with Asian (for example)?
I am asking this because I live and work in China. I am a CEO of a small company of about 90 people. Although I have a few high Chinese D's on my team, I quickly came to the conclusion that most Chinese folks generally fall into the C or S's. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Ron

Ron- Good question, and one we'll

Ron-

Good question, and one we'll recur to in our international casts.

I absolutely find Disc to be applicable internationally. I think that some of the behaviors are either muted or enhanced because of cultural norms, so that it may appear that more Chinese seem more reserved. Nevertheless, if you consider those things, it's still a great tool.

I think one of the problems is that we are all, without Disc, so likely to treat everyone the same (golden rule vs. platinum rule) that even going halfway there and being a little wrong is STILL a quantum leap forward.

Thanks for asking... and look for casts on this in the future.

Mark

[...] The site requires you to create a

[...] The site requires you to create a free and simple user login to access the podcasts: http://www.manager-tools.com/category/members/ [...]

You guys should make an online quiz

You guys should make an online quiz "What style are you?" that asks multiple choice questions and gives you a result of what style the user is in terms of DiSC -- maybe a percentage of each of the four different styles.

Hao, Ahhh, my friend, we have

Hao,

Ahhh, my friend, we have something MUCH better that in our plans ... shortly we'll be offering the actual DiSC instrument so you can take the actual survey online. Stay tuned! No guessing required. ;-)

Mike

Hi Mark, Nice one ; can you tell me

Hi Mark,
Nice one ; can you tell me how to change from high C to high D ? because the way to be in this world is being eithe high D or high I.

Silly Boy- I disagree. There is a

Silly Boy-

I disagree. There is a greater percentage of D's and I's among senior management than the general populace because senior management jobs require risk taking and speed and tolerance of failure.

But the best CEO I know is a High S.

You don't have to change.... you have to recognize your weaknesses and build coping mechanisms, and endeavor to do ALL of your job, as opposed to the parts you like to do.

Mark

Thanks Mark You did not mention

Thanks Mark

You did not mention anything about high "C" :) I work for a technical contact center here in India; the main issue faced by the managers is that they all have risen from technical background and remeber your welder story and thats true; but high "C" is the way in here. pl advice

Silly Boy- I'm sorry, but I don't

Silly Boy-

I'm sorry, but I don't understand your post. Could you say it again, differently, for me?

Mark

Thank you for these wonderful

Thank you for these wonderful podcasts.
As I was driving to work (I've been catching up on all of them in my driving time, an hour per day or so) listening to the punchline about the female high-C and how she reacted to the cocktail parties, I almost choked on my coffee. Strong reaction to a situation that I've experienced myself many times!

I'm looking forward to taking the DiSC profile survey, but I'm already seeing that high-C is my lead, with "i" possibly the minor secondary trait....

Andrea

Great comment!

Mark,

Great comment from above - "You don't have to change.... you have to recognize your weaknesses and build coping mechanisms, and endeavor to do ALL of your job, as opposed to the parts you like to do." 

I think we all would llike to only do what we like, versus what our roles demand - saying it the way you did sums it up nicely! This should be a basis for our directs in helping them understand and learn about themselves and how we can help them do All of their jobs as well.

Keep up the great work! And let us know when you are making your way to Disney! I mean, Orlando! 

JOE

DiSC = Tetramap

Hi there!

As a certified facilitator of TetraMap (www.tetramap.com) I see that there´s a direct relationship with Tetramap´s "four elements of nature": Earth (D), Air (C), Water (S) and Fire (I). Are you familiar with Tetramap? To me, it has been a great communications and team building tool. And I am a high D (Earth).

Thank you for all the great knowledge you share, I sure am your biggest fan and best promoter in Monterrey, México.

Regards,

RoC

I was just curious if birth

I was just curious if birth order also plays into a DISC profile?  I studied sociology and completely fit the mold for a middle child and as I listened to these, a lot of the same characteristics fall into the high I profile (which I am as well).

Re: DISC - Tetramap

RoC,

I checked the website for tetra map and I really liked it.  We are using DISC at the workplace to improve communication and to strengthen teams creating some balance of the disc profiles within the teams and allowing people to act more freely according to their style without the fear of being wrongly judge by a majority which may belong to a different style.

The first difficulty we faced was related with the labels in DISC.  We got responses like: "Not all High I people can influence people",...

Defining the styles through the elements of nature, takes this sort of resistance that people create simply from the labels used in the model out of the picture.  I also notice looking more carefully into DISC material from manager tools that they also seem to avoid using the labels, but rather High I, High D, and so on.  I can see now how that is purposely so. 

Nara