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Submitted by timbarcz on
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 I'm looking to roll out DISC profiles to my team and HR put the brakes on saying we would have to hire a trained facilitator to administer the DISC profiles. I'm going to go along with the HR department here but it seemed overly cautious - especially when my aim is to help directs be better in their understanding of themselves and their personal development.

(Note: I'm not using in a hiring situation, just with existing members. Any new members would given DISC post hire).

 

 

timrutter's picture

 Sounds like someone in HR needs a chill pill. I will assume you are based in the USA for context.

There is nothing illegal about it, just the way you use the information. We have used the awful Myers-Briggs for years

 Why are HR even getting involved in this?

timbarcz's picture
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They caught wind of what I was doing and want to make sure it's administered by someone who is trained because someone could use this in a hiring decision down the road.

timrutter's picture

Get them to work a business case up on THEIR budget, approved by you and use the now spare cash from your budget to spend on other development opportunities!

 

 

leanne's picture
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Inscape, the company MT uses to do profiles, does them online (no hiring necessary). Not only that, but they put out a book called 'I'm Stuck, You're Stuck', which contains a different version (it's phrases, and you rate the phrases and add the numbers for each type of phrase - I like the online version better).

Or, in other words, one of the major players in the whole thing believes there's no need for a 'trained facilitator' in order to get a DISC profile *or* to start making use of it. I don't remember anything specific saying 'and you should get a trained person in order to do X more advanced usage', either in this book or in the companion one, The 4-Dimensional Manager.

I don't think your HR really understands what DISC is about.

I wouldn't necessarily 'roll it out' - I assume by that you mean getting all of them their profiles, sharing everyone's with the rest of the team, and asking them to keep it in mind when dealing with each other - but there's no reason why you shouldn't use your own knowledge of it for your own personal effectiveness *and* to give feedback to people to improve their own effectiveness with each other. 'Hey Jane, when you raise your voice and wave your arms around vigorously, Jodi thinks you're angry and becomes afraid to talk to you', while thinking, 'because Jane, you're a high D and Jodi's a high S'.

There's several casts on how to identify people's profiles based on their behavior, you can use those to try to draw some conclusions. (It's not foolproof; I'm having trouble with some of the people I try to use it on...I think they've got a mixed style and that's why I'm having trouble figuring out what their style is.)

timbarcz's picture
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My plan was to use with my directs and coach them individually on their results and how this impacts their daily work. For those ready for it - explain how this tool can be useful for managing people (as you elude to in your second to last paragraph).

it seems to me an "abundance of caution".

 

i hadn't even planned on sharing the results of everyone together, only if they unanimously agreed to share would we all share our profiles...

 

... On hold for now which as an extremely high D is hard to do

timbarcz's picture
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My plan was to use with my directs and coach them individually on their results and how this impacts their daily work. For those ready for it - explain how this tool can be useful for managing people (as you elude to in your second to last paragraph).

it seems to me an "abundance of caution".

 

i hadn't even planned on sharing the results of everyone together, only if they unanimously agreed to share would we all share our profiles...

 

... On hold for now which as an extremely high D is hard to do

timbarcz's picture
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My plan was to use with my directs and coach them individually on their results and how this impacts their daily work. For those ready for it - explain how this tool can be useful for managing people (as you elude to in your second to last paragraph).

it seems to me an "abundance of caution".

 

i hadn't even planned on sharing the results of everyone together, only if they unanimously agreed to share would we all share our profiles...

 

... On hold for now which as an extremely high D is hard to do

leanne's picture
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I can think of a few possible ideas for going forward:

* Again, use if yourself; tune your feedback to what works for your staff, if nothing else, so you're not talking touchy-feely stuff with Cs and Ds and not talking mechanicistic, task-only stuff with Is and Ss.

* Set up a meeting with the HR director. Ask them to help you understand (NOT 'ask them to explain') their concerns and their need for a trained facilitator. If they say it's policy that you can't use 'personality-based testing' or something, ask them to show it to you - 'oh, I didn't know that, I'm sorry. Can you point me at it so I can read up on the policy myself?' If they tell you what their concerns are, without stating outright that it's a policy, ask them 'if I can alleviate your concerns, can I proceed?' I think Mark calls this pre-closing.

* Ask them what needs to be done about bringing in a trained facilitator and where that process is right now. (Just to make sure it doesn't stall out.)

* If they really do insist on having a trained facilitator... During one of the recent casts, Mark was talking about how he'd had to go for periodic training for Inscape, in order to keep the ability to sell the tests or something like that. And the ECC is *all* *about* DISC, as I understand it. And MT takes corporate clients. Depending on how the logistics and the budget could work out, it might be worth suggesting looking into that.

timbarcz's picture
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Thanks leanne