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Submitted by richkonline on
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 I am having a DISC rollout meeting with my staff tomorrow (Tuesday).

One staff member has said that they do not like the idea of posting their DISC profile in their cubicle because it is labelling.

So the question is, how do I respond to the statement that DISC is labelling. 

Richard.

 

jrb3's picture
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Yes, it is a label:  a discernment, not a judgement.

This smells to me like not their real concern.  The posted profile is meant to remind others how the staffer prefers to communicate and understand the world, so as to adjust to more effectively communicate with that staffer.

Inquire further, non-threateningly.  What does your direct report see in this situation?

Joseph

richkonline's picture
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 Sounds like good advice. I have time before the meeting. Infact, I have a 1x1 with this person. I think they might bring it up themselves in their section of the 1x1, but I will have it down for mine. 

I will report back in case it is of benefit to others.

Richard. 

 

 

richkonline's picture
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Mark in his podcast about rolling out DISC is very definite that the profile should be posted in a public place, even if it is shared by others outside of the team who has taken DISC. 
 
This is the key concern of my direct. Making it public will encourage conversations that they do not want to have - i.e. with people outside of their team. They think that they will look at the profile and then say this is the way the person is - period. i.e. static, non-changeable. 
 
I explained again that DISC is how you behave if you are not thinking about it. The key is to understand how you behave and then modify it when conversing with others so the conversation is better. 
 
Still didn't get home the message about displaying the profile publicly. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

richkonline's picture
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Mark in his podcast about rolling out DISC is very definite that the profile should be posted in a public place, even if it is shared by others outside of the team who has taken DISC. 
 
This is the key concern of my direct. Making it public will encourage conversations that they do not want to have - i.e. with people outside of their team. They think that they will look at the profile and then say this is the way the person is - period. i.e. static, non-changeable. 
 
I explained again that DISC is how you behave if you are not thinking about it. The key is to understand how you behave and then modify it when conversing with others so the conversation is better. 
 
Still didn't get home the message about displaying the profile publicly. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

pucciot's picture
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This person seems uncomfortable with the whole idea.  And they seem to have an aversion for "being labeled".

It is understandable.  None of us like that idea.  Being labeled has a lot of negative connotations in our culture.

--

 The Podcast also described what to do if a team member does not wish to participate.

Maybe this is the case for this person.

or

The "Public Place" could try to be just public for this team.

Only at your desk - or - in an online forum only accessed by your team ?

 

Just some thoughts.

 

TJPuccio

donm's picture
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Sorry to be the stick in the mud, but I don't like my DISC profile announced or displayed, either. I don't mind around strangers, such as at the ECC, but there's no way I'd post it at work. Frankly, I don't think mine came up correctly. Everyone who meets me sees a lot of C (so do I), but my profile said my C is a 1. I have to act C to get the work done - engineering is a lot of detail work and you cannot make mistakes - but DISC says I would struggle to do C. If I couldn't do C, I would fail at my job.

My conditioning, job requirements, and experience make me consistently behave the opposite of what my profile says. Posting my profile would be misleading to folks who really understand and follow DISC principles. As an I of 7, I'd have people sitting across from me telling stories and chatting while I have work to do. I don't get paid for telling stories, no matter how much I like doing so. I really love it when I'm in front of a classroom, because then I get to tell stories and still get paid for doing it. At work, I need C-like explanations, in D-like time frames. I don't have time for I-like wanderings or S-like ponderings.

No, I would never willingly post my DISC profile. Frankly, if my boss forced me to post it in spite of my objections, I'd start looking for a new job immediately or even resign on the spot, and I would find ways to scuttle the post-it idea for the short period of time it would take me to permanently depart the premises. Working in the oil patch on the technical side for 25+ years gives me options others don't have in this economy; however, even without such options, I would likely resign rather than post my DISC profile. I would throw away the profile every time no one was around to see it disappear. I'd feign ignorance and promise to put it up later. As a high-I, I can make "later" become "never" due to my scatter-brained proclivities. I could just put it on my desk and wait for it to be buried, for one thing.

As I'm the one who does even a modicum of M-T at my office and I'm a senior manager, I get to pick and choose what concepts to follow. I choose to use DISC through observation, but I wouldn't post my profile or force others to do so, regardless of the instruction or reasoning.

Are you willing to lose this worker over this? If she feels as strongly as I do, then that's where you're headed if you force the issue. My objection is not that it is labeling. My issue is that I keep my personal and work lives separate. I see DISC as something on the personal side of the equation. I have a visceral dislike for crossing the work-personal line (does that sound like a C of 1?). As I said above, I would quit before willingly remaining in an environment that ignored my strongly-voiced objections to any action, especially an action I would be forced to acknowledge every time I looked around my office.

My counsel would be to suggest she put the profile up anyway, but if she chooses not to, then I'd do no more than mention it and ask if she was planning to put it up later. "No? OK, just asking." Not posting the DISC profile is not going to disrupt the workplace, so putting it up should not be mandatory, unless, like I said, you're willing to lose this and maybe other employees over it just to enforce conformity.

richkonline's picture
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Thanks for your reply DONM.

I have come to trust Manager Tools' advice and therefore would like to get Mark's comments on why he feels so strongly about posting the profiles. 

Here's what I did. I asked each team member to post their DISC report on our shared team folder - that's just our team of 7. Everyone was fine about that. I then told everyone that I had not posted my DISC profile in an open place and would not be asking them to do so either.

I led by example on putting my report on the shared team folder, and I suppose I am leading by example not to post the profile publicly. We may lose something by not going public, but I was not in anyway going to escalate the concern about public posting into a workplace brawl. In fact I positioned the discussion simply as a discussion about Manager Tools' advice. To take it further, I will not be asking about it further. I do not want to "guilt trip" the direct report or use my "institutional power" as the Boss to push it.

Perhaps what I am saying here is that I am not convinced as to the benefits of public posting.

Thanks for everyone's replies.

Richard. 

 

 

 

 

 

richkonline's picture
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Thanks for your reply DONM.

I have come to trust Manager Tools' advice and therefore would like to get Mark's comments on why he feels so strongly about posting the profiles. 

Here's what I did. I asked each team member to post their DISC report on our shared team folder - that's just our team of 7. Everyone was fine about that. I then told everyone that I had not posted my DISC profile in an open place and would not be asking them to do so either.

I led by example on putting my report on the shared team folder, and I suppose I am leading by example not to post the profile publicly. We may lose something by not going public, but I was not in anyway going to escalate the concern about public posting into a workplace brawl. In fact I positioned the discussion simply as a discussion about Manager Tools' advice. To take it further, I will not be asking about it further. I do not want to "guilt trip" the direct report or use my "institutional power" as the Boss to push it.

Perhaps what I am saying here is that I am not convinced as to the benefits of public posting.

Thanks for everyone's replies.

Richard. 

 

 

 

 

 

BariTony's picture

First off, did you do the roll-out to your team and explain the purpose of DISC? It's pretty clear that this is NOT about personalities, rather, it focuses on communication styles. If you want your team to be more efficient, it helps if they understand and are able to adapt to each other's communication styles. You didn't provide enough context, but the first place I'd look as a manager would be myself. Did I properly roll DISC out? Did I provide enough context? Is there a deeper seated problem that's bothering this employee?

If anything, when I started applying DISC internally, labels seemed to disappear! The "teflon" manager who never seemed to take the fall for anything was really a high I. The manager who was a jerk and a bully was really a high D. Understanding their communication styles and adapting my behavior made my working relationships much better. 

Frankly, I'm flabbergasted by the comment that someone would resign on the spot if they were forced to post their DISC profile. I think my response as a manager would be "Okay, please submit your resignation in writing." And follow through. I'm sorry, but that behavior is just flat-out insubordinate. (I once saw an entire department fired on the spot by the CFO when they went to him and demanded that their boss be fired. The CFO admitted he was a bad manager, but he refused to tolerate the insubordination.)

As someone who had a lengthy period of unemployment in the last recession, I would caution you about falling on your sword over something like this. It doesn't matter how good you think you are - it's probably worse out there than you  realize. I just warned a colleague last year against speaking "truth to power" to our boss and quitting, confident that she would have a job within a few weeks. Fourteen months later, she's still looking. If you think you're irreplaceable, trust me - you're not. As one of my mentors once told me, "Every one of us is invaluable, but none of us are inexpendable."

 

 

 

 

Kootenay_Mike's picture

I think DONM's comment is a very good explanation on why someone would not post their DISC profile. If DONM worked for me and stated he was not comfortable with it, I would respect that and it would not be posted. I think he is pretty down in the weeds with understanding his DISC personality and his "face" in different settings. He has thought about it and decided not too. I think that's a win.    

The purpose of DISC is to improve the relationships between people. I wouldn't want the issue of posting a profile to destroy the relationship or end it. I know I will not get 100% compliance or be 100% effective with all the time with all the people. I rather have the relationship than the complliance.

And I am a high D.

edcrawfordlv's picture

BLUF: If you want to know how to communicate with me, communicate with me.

I'd want to quit if I were forced to post my DISC results as well.

It seems horribly invasive to me, a High C/D and Very low I/S to be forced by the company to post a number on a wall that describes who I am.  It seems like being forced to post "medical results" on the wall so people will have something to talk to me about.  ("Hey I see from your blood work this week that you like eating out.  Want to go have lunch?")  

I'd have no problem talking to a person that has a relationship with me about Medical results or DISC score, but even then, I'm not going to post it on the wall.

I wouldn't mind if you wrote it in a notebook, or we discussed it in a meeting.  Heck, most people can probably figure out my DISC score in under a minute.

E

leanne's picture
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I think it's important not to miss this:

It's not about the score.

The score, or even the 'high X', isn't the critical part of what should get communicated to other people. It's a shorthand; it's not the important part.

The important part is: What can we learn about you in order to make us more effective when working with you?

So, for those of you who object to posting the score, I have a different question (or rather questions) for you:

Can we post your reader/listener preference? (Or preferences - I prefer some things one way and some things another way.)

Can we post your 'ok-to-interrupt-whenever' preference?

Can we give you a sign to put up that says 'I'm really really busy right now, please please please don't interrupt me come back at 2:30'? (It should always have a 'come back at'. My apartment office managers, when they leave the office, put up a little paper clock with 'back at' and the time selected. A manager on my floor at work has a miniature white board she writes on when she leaves/is busy/whatever.)

Can we write a paragraph - or rather, have you write a paragraph, or take a paragraph from the DISC results - that gives some ideas of what your general communication style is? (E.g., please do not be offended if I don't say more than 'hi', it doesn't mean I'm having a bad day, it just means that stopping to talk isn't what I am thinking about doing'.

If not any of the above, is there something we *can* put up that says something useful for other people such that they can be more effective when they want something from you?