DiSC – A Behavioural Preference Assessment Tool

DiSC Behavioural Assessment

The DiSC framework is owned by Wiley, and you can read more about in on their website.

At a high level, the DiSC framework is a behavioural assessment tool that’s pretty popular for personal, team and organizational development. It’s based on original 1920s work by William Moulton Marston (who’s an innteresting person in his own right, having also created Wonder Woman, amongst other thing).

Like many similar tools, DiSC uses a self-reported survey as the basis for assessing an individual’s behavioural preferences (styles).

Based on survey responses, individuals are asigned a blend of: Dominance (D), Influence (I), Steadiness (S), and Conscientiousness (C), thus the name DiSC. Again, as is usual with frameworks like this, each preference style is allocated a color.

The 2 Dimensions of DiSC

The DiSC framework basically considers people across two dimensions, which result in the four quadrants of behavioural preferences presented by the model.

As the model is typically shown, the vertical dimension explores whether the individual is fast pased and outspoken (towards the top) or more cautious and reflective (towards the bottom). The horizontal dimension explores whether the individual is more questioning and skeptical (towards the left) or accepting and warm (towards the right).

Based on the blend of an individual’s preferences, they are allocated an overall behavioural preferences (style) of one of the quadrants.

D – Dominance (Green):

Individuals with a high Dominance score are typically assertive, competitive, and confident. They thrive in environments where they can take charge and drive results. These individuals are often seen as decisive and goal-oriented, making them natural leaders. However, they may also be perceived as aggressive or impatient.

I – Influence (Red):

People with a strong Influence trait are outgoing, enthusiastic, and sociable. They excel in roles that involve persuasion, communication, and fostering relationships. Their optimism and charisma can inspire and motivate others, but their tendency to prioritize social aspects over tasks may sometimes lead to disorganization.

S – Steadiness (Blue):

High Steadiness individuals are calm, reliable, and supportive. They value harmony and consistency, making them excellent team players and dependable colleagues. Their patient and empathetic nature fosters a stable work environment. However, their aversion to change and conflict might cause them to be resistant to new ideas or overly accommodating.

C – Conscientiousness (Yellow):

Those who score high in Conscientiousness are meticulous, analytical, and detail-oriented. They prioritize accuracy, quality, and structure, ensuring that tasks are completed to the highest standard. Their focus on rules and procedures makes them dependable, though they can be perceived as overly critical or inflexible.

DiSC Reports

There are many different sub-products in the DiSC catalogue, each of which looks at a different context.

The starting point for many DiSC based activities, though, is their core workplace report for an individual. In this report, the individual who has completed the survey, receives lots of helpful information about their preferences and what this means for them in the workplace including what motivates them and the kinds of things they find stressful.

It’s worth noting that each of the preference styles in this model are actually broken into three sub-styles, meaning that there are really a total of 12 styles that individuals can prefer.

In addition to these core insights, individuals who complete the survey also receive helpful information about how they might react to the other styles and what they might be able to do to better connect with individuals with other behavioral preferences and styles.

DiSC Workshops and Uses

DiSC reports form a helpful basis in many situations.

They’re a great starting point for self-development and can be a great tool for coaching conversations with clients.

In addition, they’re a great team development tool. Many workshops exist which are designed to help a team explore their different behavioural preferences, learn more about each other and develop tools and strategies to better work together.

The DiSC framework is owned by Wiley, and you can read more about in on their website. There are also a lot of other preference and personality type models out there that you can research.

The world of personality and behavioural assessment is a funny one. It’s where we seem to stumble into some of the biggest disagreements we see. Some people totally love these tools, some totally dislike them and think they can even be detrimental.

In part, the disputes are based on the evidence base behind the different tools and models that exist. Some models have a reputation for feeling helpful and intuitive, but actually lacking any form of evidence.

As coaches and facilitators who use these tools, we know of their power. People love to think about themselves, gain insights into themselves and feel “seen” by these models.

In our view, many models and frameworks like this can be interesting and can be helpful, or at least the main messages around them can be helpful, but we feel they can also be misused. Some caution is needed when working with individuals and participants when using these models.

We have to say, we do acutally use DiSC though and quite like it. Please get in touch if you’d like to learn more about what we do with it and how we could help you / your team / org.

The content here is based on our experiences of using the DiSC model with clients. Remember, the DiSC framework is owned by Wiley. You can read more about in on their website.

We’re a small organization who know we make mistakes and want to improve them. Please contact us with any feedback you have on this post. We’ll usually reply within 72 hours.