DiSC Test: Influence

Posted on June 1, 2015 by CareerWriter

I

In the DiSC Test, “I” stands for “Influence”.

What does a high test score on the “Influencing” scale on DiSC Behavioral test mean to me? How will I work best in a team? What negative behaviors do I exhibit under stress? What are my weaknesses? The Personal Insights Profile and DiSC Booklet gives many helpful characteristics and descriptions for these four categories for each of the DiSC quadrants.

Primary Driving Force of an “S” is optimism – being positive and driving forward is the goal. All personality behaviors of DiSC type “I” emanate from this force.

  • Value To The Team:

    What does a DiSC Influencer type contribute to work team? A DiSC test type “I” contributes these qualities and behaviors to the team:

    • Attitude of optimism, enthusiasm and eagerness for the new
    • Creatively solves a variety of problems
    • With optimism motivates peers, employees, clients toward goals
    • Acts as member of a team; is a team player
    • Strives to find solutions to conflicts through negotiations

  • Ideal Environment:

    In what type of work environment will a DiSC Influencer type thrive, excel and succeed? In a work environment where there is:

    • A significant amount of people contact
    • Freedom from authoritarian style management and control and detail
    • Freedom to set own schedule, freedom to move, flexible schedule
    • Willingness to have ideas be heard and respected
    • A democratic leadership style and superiors with whom to associate with

  • Tendency Under Stress:

    When a person is under stress, the negative aspects of their personality reveal themselves. You can tell when a DiSC test “I” is under excessive pressure because they exhibit the following behaviors:

    • Self-promoting and self-aggrandizement
    • Overly optimistic and excessively eager
    • Excessive talking with inability to listen effectively; Gabby
    • Unrealistic expectations

  • Possible Limitations:

    In additions to the numerous strengths of an “Influencer”, it is prudent to know what the weakness of a DiSC “I” is as well. Here are the most obvious weakness behaviors of an “Influencer”:

    • Inattentive to details
    • Overly optimistic appraisal of people
    • Indiscriminately trusts and believes people
    • Challenged listener reveals itself as situational and sporadic listener
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DiSC Test: Steadiness

Posted on June 1, 2015 by CareerWriter

S

In the DiSC Test, “S” stands for “Steadiness”.

What does a high test score on the “Steadiness” scale on DiSC Behavioral test mean to me? How will I work best in a team? What negative behaviors do I exhibit under stress? What are my weaknesses? The Personal Insights Profile and DiSC Booklet gives many helpful characteristics and descriptions for these four categories for each of the DiSC quadrants.

Primary Driving Force of an “S” is to be non-emotional and unaffected by circumstances. All personality behaviors of DiSC type “S” emanate from this force.

  • Adds Value To The Team:

    What does a DiSC “Steady” type contribute to work team? A DiSC test type “S” contributes these qualities and behaviors to the team:

    • Dependable and reliable team member; team player
    • Conscientiously and steadily works for leader or cause
    • Patient and empathic towards others
    • Methodical step-by-step doer
    • Service-oriented thinker

  • Ideal Work Environment:

    In what type of work environment will a DiSC “Steady” type thrive, excel and succeed? In a work environment where there is:

    • Predictable, unchanging and stable work setting
    • Allows time to absorb and adjust to changes
    • Long-term close working relationship with small group
    • Conflict free atmosphere
    • Freedom from overly restrictive rules; flexibility in scheduling

  • Tendencies Under Stress:

    When a person is under stress, the negative aspects of their personality reveal themselves. You can tell when a DiSC test “S” is under excessive pressure because they exhibit the following behaviors:

    • Undemonstrative and apathetic
    • Remote and unconcerned to maintain steady emotions
    • Hesitant to embrace new or different
    • Inflexible and unyielding though typically in non-confrontational way

  • Possible Limitations:

    In additions to the numerous strengths of a “Steadier”, it is prudent to know what the weakness of a DiSC “S” is as well. Here are the most obvious weakness behaviors of an “Steady” type:

    • Yield to avoid conflicts and controversy
    • Difficult establishing priorities when multiple competing demands
    • Dislike change especially when they deem its unwarranted
    • Unnerved by diverse situations
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DiSC Test: Compliance

Posted on June 1, 2015 by CareerWriter

C

In the DiSC Test, “C” stands for “Compliance”.

What does a high test score on the “Compliance” scale on DiSC Behavioral test mean to me? How will I work best in a team? What negative behaviors do I exhibit under stress? What are my weaknesses? The Personal Insights Profile and DiSC Booklet gives many helpful characteristics and descriptions for these four categories for each of the DiSC quadrants.

Primary Driving Force of a “C” is fear itself – fear of not being good enough, doing enough, knowing enough etc. All personality behaviors of DiSC type “ C” emanate from this force.

  • Adds Value To The Team:

    What does a DiSC “Compliant” type contribute to work team? A DiSC test type “C” contributes these qualities and behaviors to the team:

    • Sets and maintains high work standards; strong work ethic
    • Conscientiously and steadily works to accomplish tasks
    • Methodical by approach: Defines, clarifies, gets information and tests
    • Tendency toward objective evaluations; known as ‘the anchor of reality’
    • Thorough, step-by-step solution seeker

  • Ideal Work Environment:

    In what type of work environment will a DiSC “Compliant” type thrive, excel and succeed? In a work environment where there is:

    • Need for analytical and critical thinking skills
    • Ability to specialize and develop expertise; technical work
    • Cohesive relationship with small group of co-workers
    • Routine and familiar work tasks
    • Able to work in private office or cubicle

  • Tendencies Under Stress:

    When a person is under stress, the negative aspects of their personality reveal themselves. You can tell when a DiSC test “C” is under excessive pressure because they exhibit the following behaviors:

    • Pessimistic and negative
    • Particular to the point of even being picky
    • Hard to please
    • Overly critical and even judgmental

  • Possible Limitations:

    In additions to the numerous strengths of an “Compliant”, it is prudent to know what the weakness of a DiSC “C” is as well. Here are the most obvious weakness behaviors of an “Compliant”:

    • Defensive when criticized or if feels it is criticism
    • Overreliance and overuse of details; encumbered by details
    • Unnecessarily intense in certain situations
    • Appears remote, cool and aloof to people
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The DISC Career Development Test: Understanding Graphs 1 & 2

Posted on May 26, 2015 by CareerWriter
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The DISC is an extremely useful career test

TTI’s DISC is a career test that is a very common and very useful career development test that many companies and career coaches use to get a better idea about the personality of potential and current employees. Through a series of questions, this half-hour test is able to tell a great deal about the person you are.

One of the most useful features is the inclusion of the “Adaptive” vs. “Natural” Behavior Test Graphs. These show the differences between the work environments you would choose to work in, versus the one you may currently be in. Often, if you find yourself hating your job or not fitting in in your workplace, these graphs accurately point out exactly why that is.

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An example of the two graphs, and the differences in Natural vs. Adaptive styles

Graph 1 – Adapted Behavior

The first graph that you will see is the one that represents your adapted behavior test scores: the way you adjust to fit into your environment. The Personal Insights Profile career test booklet that helps interpret your DISC behavior test results says that this first graph illustrates “the behavior you exhibit in your ‘focus’ environment.” This means that it displays the behavior you project to others when you are focused on doing so. This may be in your workplace, or in an interview, or especially during your first few weeks at a new job. It may or may not be the same as your natural behavior.

Graph 2 – Natural Behavior

The second graph you will see is the one that represents your natural behavior test scores: the way you are at your basic style. This illustrates your behavior when you do not have the energy to mask or alter it, or when you are totally at ease and don’t feel the need to change the way you are perceived. The booklet says that this graph “will seldom change significantly because [it] represents the ‘real’ you.”

So, Why Do I Hate My Job?

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Do you hate your job?

These two graphs, and the differences between them, provide very telling insights as to why you might not like your job. If your “Adapted Behavior” graph is drastically different from your “Natural Behavior” one, it shows just how much your natural behavior is being masked. If the two graphs are very dissimilar, it is clear that you are acting like somebody you are not in order to fulfill the demands required by your job. You are like a square peg being forced into a circular hole – and the friction that results is represented by the differences between the bar graphs. You just don’t fit in to the tasks and responsibilities of your job.

For example, my natural style (Graph 2 on the DISC results) shows that I am a high “I” and “D”, and low “S” and “C”. If I don’t fit in, and don’t like my job, Graph 2 will show a completely different pattern and values than Graph 1. This shows the dissimilarity between where I should be working and where I currently am working, because who I am being forced to be is very different from who I actually am.

Chances are, if I were working a job I hated, my Adapted Style behavior would show that I have a very high “C” value. Compared to the quite low value in my Natural Style behavior, there is a great deal of disparity, exhibiting just how much I am having to mask who I naturally am in order to fit in at my current workplace.

To flesh it out a little more with myself as an example: my highest characteristic is “I”, meaning I am an “Influencer” (more on the specific types in a later blog post) and that I am sociable, convincing, optimistic, inattentive to details, and tend to work best with a high degree of people contact and a freedom from control and detail.

But if my Adapted Style graph showed that instead of “I”, my “C” characteristic was very highly valued, then it would show that I’m forced to suppress my sociability for a quiet and removed work environment, strained to be less optimistic and more objective and analytical, made to be very conscientious of detail when I am not naturally predisposed to do so, and required to work with a low degree of people contact but with a special emphasis placed on control and detail.

Clearly, these two types are very different. It is obvious that if I am working in a career best suited to a “C” personality, and I am so strongly an “I” person, I am not going to like my career very much.

The DISC Is a Very Useful Career Development Tool

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The DISC is a helpful tool for developing your career.

The DISC Career Test will tell you a lot about who you are and the ways you can be the most productive while still enjoying your job. It will show you if you are adapting too much to fit in with your job, and if so, what work situation would better suit the person you naturally are. It is tremendously important you take the DISC test, so that not only can you avoid working someplace you hate, but are able to find someplace that your unique personality will thrive. It is vital to note that the DISC career test is particularly suited as a preemptive tool, before a job is sought or accepted, because it will show with great clarity whether or not this job would force you to mask who you really are. However, it is just as helpful when taken with regard to a concurrent job, to highlight reasons you may be thriving in or hating your job. If the disparity of the graphs is too great, then it may show that hiring a career coach would be enormously helpful in determining a new direction for your career.

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Why Should I Hire a Career Consultant? (Part 1) What’s The Point?

Posted on May 21, 2015 by CareerWriter
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Why should I hire a career consultant?

 

No matter what career situation you may find yourself in, you will find an enormous benefit from hiring a career consultant.

Are you dissatisfied with your current job?

What about being unemployed?

Are you about to enter the working world, and unsure of exactly what you want to do?

Or maybe you’re satisfied with your career, and just interested in what else is out there?

How about this: you love your job, and would never consider changing it, but want to make the most of it? To take it to new heights and move upward but don’t want to make a mistake?

No matter what career situation you may find yourself in, you will find an enormous benefit from hiring a career consultant.

What does a career consultant or career coach do?

(The terms “career coach” or “career consultant” have been used interchangeably at different points in time, but they all basically refer to the same thing: a person who guides another in planning, choosing and managing their career. While the specific title doesn’t matter so much, the expertise and execution of the specific consultant do.)

A career consultant is not just a person you hire to help you find a job. Instead, it is someone who helps you find and develop your ideal career. It is a very involved process. They take the time to learn about you comprehensively: what makes you tick, what you’re good at, what you’re bad at, what motivates you, how you like to work, how you relate to others, and on and on.

What methods do career consultants use to help me? Which is best?

This is done through a variety of methods. Some career coaches uses pure coaching or counseling techniques that enable you to clarify your direction through conversations… but this can take some time, and you run the risk of missing key ‘hidden’ aspects within you. Others use career tests. Most career consultants have access to a set number of career tests for which they have undergone the necessary training to interpret the complex results tailored uniquely to you.

The best career coach is one who uses both methods. From the tests, as well as pointed conversations with you, the career consultant will be able to tell a great deal about who you are as a person and about your current circumstance, needs and drives. They are trained to use this information to locate career opportunities and present them to you in accordance with the results they’ve gathered.

Should I use a career consultant to review my test results?

Absolutely!! The outcomes of the career tests they administer give lots of useful information, but to effectively extrapolate it takes a lot of training and knowledge. This is an important point.

There is a common misconception that anyone can just buy these tests and read the results like a map to their dream career. This is simply not the case. Definitely not! Most people who simply read their own results complain that the test didn’t help them at all, when, in fact, they never sought the services of the career consultant who offered the tests.

Bottom line: you simply can’t do it on your own.

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You can’t get the full potential out of these tests without a career consultant’s help

 

 

The results and data from the tests provide a great deal of help, but can only be utilized to their potential when interpreted by someone trained specifically to do so. They will draw out hidden aspects of who you are, provide a fuller picture of the often simple labels used in the test to describe you, and most importantly…

apply the results to your needs – advancement, career idea, career direction, employment targets, etc, so you can use the results to accomplish your goals and dreams.

Career tests are just tools. They are like a map that lays out the topography of who you are. It’s a very complex map, and so you hire a Sherpa, or a guide (your career consultant), to help you read it and show you where to go and why. Even though you’re looking at the same piece of paper, the guide has been there before and can read it much better than you.

 

And, besides, reputable tests include a career consultation at no additional charge.

So is that the point of hiring a career consultant – just to interpret some complex career personality or interest career test for me?

Yes and no. It’s definitely part of it, but not the end purpose of their job. A test alone can’t and doesn’t change your end destination. You want the right career for you. That is the end destination.

Should I hire a career coach help me find a career (or new one)?

The main reason you hire a career consultant is to help you find the best career for the person you are and the situation you are in.

That applies to many situations:

  • You’re in a career you love but have been there so long you yearn for something more. This is the “been-there-done-that” syndrome. A career coach will help you identify your strengths and passions to hone in on an exciting new niche.
  • You hate your job. A career consultant will, with top-of-the-line tests, quickly identify what is missing and what is wrong, and set you on a path to a career you’ll love.
  • You might just hate your boss or co-workers. A career expert will help you devise a strategy to manage your situation while you engage in a super-fast job search to land a position in an environment where you’ll thrive.
  • Maybe you just need to find a career. You’re starting out in or after college without a clear idea about your ideal career.
  • You’ve just gotten “jobs” and now you want a “career”. “Jobs” didn’t ever pan out into the career you were hoping for.

These are all reasons to use a career consultant.

 

Whatever your situation, you will benefit from the expertise of a knowledgeable, trained and experienced career consultant, because they will solidify and lay out your key objective. They will use the right mapping tools (career tests) to give “the lay of the land” that is – YOU. They will read the map for you so you can find the treasures of who you are for the career that will make you smile every day you wake up. And most importantly, they will navigate the map and terrain so you don’t just wander around needlessly for years.

So, to bring things back from the world of metaphors: you hire a career consultant to use and interpret a variety of processes in order to point you to the right career, and to equip you with tools to land it.

You will benefit.

They can point you somewhere you never would have guessed, or maybe somewhere you secretly suspected all along, or even in the exact direction you were going but to the niche you can’t see. No matter what you find out, you will benefit from knowing.

Career coaches want you to love your career and thrive in it. They want you to hear your alarm clock in the morning and smile, because you enjoy doing what you get paid to do.

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