When it comes to building a good team in your workplace, it’s important to have in mind a DISC profile of your possible team members. This will help you make the best choices for your team. It also prevents hit and miss with your team’s eventual success.

To be successful as a team, everyone needs to able to bring a unique set of skills to the table. This is because teams tend to function at their most effective and productive when they’re a true collaboration of different personalities and different perspectives.

With these multiple points of views, you’ll have lots of options when it comes to

• goal setting,
• problem solving, and
• tackling any obstacle that comes your way!

But how can you identify those strengths and weaknesses, and use them for the benefit of the group?

It comes down to understanding their DISC profile, keeping it in mind, and using it wisely to build a good team. (You may remember we discussed the general benefits of DISC in a previous post.)

DISC Profile Explained

The DISC profile, or DISC assessment, is a personal assessment tool. It’s used by hundreds of top corporations to help improve teamwork in the workplace. DISC helps them garner a better understanding of employees on a deep, personality-based level.

The DISC profile identifies the main personality traits in every individual via a simple 15-20 minute test. The acronym for the four primary personality traits stands for: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness.

DISC Personality Types

Keep in mind that no individual will fit perfectly into just one of the four unique personality types. Nearly everyone is a hybrid of at least two different types. On the whole, though, folks tend to have a “dominant” DISC type and associated characteristics.

The Four DISC Profile Types Are As Follows:

• D (Dominance) Personalities. These folks account for 10% of the population. They tend to be outgoing, decisive, dominant, and focused on accomplishing tasks, especially when it comes to “big picture” goals. They can be excellent managers and team leaders. But they do have a tendency to be a little bit blunt and demanding – even defiant at times!
• I (Influence) Personalities. These folks make up 25-30% of the population and, like D personalities, they are more outgoing and thrive in front of a group. However, unlike D personality types, they love interacting with and persuading or influencing others. They tend to be optimistic, open, and enthusiastic, which makes them capable leaders, as well as exceptional salespeople or marketing gurus.
• S (Steadiness) Personalities. These folks make up the majority of the population at 30-35%, and their defining characteristics include a great ability to cooperate because they, like the Is, are “people people”. They’re supportive and steady, and are also some of the most dependable folks in the workplace. These team members can be counted on for big or small projects. They do like to be appreciated, but prefer to remain a little more in the background.
• C (Conscientiousness) personalities. C personalities make up roughly 20-25% of the population, and these folks place an emphasis on competence and accuracy, preferring to complete what they start. Though they’re reserved in style, they have an eye for detail and for ensuring that all work gets done correctly. You’ll find them quietly working behind the scenes on intricate tasks that require focus and organization, such as in the accounting department.

Why You Need to Mix Your DISC Personality Types to Build a Good Team

Again, it’s important to note that your team members will have different layers of different DISC personality types.

For example, an individual may be a dominant D personality, but they could also have shades of an influence or steadiness profile. So when composing a good team (or even when conducting a DISC personality test), keep these variations in mind. Focus on ALL unique characteristics of any given individual, and not just their most dominant personality trait.

If you review the descriptions of the four different DISC types above, you’ll start to develop a clearer idea of why it’s always better to have a mix of personality types in the office.

For example, if you have a group of six people working on a big project, and every member of the group has a primary D personality type, then there’s a good chance there will be some tension over who gets to be the actual “leader,” and whose decisions will stand.

Conversely, if that group of six people were all S personality types, with a focus on getting along and cooperating, then there might be no one vocal or determined enough to take the reins. No one to lead the group in tough decisions.

The good part about having a mix of personalities is that

• everyone has a lane where they shine,
• tasks can be more effectively shared among the group, based on individual strengths for that task,
• collaboration is much easier, as some people naturally fall into a leadership role, and
• others are happy to work behind the scenes to ensure that the end results are successful and accurate.

This is good teamwork.

Simply put, a diverse team leads to better results across the board. That’s because roles and jobs don’t overlap. Instead, the members are able to combine skills and preferences to create a more effective and comprehensive team for the task at hand.

This kind of successful teamwork contrasts strongly with what we sometimes see: a power struggle or a group of workers without a leader!

Want Help to Build a Good Team?

If you struggle with identifying which one of your team members fits into a specific DISC profile, don’t worry! You’re not alone. To really get comfortable with DISC takes time. This is just an introduction.

The best place to start, therefore, is with some professional guidance on DISC – and that’s where I and my team come in. I’ve helped countless companies and businesses of all sizes to identify their employees’ unique traits via DISC profiling, and to use those traits to become better team members and create highly effective interpersonal relationships at work and at home. So if you want to start using DISC profiling to build your best team, learn more about my training options here, and let’s work together to develop the best in your people.

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