Personalities are important in the workplace. It allows you to screen talents for better job fit, helps you have more cohesive teams, and also allows you to utilize strengths and improve weaknesses of your team members. And, there are many ways you can categorize your employees’ personalities. One of them is using the DISC model. In this article, we’ll share with you 4 ways you can utilize DISC personality profiles at work.

What is DISC?

The DISC personality profile is based on the theory by psychologist William Moulton Marston. Based on this theory, the DISC model classifies personalities according to four main behaviors: Dominance (D), Influence (I), Steadiness (S), and Compliance (C).

Dominance or D personality often exhibits direct and decisive behaviors with a high ego. They’re usually problem-solvers, risk-takers, and self-starters. The Influence (I) personality is enthusiastic, trusting, optimistic, persuasive, talkative, and impulsive. People who fall under the Steadiness or S category are good listeners, trusting, team players, possessive, predictable, and understanding. And lastly, Compliance (C) personality types are accurate, analytical, conscientious, fact-finders, precise, and systematic.

How can you utilize DISC personality profiles at work?

Make smarter hiring decisions

Often, a candidate’s resume or CV only shows their experiences and hard skills. But, to make smarter hiring decisions, experiences and hard skills don’t show you the whole picture. You also have to consider soft skills and personality traits. While hiring for diversity is not a fad, there’s also no question that some jobs are more suited for certain behaviors and personalities than others. Knowing your candidate’s DISC profiles can provide you useful insights on how a talent will behave in a work context. It can also help you predict job performance and company fit, which, in turn, will help you make smarter hiring decisions.

Assemble star teams

Personalities are essential to have more cohesive teams. At work, this is where DISC personality comes in. When you know your employees’ DISC profiles, you can use those to know how they’ll work with a colleague.

You might think that people with the same personalities will work better together. But in reality, they might not. You have to remember that each personality type has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. For example, assembling a team composed of all dominant people may be good, but since they’re also headstrong, they might not be able to accept their co-workers’ ideas and insist on their own.

The rule is to find the DISC balance. You can use personality tests to assist with assembling the star team that you want.

Improve communication

Employees of varying personalities communicate differently. And this difference may lead to miscommunication, therefore creating conflict. Knowing your employees’ DISC personality profiles can help you communicate with them better.

For example, dominant employees usually prefer direct communication. If you have something to say with them, it’s best to get straight to the point. You also have to take note that when communicating with D people, there will always be times where they’re assertive and may come off as aggressive. People with I personalities, on the other hand, might talk a lot and are enthusiastic communicators.

On the other end of the DISC quadrant is the introverted personalities Steady (S) and Compliance (C). These people are good listeners, but may not be much of a talker.

Use it as a tool for development and coaching

DISC assessments provide you reports about the personality of your employee, as well as their strengths and weaknesses and—depending on the DISC assessment you use—coaching and development suggestions to improve employee performance. It’s no wonder that it’s one of the most popular and used personality assessments in the world.

For instance, People Dynamics’ DISC Personality Profiler is designed to determine the primary personality type of a candidate. One of the DISC assessments that Profiles Asia Pacific offers, the Profiles Performance Indicator™, is used primarily for motivating and coaching employees and resolving post-hire conflict and employee performance issues. Another DISC assessment, Everything DiSC®, provides personalized developmental tools such as individualized profiles with tips and strategies for facilitated development.

Using these tools can help you better plan an employee’s development path, and how you can best coach them to improve their performance.

It’s good that you know why personalities matter in the workplace—with DISC as one of the ways you can determine them. But, it’s even better if you know how to utilize DISC personality profiles at work.