DiSC Assessments: What They Are and How They Can Help Your Teams

It can take a while to develop strong relationships with employees so that you have a good idea of what motivates them, their biggest strengths, and the areas they need more support. To speed this up, some companies use personality assessments — in the recruitment process, during onboarding, or as part of a personal development program — as a formal way to uncover these insights about different team members.

One well-known example is the DiSC assessment. Let’s dig in to what this is, and how doing these assessments can benefit both HR teams and managers in your organization.

What is the DiSC Assessment?

At its core, a DiSC assessment is a personal profiling tool primarily used by organizations to gain insights into their employees' work styles and interpersonal skills. It measures an individual's personality and behavioral style on a non-judgmental scale, meaning it doesn't categorize one style as better than another. 

The name 'DiSC' is an acronym that stands for the four primary behavioral traits it measures: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. More than just a simple questionnaire, the DiSC assessment peels back the layers of human interaction. It offers rich insights into an individual's priorities, motivations, fears, and responses to conflict. The result? A valuable snapshot of an employee's work-related behaviors and tendencies.

What are the Four DiSC Assessment Personality Types?

The DiSC assessment categorizes employees into four main personality profiles. Understanding the key traits and characteristics of each personality type can help you understand how different people work, which can help optimize team and individual performance in the workplace.

The four DiSC personality profiles are:

• Dominance (D): Dominant personalities are the go-getters in your team. These individuals are characterized by their directness, assertiveness, and drive. They're typically problem solvers, risk-takers, and results-oriented, thriving in an environment where they can call the shots. They relish challenges and won't shy away from making tough decisions.
• Influence (i): These are your charismatic charmers. They excel in social situations, persuading and inspiring others with their optimism and enthusiasm. Their extroverted nature drives them to collaborate and engage, making them natural team players. Their strengths lie in relationship building, confidence, and creating a positive, engaging environment. 
• Steadiness (S): The steadiness profile embodies patience, consistency, and loyalty. These individuals crave stability and predictability. They're excellent team players, preferring cooperation over competition. Group harmony is important to them, making them great peacemakers in a team setting. They're the rock-solid foundation upon which you can build a high-functioning team.
• Conscientiousness (C): These are your detail-oriented perfectionists. Their focus lies in quality, accuracy, and adhering to standards. The Conscientiousness profile individuals are analytical thinkers, always striving to deliver precision and excellence. They take a methodical, objective approach to tasks and are naturally good at providing quality control, planning, and systematic approaches to problem-solving. They thrive in situations where they can work with facts and logic in a calm, planned environment. 

Understanding these profiles allows HR leaders to effectively shape teams and roles that align with individual strengths. It's all about leveraging diversity of thought and action to create a balanced, dynamic workplace where everyone feels valued and understood.

How Does a DiSC Assessment Work?

Leveraging DiSC assessments starts with a simple online questionnaire, typically taking less than 20 minutes to complete. Participants respond to a series of statements, ranking them based on how much they agree or disagree. Questions cover various work-related scenarios to capture how individuals might react under different circumstances. The process is straightforward but aims to elicit meaningful insights into the individual's behavioral tendencies and preferences.

Upon completion, the DiSC algorithm gets to work. It analyzes the responses, mapping them onto the four DiSC profiles. Each participant receives a detailed report outlining their primary DiSC style, along with its implications for their work behavior. The report also highlights areas of strength and potential challenges, offering tailored strategies for effective interaction with other profiles.

This easy-to-use tool serves as a launching pad for personalized development and team-building strategies. Through DiSC, HR leaders gain an invaluable framework for understanding and improving workplace dynamics. In turn, they create more productive, harmonious, and engaged teams — a valuable asset in today's competitive business environment.

Benefits of DiSC Assessments for HR Teams

DiSC allows HR teams to tailor their strategies to individuals, rather than trying to fit square pegs into round holes. 

Other key benefits that DiSC assessments bring to HR teams include:

• Informed recruitment and placement: If you ask applicants to complete DiSC assessments as part of your recruitment process, HR teams can use these results to inform hiring decisions. For example, you could use it to match individuals with roles and teams that suit their personality styles, optimizing engagement and productivity.
• Targeted training and development: DiSC assessments can help you better understand what motivates individual team members. By understanding people’s unique learning styles and motivations, HR can create personalized training and development plans, fostering professional growth to help each team member realize their potential.
• Efficient conflict resolution: DiSC can highlight potential conflict areas between different personality types. This allows HR to develop strategies for more productive conflict management, enabling you to put proactive measures in place to resolve disagreements more smoothly.

By harnessing the power of DiSC assessments, HR departments can go beyond just managing talent — they can optimize it. It can help teams and individuals for success, cultivating a positive and productive work environment where everyone thrives.

Benefits of DiSC Assessments for Managers

HR teams aren’t the only ones that stand to benefit from having employees complete DiSC assessments. For managers and team leaders, this assessment can help them better understand their team as individuals and as a group. Here are some notable benefits:

Enhanced Leadership Skills

DiSC assessments help team leaders understand their own management style, and how to adjust it to meet the needs of their department. They get a better idea of how they work and communicate, so they can spot areas of potential conflict or misunderstanding between them and their team.

Tailored Communication

The DiSC assessment gives you insights into the communication preferences of different personality types. This allows managers to tailor their communication style to each team member, so you can deliver messages in a way that resonates and motivates, fostering better understanding and engagement.

Proactive Conflict Management

With knowledge of what may spark conflict for different DiSC profiles, managers can preemptively address potential issues and help promote a more harmonious team environment.

Stronger Team Dynamic

DiSC assessments help managers to build balanced teams by aligning individual strengths and work styles with specific roles and tasks. By recognizing the value each DiSC style brings to the table, managers can encourage a more inclusive and engaged team culture.

Informed Decisions

Understanding team members' strengths, motivators, and stressors can inform a manager's decisions, from task assignment to strategizing.

For managers, the value of DiSC assessments lies in their ability to build stronger, more harmonious teams. It's about elevating your leadership, bringing out the best in your people, and creating an environment where everyone feels valued, understood, and primed to perform.

DiSC Assessments Can Lay the Foundation for Employee Wellness

DiSC assessments can help managers and HR teams foster an environment of understanding and respect within the workplace. By revealing the stressors and motivators of individual team members, these assessments help leaders address potential issues proactively, reducing workplace stress. They also empower employees by helping them understand their own work style and how to communicate their needs effectively. This lays the foundation for improved mental wellbeing and overall employee wellness.

Understanding people’s needs is just the first step to supporting employees and creating a healthy work environment. You can build on this foundation by introducing a comprehensive wellness program to support your employees' physical, emotional, and mental health needs. A tailored wellness program can provide employees with access to resources that align with their individual personalities and wellbeing journeys.

Learn more about how you can build up support for your employees by speaking with a Wellbeing specialists!