Understanding Your Personality Profile With DiSC

It is important for HR leaders to understand their personality profile as well as the profiles of those they work with. The first step, is of course, discovering your personality profile.

I like the DiSC personality/behavior profile tool because it breaks down to four basic personality dimensions, Dominance (or Drive), Influence (or Inducement), Steadiness (or Submission), and Conscientiousness (or Caution or Compliance).

Everybody exhibits all four of the dimensions in their personalities but in different degrees. The DiSC tool measures which of the four dimensions are strongest and which are weakest and gives people insight into understanding their personalities, strengths and weaknesses and how to communicate and develop professional relationships with others.

The test measures your score on each of the DiSC dimensions based on responses to questions. The dimensions are best understood through a matrix where on the y axis, the D and I dimensions measure extroverted aspects of a person’s personality and the S and C measure the introverted aspects. On the x axis, the D and S dimensions measure task focus aspects and the I and C dimensions measure the social focus aspects.

DiSC Matrix by Rich Boberg

People will typically score very high in one or two of the four dimensions which gives them a very good idea of which personality tendency is dominant.

Dominance/Drive: People who score and exhibit High D tendencies are very decisive and quick in dealing with challenges and problems while those who are Low D are more hesitant to make a decision and need more information.

Influence/Inducement: People who score and exhibit High I tendencies are comfortable influencing people through active communication and can be emotional while those who are Low I prefer influencing people with facts and data and keep the emotional element out.

Steadiness/Submission: People who score and exhibit High S tendencies do not like sudden change and are comfortable with security and are calm and patient and deliberate in making decisions while those who are Low S are impatient and are comfortable with change and variety and can be impulsive.

Conscientiousness/Caution/Compliance: People who score and exhibit High C tendencies like structure and sticking to the rules and procedures and take pride in their accuracy and cautious when making decisions while Low C’s like to challenge and/or “break” rules, are independent, and are not terribly interested in accuracy and details.

In addition to the four personality dimensions, DiSC identifies 15 patterns based on where an individual scores on each of the four dimensions. So for example if you score high in the Influence and Dominance and low in Steadiness and Conscientiousness, you most likely exhibit the Inspirational pattern.