Question 1

According to the assessment, what was your DISC score? To what extent do you believe the
instrument accurately captured your behavioral style preferences?
Your Answer:
My DISC score was CS/CSI. I felt that the behavioral style preferences were pretty accurate.
Some accuracies include strength in dealing with people, yet still being technically proficient,
critical thinking, comprehension of complex situations and solutions, influence others, team
player, strong work ethic, and ability to clarify and predict outcomes of complex situations.
There are quite a few things mentioned in this report that allude to some personal “needs work
areas” that were also identified in previous exercises.

Question 2
Provide some examples of your workplace behaviors, interactions, and preferences - and how
those interactions and preferences relate to your DISC style.
Your Answer:
For example, the personal drive area says, “You will likely by driven to action based on the
expectations of others which may mean you take on more than your fair share or stretch yourself
too thin when you make commitments.” This has been particularly true for the duration of my
career. At work, we call this punishment by success. Because I have always held myself to a high
achievement standard, I am likely the one chosen to complete any additional tasking that may
come out. The outcome is almost always the same; achievement, exhaustion, and frustration
because others producing at a much lower rate than I am, still continue to receive good
evaluations, even though they are not performing at the same level that I may be, yet I rarely say
no to a task.
I recently took on a new position at work, where I have employees working at four
geographically separated locations. In my new role, I was adamant to meet with the leaders at
each of the locations to get a feel of what their perception was about the support we were
providing, as well as how we can improve our relationships moving forward. Having visited two
sites in the past week, my visits have completely fallen in line with my behavioral tendencies of
building rapport and careful decision-making. The DISC assessment stated that building rapport
for me was “driven by both a desire to connect with others socially, and to get the work done and
reach results.” I feel this is completely accurate in the foundation I feel that must be established
in order for us to work together as a team to understand and achieve goals that we both have. The
decision-making section stated, “you often carefully and cautiously consider the risks and
benefits, while weighing the pros and cons to prepare for the outcome. You are likely to
approach decisions with thoughtfulness before moving forward.” This is typically my style when
working my way through the decision-making process, and was definitely proven on my visit
today.

Question 3
By analyzing the DISC style patterns and groupings, what did you learn about your DISC style,
beyond what you initially learned by taking the instrument alone?
Your Answer:
I learned that according to discusonline, my specific DISC profile states that I rarely display
overtly assertive or direct behavior. I do prefer to communicate, but due to my occupational
history, I have no qualms being assertive or direct. I guess maybe I answered the questions
during the initial instrument test as what I preferred, not necessarily how I normally have to
conduct myself. I also learned that my motivation is “more a matter of a general sense of
happiness or contentment, and specifically this means the development of positive, warm
relations with other people, time to adapt to changes in circumstance, and a sense of sureness
about their position, especially (but not exclusively) in social terms.” I guess I had never really
considered what my specific motivations are, it was always more of a feeling, but these words
really hit the nail on the head!

Question 4
Discuss your results on this instrument with someone close to you (loved one, friend, or trusted
colleague). What is their impression of the accuracy of the instrument with respect to your
behavioral tendencies?
Your Answer:
After speaking to a trusted friend and mentor, she has come up with the following inputs from
the behavioral tendencies from the DISC instrument report:

1. She agrees with prioritizing, and added in that she thinks I work well under pressure
and that I focus on high-quality outcomes.
2. Change Resistance – She disagreed with the change resistance outcome. She feels as
if I am very adaptable, yet agrees that I do not like to change something if it is
working. She also explained that I am very flexible and open, but take my
responsibilities (personal and professional) very seriously, so need to make sure I
understand why changes need to be made before I want to make them.
3. She agreed that I am very good at building rapport.
4. She agreed with the reasoning overall, but added that the adaptability section she
believes that I am more fact-based.
5. She disagreed with a portion of the careful decision making, as she has never seen me
be impulsive in decision making in personal or professional decision making. The
rest of it, natural and adaptable she completely agreed with.
6. She agreed with both the natural and adaptable sections of accuracy..
7. She agrees with the work process alignment, but made sure to reiterate that I don’t
ever just drop the ball. She says I consistently have good outcomes because I can
balance effectively.
8. She agreed with customer and team interaction.
9. She disagreed with the portion of expressing openness, as the report said I might
struggle with consistent pace or focus; she believes I need to slow down.
10. She completely agreed with the self-reliance section.
11. She agreed with the personal drive section.
12. The agree with providing instruction for the most part, yet said that I am definitely
directive when I need to be. Feels like that was missing from the report.
Question 5
With respect to what you learned about your DISC tendencies, what are your greatest behavioral
strengths? How can you capitalize on these strengths?

Your Answer:
I would say my greatest strengths are trustworthiness, being a good listener, loyalty, patience,
process oriented and deliberate processing, and providing structure. I can capitalize on these
strengths by trying to let others understand what my tendencies are, and how they can be
beneficial to our relationship (professional or personal). Knowing my strengths can also assist
me in determining if I should be the one to speak, deliver a presentation, attend a meeting, or if it
should be someone else, depending on the outcome we are seeking and who is best fit to get that
outcome.

Question 6
With respect to what you learned about your DISC tendencies, what behaviors do you need to
control? What’s your plan for controlling these behaviors?

Your Answer:
I need to stop being so resistant and learn to jump on the innovation train. I also tend to be
passive when I see little to no benefit in using energy towards something I see will not provide
me a decent return, and sometimes I may need to just invest that energy. My DISCette also
identified that I am normally non-confrontational, but this is not true. I am passionate and tend to
get very confrontational/protective when someone is inaccurately portraying something that I
know is incorrect. I think I definitely need to work on controlling my emotions in certain
situations. My plan for controlling these behaviors is to first learn to identify they are about to
happen, instead of identifying that they happened, after they happened. It is very difficult to
change a behavior after the situation has already taken place, so my primary means of control
will be self-awareness.

Question 7
What drives you up a wall? How can others avoid these things in your relationship with
them? How can others work more effectively with you?

Your Answer:
Someone who backs out of a commitment, especially if I have had to make additional
arrangements to fit it into my schedule, drives me crazy. Others can avoid this in our relationship
by being honest. If they don’t want to attend, or think they may not be able to, they need to
schedule tentatively and agree to give me a firm confirmation before I make arrangements.
Others can work effectively by maintaining communication and being honest.

Question 8
Consider someone who you want to communicate more effectively with:
What behaviors are most often observed in this person? What is this person’s highest DiSC
tendency (based on your DISCette analysis)?
What behaviors are rarely observed? What is this person’s lowest DiSC tendency (based on
your DISCette analysis)?

Your Answer:
This person’s highest DiSC tendency is High C. His most often observed behaviors are being
critical and judgmental, asking why, and missing the big picture. Some behaviors that are rarely
observed are optimism, inclusion, trusting, calmness, and aggression, his lowest DiSC tendency
is ‘I.”

Question 9
Consider someone who you want to communicate more effectively with:
How can you work most effectively with this person? What can you do, just a little differently, in
order to have a more effective working relationship?
What drives this person up a wall? How can you avoid this in your relationship?
How will you apply these strategies?
Your Answer:
I can work effectively with him by exercising patience and persistence. I need to make sure that I
ask for feedback/criticism about what we have worked on together. The little things I could do to
work towards meeting his desires are to allow more involvement during implementation and
provide follow up routinely.
This person will be driven up a wall by criticizing their quality of work and taking credit for their
work. I can make sure to give credit where credit is due, and allow him to criticize his own
quality of work to identify improvements that may need to be made.
I will have to apply these strategies over time so as to not overwhelm him. I need to gain his trust
to ensure that he understands we are on the same team, and that we compliment each other, if we
work together.

Question 10
Consider someone who you want to communicate more effectively with:
How will you apply these strategies? Consider an upcoming interaction that you know you will
have with someone important to you - ideally, a "high stakes" kind of communication where you
really want to communicate well. Consider your own DISC style. Consider the most likely DISC
style of the person you will be communicating with. Consider the tips on how to work most
effectively with people of different DISC styles...
Briefly describe the opportunity to practice "DISC style flexing" and the strategies you will use
when you engage this person.
BONUS: If it works really well, email me and let me know the details!
Your Answer:
I specifically need to be aware of who I am dealing with, what message I am trying to send, and
the best way to get the person to hear what I am saying. I tend to expect others to perform at a
certain capacity, which few are able to achieve, so I may need to ask them what part of the task
they think they can handle, and consider splitting the task between a couple of individuals. I also
tend to become aggressive when others do not perform as expected, and may need to use more
positive reinforcement to motivate them to complete their portion of the task.