What Are DISC Assessments and How Do They Work?

DISC Overview

DISC is a simple, practical, easy to remember and universally applicable model. Based on the research of Dr. William Moulton Marston, DISC is the most widely-used behavior identification tool of its kind, supported by decades of research and continuous validation.

It focuses on individual patterns of external, observable behaviors and measures the intensity of characteristics using scales of directness and openness for each of the four styles:

Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientious.

D = Dominance...How people address Problems and Challenges.
I = Influence...How people handle situations involving People and Contacts.
S = Steadiness...How people demonstrate Pace and Consistency.
C = Conscientiousness...How people react to Procedure and Constraints.

Benefits of Learning and Applying DISC

The DISC Assessment and Report makes it easy to identify and understand our own style, recognize others and cognitively adapt to different styles, and develop a process to communicate more effectively with others.

People generally make the mistake of assuming that others interact and think the same way they do, and many of us grew up believing in The Golden Rule: treating others the way you would like to be treated. Instead, we encourage another practical rule to live by - what Dr. Tony Alessandra calls The Platinum Rule®: to treat others the way THEY want to be treated.

In addition to building personal effectiveness in relationships and communication, many of the world’s most forward-thinking and successful organizations have relied upon our DISC expertise to provide them with distinct competitive advantages:

• Increase Commitment and Cooperation
• Build Effective Teams
• Resolve and Prevent Conflict
• Gain Endorsement, Credibility, Rapport
• Know or Understand Others (interpersonal skills, communication preferences, behavioral strengths, potential areas of improvement)
• Build common language
• Increase Sales

Understand the communication preferences of others and become a more valuable employee, manager and team member (person, partner, friend)

What Is DISC?

• DISC is: needs-motivated, observable behavior and emotion. It is a combination of nature (inherent) and nurture (learned).
• DISC is NOT: a measure of intelligence, skills, education or experience, or an indicator of values.