Adam Salgat sits down with Michigan Chapter Leader, Leanne VanBeek, for a refresher of the DISC assessment and the behavioral tendencies of each category.
They discuss how people lean towards the negative once they learn their tendencies and how to flip the lens to find the positive side. They also break down how to approach and connect with each style.
AI-generated dictation of the podcast audio
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Speaker 1:
Welcome to the OCL podcast. Our vision is to create people-centered leaders at home, at work, and in our communities who lead through the powerful lens of empathetic listening. Our podcast will help refresh your skills and sharpen your tools as we do the important work of truly human leadership together.
Adam:
Hello, and welcome to the Our Community Listens podcast. Today, we’re going to be exploring some interesting questions from our alumni around DISC profiles and whether they’re really as clear cut as they sometimes appear. Can anyone besides the C be worried about being perfect? Are the Is the only ones who can inspire us?
With me today to discuss this is OCL Michigan chapter leader, Leanne Van Beek.
Leanne Van Beek:
Thanks for having me in again, Adam. I’m looking forward to talking more about DISC, especially because I think this is one of those things that we could probably spend three days of class on this topic alone, and we have limited time, but it seems like an area that people are always very interested in learning more about and going deeper.
Adam:
I know that I have a few questions about myself. A great example is that I’m an SC tendency naturally which basically means that when I do S or C behaviors, I don’t have to exert that much energy. But when I need to exhibit I or D tendencies, which sometimes I do, then it takes more energy out of me to do that. Is that a fair summary?
Leanne Van Beek:
I think that’s a great summary, yes. Some of our behaviors are just more natural to us than others. And so we can do them with less energy. Often, we find that when we operate in our natural behavior space, it actually can almost bring you energy.
Adam:
So let’s… to make a comment on that, it’s kind of like how people say, “What do you do to recharge your battery.” So for some people that might be sitting at home alone, watching TV. Other people it might be out at a bar or social hour just hanging out with friends. I know I personally go both ways. I recharge sometimes just home alone, other times with family, friends, and both are very necessary for me, kind of depending on what mood I might be.
Leanne Van Beek:
I think that’s a great example, and I have found even… I have a friend who has a very high C tendency and sometimes when I talk to her, she will say… it’s the standard, “How’s your day going?” And she’ll be like, “I am having a great day because I just got to do 12 tasks in a row and cross them off my list,” right?
Adam:
Right.
Leanne Van Beek:
And so that’s just a natural behavior for her and very energizing.
Adam:
Oh man, it does feel good to cross things off the list sometimes.
So let’s get into a little bit of a recap on what these tendencies are and what they look like.
Leanne Van Beek:
Sure. I’ll see if I can do just maybe a kind of a high level recap. You probably remember that we do have certain behaviors that get ascribed to certain tendencies as being most natural. So I guess I’ll also just kind of note for anyone who’s listening that a lot of the things I’m going to touch on now and maybe even later are captured really well in that laminated cheat sheet that we give everyone in class. It’s also a page in the workbook. I have found this to be really helpful in terms of looking at that summary of everyone’s strengths and fears and psychological needs. So if you’re near those materials and you want to grab them, feel free. Otherwise just maybe make a note to go back and take a look at that chart. It may help in conjunction with the podcast.
So, summary of the DISC gifts. I think we’ll start with maybe the Ss and Cs, Adam, since we’re kind of in honor of you today.
Adam:
All right. Sounds good.
Leanne Van Beek:
So again, high level. The high S tendency gifts, they bring steadiness and stability. They’re often the rock in the relationship or the organization that you can just count on to be there to get things done. They deliver, they’re productive, and they are really seeking out harmony within the team. They care a lot about people, about tradition, and they’re always acting in service to something, right, to their team, to the project, to the relationship. Everything they do is meaningful to them, usually, because of who it serves or supports.
Cs, we capture their gifts as being critical thinkers, very conscientious of patterns and themes. They have a lot of value in things being correct and as perfect as possible. They’re highly analytical, and they can be very internally busy. I’ve heard it described as mentally energetic as they are just thinking and assessing and analyzing things.
Adam:
Kind of like you just read my horoscope. But honestly, I mean, there are plenty of things in there from an S and a C that I identify with. Ss and Cs are in a similar category in that they both can be more reflective or reserved in conversation, processing more, less likely to speak first. Is that right?
Leanne Van Beek:
Yeah, we do often see that high S, high C tendencies will tend to sit back and let others speak while they’re thinking. And they may be less likely to, we call it finding their voice, finding their voice first.
Adam:
Ds and Is, then, are going to be the inverse, speaking up a bit more quickly, having a faster pace in their conversations, maybe processing out loud more than internally.
Leanne Van Beek:
Ds and Is are typically more active in conversation.
Adam:
How about we get into a couple of quick summaries of Ds and Is, and then I want to discuss why do some behavioral types have to use or get into behaviors that don’t fit them naturally?
Leanne Van Beek:
Sure. So, Ds. Ds are direct and to the point. These are people who are very goal-driven, and they operate on more of a sixth sense intuition. They often move fast, and they also thrive on going into the unknown. That’s a challenge that they really embrace.
Is are naturally drawn to people. They love to be in relationship with other people. They’re gifted and bringing optimism and inspiration to a team. They’re often the quickest to celebrate successes. They have a lot of creativity in problem-solving. They’re able to think outside the box very well.
Adam:
That sounds like a great recap and a great explanation of the DISC behavioral assessments. I really appreciate the way that you helped us focus on all the gifts from the profiles. It seems like we sometimes can focus on the negatives of our profiles and tendencies or maybe be too quick to categorize certain things as a negative.
Leanne Van Beek:
Now that’s interesting. Are you comfortable maybe saying more about that or sharing an example?
Adam:
Well, I look at my SC blend, and sometimes I wish I was able to give answers more quickly because there are times people look at me for a quick answer to an item, but I know that I need to let it soak in and then let it germinate. It’s kind of like planting a seed. You’re thinking about it when you’re not actually thinking about it. And then before you know it, you’ve got a good answer, but that might be a day or two. And I also know that for me, stability is very important. And sometimes I think that I don’t move forward as fast as I could compared to other people because I am holding back because I need that stability.
Leanne Van Beek:
So you would say that you feel like your steadiness and your processing sometimes make you feel like you are being held back.
Adam:
I would say at certain times in my life or maybe in my career, absolutely.
Leanne Van Beek:
So if you had to try to flip the lens on that a little bit and think about some of the gifts that you think your steadiness has brought, what would you say about that?
Adam:
I would say that my steadiness probably brings some calm to our household, keeps us moving in the right direction, even if it is maybe slower than what I truly would want.
Leanne Van Beek:
And that, I would think, sounds like that would have value.
Adam:
I think that has some value, absolutely.
Leanne Van Beek:
So it sounds like maybe some of what we’re just discussing and maybe what you’re seeing is that a lot of times our tendencies can also be a gift.
I think one of the things that is most interesting to me about some of the extended DISC material is that we often tend to see our own natural tendencies as something that’s not valuable because it comes so naturally to us, right? We kind of tend to think, “But that’s so easy to do, so it’s not really worth anything.” Whereas for somebody who’s at a different point on the DISC diamond, they’re looking at you and that stability and thinking, “My God, I wish I could do that,” right, “that I could have that kind of constancy, provide that kind of steadiness to people around me” because it’s brutally hard for someone who’s polar opposite to you.
So I do think there’s sometimes some value in stopping and stepping back and remembering that what comes easy to me does not come easy to other people, and there’s value in that.
Adam:
So you kind of mentioned a little bit there. What about stepping into tendencies that are not natural? I know I can lean towards an I on occasion and be the life of the party or be the one who’s leading conversation. What about those situations? If I don’t have that showing up in my profile, but know that that’s who I am sometimes in certain crowds, does that mean the profile’s wrong?
Leanne Van Beek:
Well, so first of all, remember from class that we all flex all over the DISC diamond. So regardless of whatever your natural profile was, SC, we have some… maybe you’re an IDS, right? You could have a variety of blends. You’re still going to move all over the DISC diamond and do different behaviors. I have got a quote a colleague of mine, Shirley Tipton. She is a professor in our OCL Colorado chapter, and she’s one of the master coaches for our professors. I have such deep respect for her, and she’s extended DISC certified, but she’s done a lot of deep work in this area. And she has a beautiful way of capturing this. And her comment that she makes is that, “Any behavioral style can choose any behavior in service to our needs or values.”
Adam:
That’s kind of deep. You want to give that to me one more time?
Leanne Van Beek:
Sure. I had to write it down myself because I liked it so much, “Any behavioral style can choose any behavior in service to our needs and values,” Shirley Tipton, meaning that regardless of our profiles or our tendencies, we will choose behaviors that we need that make our life run more smoothly, maybe make us more successful, make people around us more successful or to meet one of those deep needs or values that we hold.
Maybe I can give an example. One of the things we see a lot is that we often label the D as controlling, right? You’ve probably heard that, remember that from class. But we encounter a lot of people who can act controlling. And we know that high Ds are only somewhere between 8 to 12% of the population. So if I’m a high S and someone or something seems to be threatening my team, my friends, my family, I will do whatever I can to control that situation, right, in service to that higher need that I want to serve.
Adam:
That makes a strong connection to that in the idea that when someone tells me their problem, a lot of times I maybe want to solve it and take control of it, but I’m not necessarily a D. But when I need to defend someone, my wife or a friend, yeah, it makes me want to just grab control and fix it for them.
Leanne Van Beek:
That’s exactly a way that high S could maybe exhibit control, but still through their high S need. If you played that out and you’re a high I and maybe you feel like you’re not getting enough social time or connecting relationally with certain people that you want to have that connection with, you might find that you’re starting to exhibit some controlling behaviors to try to make that situation happen, right?
So again, I might be controlling something, but it’s trying to feed that high I need or maybe to combat that fear of being rejected, right, so I’m doing that from a different lens.
And I guess for the high C that high need for perfection that high Cs have… gosh, I love that about Cs, and I can’t imagine how exhausting it must be at the same time, right, to have such a high bar for perfection for yourself and to be striving for that. And if I feel like that perfection is potentially threatened by other people who aren’t following rules or aren’t following the process or maybe impeding me from doing it to the highest quality level, then I might start to try to control that situation. Again, not because I necessarily am doing it with the D’s psychological need, right, to drive and to really move things forward, but more because I have this need for perfection, and that feels like it’s compromised right now.
Does that make sense?
Adam:
I think it does make a lot of sense. It sheds a lot of light into why people do what they do and the way that they do it. And each of the tendencies has a certain need, correct? I mean, you covered a little bit of that just now, but go a little deeper.
Leanne Van Beek:
And this is where that DISC grid that I referenced earlier becomes so helpful, at least for me.
Is are driven very strongly by that need to be loved, to be in relationship with other people.
Cs, as I mentioned, are really driven by that need to be perfect. They have, like I said, just an incredibly high standard for themselves.
Ds need to be in motion. They almost can’t help but have to be driving because they need that next challenge.
And Ss need that higher purpose to feel like they’re in service to a cause or people that they care about.
What’s so, so impactful to me about the grid is how the needs interact with the fears. It might be really hard for me to care that an I needs relationship time until I realized that their deepest fear is social rejection. And I would bet money that we’ve all experienced social rejection at some time in our lives, and it’s terrible. It hurts. So I can feel empathy for that need.
With an S, their deepest fear is that loss of stability. If I’m someone who likes to move fast, and I don’t need that, it can be very easy for me to dismiss their need. But again, I would bet that we’ve all experienced a time in our lives where you feel like the bottom just fell out. You don’t know where you’re going to stand. You don’t know what’s going to happen next. And that feeling of instability is scary. And again, I can feel empathy for that.
Adam:
So if I’m following the pattern that you’re putting out here, it might be really frustrating for me to work with a D who needs to go, go, go all the time and make fast decisions. But if I look at their fear, it’s loss of control. I can certainly think of times in my life when things were happening outside of my control, and that was really hard. I can see how fear of that feeling would drive a D, and I agree I can have empathy for that.
Leanne Van Beek:
Exactly. And I think when you look at the high C just to kind of round it off here, it can be really tough for some tendencies to understand why everything has to be so perfect, why you can’t just say, “Good enough. All right? We’re good. Let’s move on.” That can also feel frustrating. But I think when you step back and you think about how much Cs fear criticism of their work, and you think about a time where someone criticized you, especially if you really wanted to do well, wow, I mean again, I can definitely feel empathy for that need.
Adam:
I keep hearing you say empathy. I have a sense that you were about to make another leap.
Leanne Van Beek:
This is a little bit scary how you’re reading my thoughts today.
Adam:
I don’t know. Maybe I’m a little psychic. Is that a behavioral tendency?
Leanne Van Beek:
So your behavioral tendency blend would be in ESP?
Adam:
ESPN. Now we’re talking.
Leanne Van Beek:
Wow. All right. That was bad. Let’s edit that out.
Adam:
I might have to just leave that in. But anyway, continue on with what you were saying.
Leanne Van Beek:
Yes, there is a next step here with the empathy. All this DISC understanding helps us tremendously when we get into effective confrontation. I believe in Episode Seven, we spend a little time looking at how to set up well for that, and considering behavioral tendencies is a big part of that.
So when I have to go and confront a high I, for example, it’s critical that I remember their fear is social rejection. How I lead into a confrontation with someone on my team who’s a high I is going to be very different than how I would lead into a confrontation with someone who’s a high D. For example, my high I commentary is definitely to need to have a lot of reassurance that I care about our relationship. I value their gifts. I need their voice on the team. And remember, I have to be genuine here. So this is not just making up fluff.
But with a high D, I’m probably going to be leading with commentary that I value their leadership. I need them to own what happens next, et cetera, right? I’m giving them control, letting them know I trust their judgment, and helping to decide what to do next. And I think that’s really big.
Adam:
It seems like we could do a whole series on how to confront with the different DISC tendencies.
Leanne Van Beek:
The next focus for us with DISC on the podcast is going to be a four-part series. We’re hoping that we will collect a lot of input from our alumni and ask them to help tell us what works best when a certain tendency is being confronted and what’s most meaningful when you want to be recognized. And we’re going to hope to break it down even by blend. So when we talk about the high I podcast, we’re going to be asking if anything changes when we look at the ID versus the IS versus the IC. So keep an eye out for those.
Adam:
Shouldn’t it be keep an ear out for those because it’s a podcast?
Leanne Van Beek:
Right. Good. Podcast. Keep an ear out.
Adam:
All right. Well, thanks for lending us your ear today in listening to the podcast, and thank you to Leanne for walking us through more DISC tendencies and how we can exhibit different tendencies if it helps us fill a need.
Make sure to come back and check out the next DISC series on the OCL Michigan podcast. And until then, remember, you are the message.
Speaker 1:
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