This entry is part of a series on the DiSC profile. If you’d like to see the whole series, you can do a search for DiSC on this blog.
As I shared yesterday, I am a high D. Full disclosure: I top out the chart on being a D. Ds value results. They want to get things accomplished, and they don’t like to be micromanaged. To motivate a D, agree on the goal they want to accomplish, then turn them loose and let them go do it. If they need something, they’ll ask you for it. The strength of a D is that they get stuff done and plow through obstacles. On a sports team, they’re the ones you want to give the ball to when the game is on the line. They’ll get it where it needs to go.
However, with those strengths come liabilities. As a D, one of the core liabilities I brought to the equation was to not listen. D’s are notorious for selective listening. When you’re working with a D, you need to get their attention. That means being direct and blunt. Hence, the consultant’s first words to me, knowing I was a high D: “Bob, if you don’t change your behavior, you will kill this church.” His words were direct, blunt, and tapped into the core motivation I had for results. I wanted to grow the church. I wanted to reach people for Jesus. Because I valued those results, he had my attention. That’s why I was willing to ask him the follow up question: “What do you mean?”
As he explained it, I needed to change my behavior in order to get better results. So I began to learn to listen to people better, to ask questions, and to unpack their thinking so that I would involve them in the process of planning to get ownership and buy in. From that early work with DiSC, I developed my philosophy of process leadership, and I learned the importance of celebration… both key issues in my leadership style today.