Have you ever wondered why some people re-act opposite to others and why you find it necessary to approach different people in entirely different ways?
The world’s most successful business managers use behavioural assessment tools to help them understand what makes their team members tick..
Understanding people is perhaps our most challenging management task simply because excellent communication is fundamental to success. Every one of us has a different behavioural style, and we have all made ourselves what we are. Already in our childhood, our parents, relatives and friends have “done their best” to help us form our personalities.
We have, however, psychologically made all the decisions concerning the formation of our personalities by ourselves. Most of these decisions have been made in our unconscious mind without us even realising it. For this reason, we are not always aware of the full potential our personality provides.
Behavioural Assessment Tools
Many organisations in New Zealand promote behavioural assessment systems. Most of these systems build on the DISC theory that Carl Jung developed in the 1920s. Jung described people using four characteristics: Dominance (D), Intuition (I), Steadiness (S) and Compliance (C).
He plotted the degree to which people showed these characteristics on two axes. People who rely on all five senses sit to the left of the axes. They tend to think things through, reason carefully, act thoroughly and considerately, require proof, and need persuasion. People positioned further to the right, on the other hand, prefer to move quickly, embrace variety and change, and take risks more naturally.
In the 1940s and 1950s, William Moulton-Marston built on Jung’s work. He created a four-dimensional behavioural map, which led to the four-quadrant model of human behaviour. Managers, sales professionals and leadership trainers still use DISC Theory widely today. Some variations of the theory divide behaviour into eight or even sixteen categories. However, oversimplifying behaviour and its classifications has weakened these systems.
In the 1990s, researchers in Finland designed a comprehensive “customer-driven” toolset. They intended the tool to support all human resource activities at the individual, team and organisational level. This system became Extended DISC®, which has gained international recognition and now supports many of the world’s most successful organisations.
Extended DISC® has grown faster than any other assessment system worldwide. Organisations in more than 60 countries rely on it, and people can complete it in over 80 languages. This reach matters in today’s diverse workforce, where many employees speak English as a second language. Extended DISC® also offers gender-neutral language options.
Conducting Behavioural Assessments
So how does one go about conducting an Extended DISC Profile assessment?
There are two main types of assessment – assessments of individuals and groups.
We will confine ourselves to the assessment of individuals, although Extended DISC® has tools that are invaluable in organisational situations.
The best way of conducting a behavioural assessment is through the use of a tried and tested assessment tool such as Extended DISC®, which is the world’s foremost assessment tool. It does not assess a person’s intelligence, nor does it classify people as good or bad. Instead, it builds behavioural profiles, which provides information about an individual’s behaviour. Including their natural way of communicating, their motivators and their ideal working environment.
What we learn from the Extended DISC® Profile
There are no good or bad people – there are only different people!
The Extended DISC® report explains in a clear, concise, easily read format with graphics the natural behavioural style of the person completing the questionnaire. We can all make ourselves better human beings by understanding ourselves better and by identifying the strengths and weaknesses in our behavioural style. The Extended DISC® behavioural assessment report does precisely that.
The report explains how to identify different behavioural traits in other individuals and how we should address and respond to them once we know their behavioural style.
The Extended DISC® behavuiProfile is based on the unconscious and allows the comparison of a person’s conscious behavioural style to a person’s unconscious behavioural style.
The Extended DISC® profile does not report on what we already know about someone, or what someone knows about themself, (which is what virtually every other system is based on). We can also identify if a person is: comfortable in their work role, under pressure, feeling insecure, frustrated or feels the need to adjust to a role outside their comfort zone.
The Value of the Information Provided
Extended DISC® reports help match people to their ideal role and help them understand their strengths and weaknesses. The profiles also help people understand why there are certain situations in which they are comfortable or uncomfortable. The report can help explain why some tasks take more energy for people to perform while other jobs seem so easy, taking much less energy.
Knowing these things has, of course, many advantages. As an employer, you can be confident that you appoint the best-suited people to any given role and that you can identify potential leaders for your business.
An Extended DISC® Behavioural Assessment report can help individuals to focus on areas they need to develop and help them understand why they react to different people in different ways.
For a business owner, it provides valuable information on the unconscious behavioural style of a person who may be challenging to communicate with. Best of all, once you know what motivates them or what can be intimidating to them, you can help them perform at their best — providing them with the opportunity to work in a role which would be the most rewarding for them.
