Leveraging the DISC Model to Drive Change

It has become increasingly common for employers to use personality assessments to better understand and engage their employees: Myers Briggs, StrengthsFinders, and DISC to name a few. The idea is that if managers understand their people, they can better meet them where they are and lead accordingly. What if in a similar manner, Change Management Practitioners could leverage personality assessments to help organizations meet people where they are to help employees move through the change process? We recently talked to Scott Feder, organizational transformation leader, to learn more about how he leveraged an organization’s use of the DISC model in strategic and innovative ways to successfully drive change. 

Background 

The DISC model is a personality assessment and an acronym for Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. Most people tend to fall into one or two of these DISC categories: 

• D (Dominance) – Direct, Demanding, Decisive, Determined, Doer  

• I (Influence) – Inspiring, Influential, Impressionable, Interactive, Impressive, Involve 

• S (Steadiness) – Supportive, Stable, Steady, Sweet, Status quo, Shy 

• C (Conscientiousness) – Cautious, Calculating, Competent, Conscientious, Contemplative, Careful 

This model is easy to adopt as the assessment takes ~10 minutes for employees to complete and it focuses on an individual’s communication and interpersonal relations. Change Management Consultants can attest that when a company is in tune with employees’ intercommunication styles, they have an excellent foundation for effective Change Management to take place. While most employers use personality models for recruitment, hiring, and team building, some employers use them to help teams meet specific business objectives. For example, one of Scott’s clients used the DISC model within sales to help drive revenue. His client recognized that when salespeople understand where they fall on the DISC model and how the model works, they can better understand their prospective clients and close more business! When Scott was asked to lead the same organization through a reorganization, he recognized that he could leverage the DISC model to help managers lead their employees through the change. Rather than introduce new Change Management concepts, tools, and techniques, he incorporated the DISC model – a language, tool, and process that everyone already knew – to work with leaders to drive employee engagement and successful change.   

Driving change with DISC 

Scott was originally asked by his client to help with employee retention and to host a Change Management class for employees. After a few discovery sessions, it didn’t take long for Scott to realize that the issue was actually that leaders were unsure how to lead the changes that were to come with the reorganization. Scott used a two-part Change Management plan to prepare managers for the upcoming reorganization. Part one was to address the realities and sensitivities of the reorg and how employees would move through the Change Management curve.  

Part two was to simplify the DISC model to its core components and ask managers to create an action plan by capturing each employee’s DISC personality style and how they’d respond to the big news of the company’s reorg by answering these questions:  

• What quadrant does each employee fall into (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, or Conscientiousness)?  

• How do I think each employee will react to the news of the reorg? 

• How can I (as the leader) support each employee through the change?  

With an emotional change such as a reorganization, it’s particularly important for leaders to have one-on-one conversations with their team members. Being armed with how people move through the Change Management curve as well as a personalized action plan equipped managers to have effective and efficient conversations with each employee. The results of Scott’s two-part plan spoke for themselves: the client met the goals of their reorganization and avoided the common productivity dips associated with major change!   

Empowering and equipping leaders to lead change is key, especially when employees are undergoing a highly sensitive change such as a reorganization or layoffs. Organizations can leverage existing and familiar organizational development language and tools, such as the DISC model, as an excellent starting point to help leaders to meet their teams where they are—to drive change! 

Contact ChangeStaffing to learn how to successfully lead Change Management initiatives by tapping into a company’s personality assessment information in strategic and innovative ways! 

A very special thank you to Scott Feder, Organizational Transformation Leader, for his thought leadership and for collaborating with us on this blog. Scott is currently available for designing and delivering custom Change Management strategies and Executive Coaching.  

Written by Kylette Harrison