Have you ever applied for a job and been asked to take a DiSC personality test? DiSC personality profiling is used to assess how you might behave in a workplace setting. DiSC stands for Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Compliance, which are personality types based on the work of American psychologist William Moulton Marston.
Carl G. Jung’s theory indicates that there are four primary functions of consciousness, which created a behavioral axis, Sensing-Intuition, and Thinking-Feeling. Marston placed the two overlapping axes at right angles to form the four-quadrant model of the DiSC personality system.
The DiSC Personality Types
Dominance
The type D personality tends to be competitive, strong-willed, and aggressive. You care about results, so you prefer to get things done right away. That’s why you’re decisive and want to be in charge.
You can be demanding, direct, self-confident, and prefer to be in control. While D types have a strong personality, that doesn’t mean it’s all bad. At work, they can be efficient, drive their projects to completion, and perform well in a crisis. Type D’s can be overbearing and impatient. They may also find it hard to trust others.
Influence
The next DiSC type is Influence. You will belong to this type if you are sociable, optimistic, and energetic. You’re people-oriented, lively, and talkative.
As the name suggests, you’re good at influencing others. You’re inspiring, charismatic, and persuasive. You like interacting with others and meeting new people.
You are pleasant to work with because you make the atmosphere positive and relaxed. You help keep up the team’s spirit and facilitate discussion.
Meanwhile, you may find it hard to stop talking in a conversation. You can also be quite emotional and rely on others too much. You tend to delay difficult decisions and avoid negative issues.
Steadiness
If you’re the S type, you tend to be calm, steady, and collected. You are the modest, laid-back type who can be patient and trustworthy. People find it easy to approach you because you are good at listening, although you can be reserved. You’re reliable, careful, and warmhearted.
At work, you can balance tasks and people. You have a systematic way of doing your work and creating routines. You don’t make hasty decisions, and you always consider other team members.
However, you need help with changes because you tend to make only small improvements. You don’t make prompt decisions and others may take advantage of your quiet nature.
Compliance
The C style type is logical and analytical. You tend to be slow at tasks because you want everything to be exact, structured, and process-oriented. You tend to think deeply and are private.
You are good at solving problems and doing things right. You make decisions based on logic and not emotions.
You may not be good at collaborating because you prefer to work independently. You are slow at making decisions because you need to research lots of information and find the details first. You are not fond of taking risks.
In Summary
Each of the DiSC personality types has its own strengths and weaknesses. There is no wrong personality to have! Everyone is different and everyone has good and bad traits.
The descriptions above are quite general. Depending on your position in the quadrant, your personality will be unique to you and how that will work for you in the workplace. The best way to know that is by taking the DiSC test.
Understanding where you belong can help you take advantage of your strengths and work out your weaknesses, leading to better work performance and career success. Finding your personality type can be fun, so enjoy the process.
