What Is Your DISC Profile?

Disclaimer: As far as I'm aware information relating to the DISC profile is available in the public domain. In case this post violates any copyright laws, please let me know and I'll be happy to take it off the blog.

I recently underwent a people management training at work where we learnt a number of managerial skills such as how to motivate your team members, conflict management, the right way of giving feedback (there is a right and a wrong way believe it or not. 'Hey, great job!' just doesn't cut it anymore) etc.. But the part I found the most fascinating - and useful - was the DISC profile.

DISC is the way of classifying people into 4 broad groups based on their style of working and the way they behave at the work place. So you have people who are high on 'Dominance', which contrary to perception is a positive quality to possess at work since people in this group are focussed on results. They are confident, fast-paced, decisive, action oriented and constantly challenge themselves as well as others. They don't like to get involved in the details and processes, and are always looking for the bigger picture. They have little patience for routine, mundane tasks and are champions at the art of delegating.

Then there are people who belong to the 'Influence' category. These people are highly sociable, gregarious and complete people's people. They are also the most persuasive of the lot and use their persuasion skills as the key tool for succeeding in their careers. They are motivated by social recognition and fear disapproval and the loss of influence and attention.

Then there are the 'Steady' ones. These people are strong team players whose style of working revolves around cooperation and collaboration. They tend to be good listeners and think of the greater good of the team before an individual. The downside of belonging to this group is that you may be mistaken for someone who lacks the confidence to act on your own and is slow to make decisions.

And finally there is the 'Conscientious' group. People belonging to this category are extremely methodical and detail-oriented. They are perfectionists who need to have every minute detail in place before they take a decision. They are motivated by quality and accuracy and are afraid of being wrong or taking wrong decisions because they missed out on details.

The D's and I's typically tend to be extroverts where as the S' and C's are mostly introverts. There are exceptions to this of course.

According to the DISC profile, most people tend to fall into two categories with one being the dominant trait and the other secondary. For instance, a person can be a Di which means they are predominantly a D but also possess many traits of an I.

At the same time, we can all stretch into the remaining two categories depending on the situation we are in or the people we are interacting with. For instance, there is a girl in my office who is an Sc at work - calm, quiet and diligent. But when she's playing a competitive sport she is a total D, leading her team, yelling out instructions and screaming at people when they mess up!

The way we arrived at our DISC profiles was very interesting too. Before the training we were asked to take an online test where we were presented with various work-related scenarios and had to choose the response that came closest to the way we would react/handle that situation.
On the day of the training we played a card game where we were each given 6 cards with words written on them - attributes/personality traits belonging to each of the D, I, S and C categories. We first had to discard 2 cards that contained words that least described us, and then we had to move around the room exchanging cards with other people in the group until we arrived at the 4 cards that described us the best.

Most people ended up with cards of 2 of the 4 DISC categories, which became our dominant and secondary styles (depending on the number of cards of each category we ended up with). We were then given the results of the online test we had taken and 90% of us had the same DISC profile that we arrived at ourselves!

Now, I generally don't like to categorize people as I don't believe slotting people into boxes works - human behaviour is way more complicated than that. But of all the other personality/work personality tests I've taken or read about, DISC seems to be the most accurate because it has 4 very clearly defined but broad groups that each allow a variety of behaviours, but also allow people of one style to exhibit certain traits of all the other styles all the time or depending on the situation.

As a manager, I found the DISC profile very useful. I've been working for almost 8 years now and in this time I have had to deal with all sorts of team members and bosses. I've had team members who have driven me up the wall by their slow pace of working, their refusal to take instructions from me, their manager, by always getting so caught up in details so that they completely miss the bigger picture etc.

At the same time I've had bosses who were extremely cautious about what they said, forever questioning & critiquing and very demanding. DISC has helped me realize why they were the way they were and how I could have improved my working relationship with them and handled them/the situation better.

Even now I have a very diverse group of people working with me and I know how to interact with them so we don't drive each other batty and get the optimum productivity. I also know which way I tend to sway (in terms of my style of working) and when I need to act in another way.

I've rambled on and on about this and I'm way past my target bed time for today :-)
Why don't you tell me what you think your DISC profile would be? You could choose one for the sake of simplicity, or choose a dominant and a secondary style. Game on!

Should We Become Less Uptight About "Going Dutch"?

Stumbled upon this article that talks about Dutch women working less, having a big gender pay gap and loving it.

According to this article, most Dutch women work half days, meet their friends for coffee at 2 p.m., and pity their male colleagues who are stuck in office all day!

Now that's a life any working woman will be willing to trade her present life for (working beyond office hours, not being able to meet friends for coffee even after work, and still having to crib about sexism at work). The flip side, of course, being that we'll have to depend on the male species for money. Is that something I'm willing to make my peace with? I don't know. What I wouldn't mind of course is working half day, making enough money to be able to meet my personal and very important shopping needs :D and the rest can be taken care of by the man! They are genetically programmed to be ambitious, ruthlessly competitive, and more objective about work than women, anyway.

What are your views on this article?

Rani Mukherjee in a Bikini, Anyone?

I haven't watched 'Dil Bole Hadippa', neither do I intend to. But watching Rani Mukherjee do the getting-wet-in-the-rain-in-a-bikini-top gig is a very 'yuck!' inducing experience. I think she's better than that. She's known for her acting ability; she should lead cavorting in bikinis to wannabes who don't have much else to boast about.

Besides, she is no Bipasha Basu, her new toned look notwithstanding. She can't be...her face & body type do not lend themselves to Western wear, leave alone bikinis. And I'm not being uncharitable - different people have diffirent body types and it's extremely important to know & understand one's body type and dress accordingly. Especially if you are on screen.

There are some women who look better in Western wear than ethnic wear. Unfortunately, Rani Mukherjee belongs to that overwhelmingly majority of Indian women whose bodies lend themselves best to ethnic wear. Or at least Fusion.

*****

I think I'm discovering a new facet to Sunday evenings. There was a time - not too long ago - when Sunday evenings were the darkest hours of my existence. I would get depressed beyond healthy levels of depression, and therefore had this need to be out & about doing stuff...watching a movie, shopping, simply hanging out with friends at a coffee shop at Bandstand...whatever! Just as long as I was out of my house.

Strangely, I don't feel that need anymore. I still get depressed but it's manageable. Now I'd rather spend my Sunday evenings at home, hanging out with A or my sister, reading a book with music in the background, watching Travel & Living or a DVD.

What about you? How do you spend your Sunday evenings?

Coming Full Circle

I have a new job. Well, it’s not exactly new, as in I’ve worked in the same organization before, doing the same drill, though I was "lower down the food chain” as they say in corporate lingo. So yes, the work profile is different, as are the expectations from me but the heart and soul of the organization are the same.

I work in a very niche industry – market research – or “consumer insights” as they call it these days. I started off my career with traditionally the best in the business (according to me...you could argue that, I wouldn’t). After four years of learning the ropes, I decided it was time to move on to another organization, to see what else lay outside the “consumer insights” behemoth I was part of. I’m glad I experimented, for it made me realize the place I was at earlier is really the best place to be – in terms of the value they give to clients, the work culture, organizational philosophy & work life balance.

The experiment also made me realize how important it is to be in sync with the values your organization embodies and propagates. They might be doing brilliant work but unless you identify with what they stand for & believe in, it’s going to be an empty, dissatisfying journey.

On that note, can we have the ‘Welcome Back’ e-mail please? :)

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It’s been a while since I posted. Yeah, yeah...6 days is quite a long time for me to stay away from this blog. The absence can be explained by visiting parents, birthday celebrations in the family, the first few unsettled days into the new job etc. Now I’m back and getting used to my personal laptop once again, having relegated it to being a back-up while I was lugging around my work laptop (it had a data card for internet access which was so very convenient, where as my personal laptop has a broadband which restricted my mobility).

*****

I absolutely adored him. I do, and will always remember him best as Johnny Castle – the man who Dirty Danced like a dream, sang ‘I’ve Had The Time of My Life’ to his girl, and defined sensual love for millions of teenage girls like me.

I felt really sad when I found out he has cancer, which was a few months ago, and worse to hear of his demise. I don’t think anyone could have played Johnny Castle quite like him. Haven't seen Ghost but it's definitely on my agenda.

This tribute comes a rather belatedly due to the reasons mentioned above but Patrick Swayze, thanks for giving us the weakness-in-the-knees-inducing Johnny Castle. You will be missed. RIP.

PS: My favorite songs from ‘Dirty Dancing’ are ‘I’ve had the time of my life’ (romantic), ‘Hungry eyes’ (lustful) & ‘Hey Baby’ (playful), though I luuuuurrrrve ‘em all. Which ones are your favorites?

There Are Some Lessons I Never Learn

Like getting as much work out of the way as possible when I know there will be a barrage of work heading my way soon. Instead I procrastinate :)

It happens with me all the time. When I have very little work - but work that needs to be done nonetheless - I just cannot motivate myself to complete it. Even when I know that there will be an onslaught soon.

I work better under pressure. That’s when I have the motivation to complete work as fast as I can. Or is it that I have no choice? I don’t know. Does it happen with you too?

C.R.A.S.H.

Life has become one frenetic race to completion with no breathing time. Suddenly, all the free time I used to have (whatever little of it I had) has dissipated as my team has expanded from two to four people!

Every positive thing has its pitfalls, I guess. While having more people reporting in to you at work is generally considered as a good sign (of you performing well, meeting expectations etc.etc.) it also brings with it an exponential increase in the workload. Recession, did you say?

WHERE?????

Anyone who has managed four people at a time knows how bloody difficult it is! The entire day goes in sitting with one person after another on various projects. All of them want your attention at the same time, and of course there is no work that is not urgent!

When your reportees includes one person who is so trained to be spoon-fed, they just have not developed the capability to apply their mind on basic things, leave alone thinking outside the box; another who is straight out of b-school (and therefore still in college mode…such as thinking work is a walk in the park, anything chalta-hai, not trained at professional communication etc.etc.); yet another who thinks they are know-it-all; and a fourth who is proactive alright but who thinks your entire time is for them & them alone, a gyan session in how to value your manager's time becomes imperative.

So these are the pointers that were shared:

1. Correct your own mistakes! I’m not here to check your grammar, spellings, calculation mistakes & typos. Check your work before coming to me.
2. Once I ask you to make changes to your proposal/presentation, I can only check it once again. Don’t expect me to go through the same document over & over again. I expect you to be capable enough to understand what is asked of you & make the changes in full.
3. Your manager’s time is valuable, value it. You are not the only person whose work I have to supervise, there are 3 more!!!
4. Deadlines are there to be met. Meet them.
5. Mediocrity is good for Dilbert’s boss. Not for your’s.
6. Use the telephone. Don't come to me unless I say it's OK to come over. I'm not sitting idle, twiddling my thumbs, waiting for you to come over!

The most frustrating thing is you can't appear irritated with your reportees. You have to be calm, collected, patient & all those crappy things managers are expected to be.

I can see some of you smiling already. I’ve been sailing on your boat for sometime but life was much easier earlier as I had only one or two people to manage. Now there are four!

Welcome me aboard!! :)

Dressed To Kill

If you come to my office on a Saturday, you'll feel there is some sort of a fashion show going on! People come dressed in bizarre/dressy clothes, as if coming to work on a Saturday is the high point of their lives!

This past Saturday - which incidentally was Valentine's Day - this one guy who is also a part-time body builder came dressed in a bright yellow t-shirt with silver stuff on it! Completely bling. The t-shirt itself was made of the thin crumpled material that sticks to your body & is generally worn by girls! His excuse? He was planning to ask two women out on a date!! I wonder if either women agreed to go out on a date with someone dressed like that! A colleague quipped to him, "Do you think wearing this t-shirt will empower you to take two women out in a single day?"

Then there was this woman who is known as the 'Bengal Mallika Sherawat' in office because of the cleavage-revealing clothes she wears to work. She came dressed in a black clingy cleavage-revealing top.

Don't these people even look at themselves in the mirror before stepping out of their homes? Don't they have folks at home who can tell them how they're looking before they leave home? I wonder.....

Things Fall Into Place

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been working on a category I had no knowledge of at all, leading to stressful days & sleepless nights.

The project is humungous (not to mention extremely research oriented, the kind of research I have never done before), has a strict deadline, my clients are demanding & some of the most research savvy people I’ve met, and I had no clue how to go about doing the analysis!!

But finally, I’m past the first hurdle and things have not only started making sense, they're becoming interesting even!

And with every passing day I believe what Moonshine said to me more & more, “You do this one study well & you’ll know all there is to know about cigarettes!” :)

Work can be fun too!

I had the most fun time at work today. Strolled in to work around 11am, learnt that we were supposed to go for a farewell lunch for one of our colleagues. Didn't get much accomplished in the first half as everyone seemed to be in this unusually cheerful Friday mood. Black or green over denims was the order of the day.

We left for lunch around 12.30pm & headed for Phoenix Mills. At lunch, a colleague came up with the BRILLIANT idea of playing a game where we spin a pencil & everyone gets to ask a question to whoever the pencil points at on stopping. The first round was quite tame as no one knew how far to go & where to draw the line. But the subsequent rounds were hilarious, especially the questions aimed at certain people.

By the time we finished our lunch, three people were still remaining who hadn't been asked any questions so we decided to continue the game in office. We got back to office around 3pm but obviously, no one was in the mood to work. People were still laughing at the questions that had been asked during lunch. Come 5pm & we all headed for the conference room to complete the game (only if the same kind of enthusiasm could be seen when people head to the conference room for team meetings!)

My favorite question was one of the guys asking his reportee (who apparently messes up at work all the time): "How do you do it?". The reportee obviously didn't understand what the question meant & he went on to explain "I take it out...I put it where it should go in...and then there is circular motion and to & fro motion". We were about to fall off our chairs laughing. We just didn't know where to stop!

I haven't had so much fun at work in a very long time...