Engaging DiSC Games for Teams

QuikDiSC is an engaging card game designed to spark interest and enhance your training experience.

Dreamed up by a trio of experienced training experts, the QuikDiSC card game aims to intertwine the nuances of behavioral differences, as depicted in the DiSC® Dimensions of Behavior model, into a lively game setup. Beyond mere education, their goal was to create an experience that’s both thrilling and versatile. They held a firm belief that optimal learning unfolds in an atmosphere where participants effortlessly connect with the material and each other. [ Bonus: Download the handout Games & Ice Breakers for DiSC Profile Training ]

5 Games for DiSC Team-building

Activities to Understand DiSC Styles:

• Personal DiSC Badge: Team members create badges displaying their primary DiSC style with colors and a few keywords or symbols that resonate with their style.
• DiSC Role Play: Participants act out hypothetical workplace situations based on their DiSC style, highlighting their strengths and challenges.
• Storytelling Session: Share a personal story or experience that exemplifies their primary DiSC behavior.
• DiSC Style Sculpture: Using play dough or crafting materials, create a 3D representation of what their DiSC style feels like.
• Guess the Style: Write down a workplace action, and let others guess which DiSC style it aligns with.

Activities for Enhanced Communication:

• DiSC Communication Swap: Pair people with opposite DiSC styles and have them discuss how they’d handle a situation.
• Feedback Carousel: Rotate partners and practice giving feedback using different DiSC communication preferences.
• Email Decoding: Craft emails or messages in a specific DiSC style and let others interpret the core message.
• Silent Meetings: Use non-verbal cues to communicate and let participants guess the DiSC style being exhibited.
• DiSC Talk Show: Host an improvised talk show where participants answer questions in their DiSC style.

Activities for Conflict Resolution:

• DiSC Conflict Role Play: Enact a scene with a conflict and let participants resolve it using their DiSC understanding.
• Style Mediation: In pairs, mediate a fictional conflict using different DiSC styles.
• Hot Seat: Address workplace challenges, receiving feedback based on different DiSC styles.
• Conflict Mapping: Analyze a past conflict and discuss how different DiSC styles contributed to and resolved it.
• Style Swap: Approach a disagreement by swapping DiSC styles to see how perspectives change.

Activities for Collaboration:

• DiSC Puzzle: Create puzzles representing each DiSC style, and have teams collaborate to solve.
• Project Swap: Assign tasks according to DiSC styles, then swap and discuss challenges.
• Brainstorm Bonanza: Tackle a problem using each DiSC style’s strengths in separate brainstorming sessions.
• Build-a-Team: Assemble dream teams for hypothetical projects based on DiSC profiles.
• DiSC Case Study: Analyze a successful project or business and guess team members’ DiSC styles.

Activities for Celebration and Appreciation:

• DiSC Appreciation Circle: Go around expressing appreciation based on different DiSC strengths.
• Achievement Board: Highlight achievements and align them with specific DiSC styles.
• DiSC Awards Night: Create fun awards tailored to each DiSC style and celebrate team members.
• Strength Story: Share stories where team members’ DiSC strengths shone.
• Thank You Notes: Write thank you notes tailored to the recipient’s DiSC style.

Remember, the key to these activities is to foster understanding and appreciation of different DiSC styles, promoting better teamwork and communication.

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The Everything DiSC® framework breaks down behavioral styles along four main quadrants – Dominance (D), Influence (i), Steadiness (S), and Conscientiousness (C) – representing a combination of these styles into a simple dot in a circle. The closer your dot is to the center of these quadrants, the easier it is for you to flex across all four styles. DiSC styles on the outskirts of the map indicate a more pronounced, dominant style.  There is no “best” style as we are all a combination if all four to various degrees.

Want more information? Read more in Everything DiSC® Entrepreneurs: Typical Strengths, Blind Spots & Business Pitfalls – Part 1

Take D’s for example: they prioritize action, independence, and results. Early-stage entrepreneurship favors that instinctive “do whatever it takes” mentality. But as businesses grow, survive and stabilize, focus shifts to building systems, delegation, leading teams, establishing boundaries, and sticking to a long-term plan. Entrepreneurs who don’t (or won’t) adapt to meet those new demands risk burning out.

Michael Goldsby’s study, supported by Ball State University and published in the Journal of Small Business Management in 2018, surveyed 400 entrepreneurs across the United States and Australia to discover why entrepreneurs chose to leave their businesses. The article reported two specific findings which contributed to emotional burnout and increased exit risk:

• Role ambiguity – Unclear responsibilities as business scales 
• Work-family conflict – Excessive hours and lack of boundaries

Goldsby told Startup Savant Magazine, “Emotional exhaustion was a key predictor of exit intention among small-business owners. They are simply worn out and need a break. So, the company — no matter how successful — will be shut down.”

The first step to understanding what your primary DiSC style is and how to better leverage your non-dominant styles to avoid burnout is to take an Everything DiSC Workplace assessment which represents a unique, state-of-the-art DiSC assessment because of the profound underlying research and the quality of the easy-to-read reporting. 

See here: Learn more about Everything DiSC Workplace

Let’s review how each entrepreneurial DiSC style may experience burnout differently when failing to adapt:

D burning out – Fear of Losing control

• Non-adapting D behavior patterns: refusing to delegate, getting aggravated by process/people that move slowly, micro-managing.  
• How they get burned out: trying to do everything themselves, working all the hours to “get it done right”, getting frustrated with others not working at their pace.
• Why they exit: Burned out D’s often reach a point where they feel trapped by their own company. “I can’t take it anymore” mentality. Many will sell, shut down, or take a step back from the business abruptly.

i burning out – Avoiding the tough conversations

• Non-adapting i behavior patterns: assuming people will do what they say, struggling to have difficult conversations (performance, conflict), spreading themselves too thin helping others.
• How they get burned out: trying to please everyone, guilt from feeling like they let others down, worry from not addressing problems.
• Why they exit: Burned out i’s often feel like the journey isn’t fun anymore, or they just don’t have the passion they once did. They may step away or pass the business on to save relationships and energy.

S burning out  – Taking on the world

• Non-adapting S behavior patterns: not wanting to let down team members who may be underperforming, not wanting to make hard decisions that may risk stability, picking up extra work to help others.
• How they get burned out: stress from carrying the emotional burden of others, working long hours people please, shame from letting others down.
• Why they exit: Exhausted S’s may quietly shut down at work or show resentment. Many want to “just relax” again after burning out.

C burning out – Trying to make it perfect

• Non-adapting C behavior patterns: overthinking, unwillingness to delegate work, not accepting good enough, too much focus on details and not the big picture.
• How they get burned out: worrying about everything that can go wrong, working long hours building/sticking to process, getting frustrated when they have to move quickly or accept errors.
• Why they exit: Burned out C’s may become cynical about their venture. They may also experience serious health issues. Health often forces high-C entrepreneurs out of business.

Everything DiSC help entrepreneurs grow their business

If the entrepreneur doesn’t change as the business grows, or they aren’t prepared to act differently, Goldsby said they’ll eventually hit a breaking point. Everything DiSC can help entrepreneurs grow their business without burning out by:

• Helping you identify your natural strengths and weaknesses when you join on as early as possible. 
• Stretching your behavior – If you’re a high-D or Dominance color, learn how to delegate and listen more. If you’re a high-C or Conscientiousness color, practice accepting “good enough” deadlines.
• Seeking support from a mentor, coach, therapist, or family business advisor to keep you accountable to your growth journey.

The difference in where your DiSC dots fall on the map reveals why some styles are more naturally equipped to handle the challenges of entrepreneurship. Your dot indicates which one of the four styles you naturally gravitate towards and display most often. If the dot representing your DiSC style is toward or on the outer edge of the circle map, you will find it more challenging to flex into other styles without a lot of practice stretching.

Entrepreneurs who learn about their Everything DiSC style and utilize it as a tool for continuous learning are better equipped to recognize when role ambiguity and work-family conflict are present. They know how to ask for help, where to direct their focus, and when to step back to avoid burning out before they get there.

Reference: Goldsby, M. J., (2018). Antecedents and consequences of small business owner intention to leave the business. Journal of Small Business Management, 56(1), 161-192. Web.

The post EVERYTHING DiSC® Entrepreneurs: How your DiSC Style can lead to burnout – Part 2 appeared first on DiscProfiles4u.

Everything DiSC® and similar models are popular tools in organizations around the world for increasing self-awareness, communicating more effectively, building better teams, and navigating conflict. They aren’t meant to be, and aren’t validated as, clinical psychological assessments for diagnosis or deep trait measurement. Instead, Everything DiSC® is designed to quickly and easily assess behavioral preferences in workplace situations so that professionals can better understand themselves and each other. This makes it different from many other personality or clinical assessment tools that are used in organizational settings.

For more information, check out the rest of the Everything DiSC® Uncovered Series:

• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 1: Everything You Want to Know About Reliability & Validity but were Afraid to Ask
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 2: Reliability and Validity of Everything DiSC – What Does the Science Say?
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 3: Common Questions Answered (Simplicity, Barnum, Original Theory)
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 4: A Balanced Exploration of Reliability, Validity and Practical Application
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered Series 5: Everything DiSC vs “Deeper” tools like Big Five

That being said, Everything DiSC® is not without limitations. This series will unpack some of the strengths and limitations of Everything DiSC®, specifically, and forced-choice work-style assessments in general. Content will be rooted in the publisher’s published technical evidence (e.g., the Everything DiSC® Manual, Chapter 4, as well as external white papers and research studies where available), as well as other independent sources, with comparison to similar assessments.

While some articles may lean a bit more towards positive or negative perspectives based on the information available, the entire series should come together to give an objective, evidence-based look at whether and how L&D professionals, facilitators, and consumers can and should use Everything DiSC®. By the end, readers should have a good understanding of what Everything DiSC® measures well, where it can add value to your organization, and what questions to ask (and behaviors to understand) (i.e., the limits) when working with this tool or others like it. Armed with this knowledge, individuals can more wisely choose when and how to apply DiSC in their organization to maximize development.

Please continue reading the articles in this series which cover common questions about the research and application behind Everything DiSC®. While there are many strengths to this tool when used appropriately in an organizational development context, the series will not shy away from identifying areas where consumers need to understand limits, use with caution, or potentially find a supplemental tool to fill gaps.

Articles 1-3 in this series covered three main psychometric properties associated with Everything DiSC®: internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, and construct (circumplex) validity as reported in the Everything DiSC® Manual, Chapter 4 as well as in external white papers and research studies where available. While Everything DiSC® scores appear to perform well across all three metrics, one modern feature really sets Everything DiSC’s measurement engine apart from previous generations of DISC® assessments: It uses computerized adaptive testing, also called adaptive testing.

When Wiley first introduced adaptive testing to the Everything DiSC® assessment suite circa 2012 to present, it enhanced the assessment experience by using advanced algorithms to deliver the minimum number of questions needed to place the respondent’s dot on the DiSC circumplex as accurately as possible. Everything DiSC’s use of adaptive testing helps drive the high levels of reliability and validity discussed earlier and earlier in this series, but how does it work?

Why is it better than traditional “fixed-form” assessments with the same number of questions for everyone? And how does it specifically help with developing teams and individuals in workplace settings?

How Everything DiSC®’s Adaptive Testing Works 

Like many websites that give you different recommendations based on what you previously clicked on or how you answer initial questions, adaptive testing selects the next item to be answered based on responses to previous items. Everything DiSC® starts with some items that are fairly informative about the whole DiSC circumplex, then:

* Administers the question that will provide the most information about the test taker’s relative location on the circumplex, based on the current estimated position (in other words, once we think we know your style pretty well, we ask you questions that help us decide between two similar styles).

* Continues this process until we reach a prespecified level of measurement precision.

Instead of answering anywhere from 80-150 questions that might not be directly applicable to their style (Everything DiSC® scales range from 79-126 items depending on profile type and response pattern), respondents complete an online adaptive assessment that takes approximately 15-20 minutes. The system stops once the location of their dot can be determined accurately*, which means less fatigue from overly long surveys and more relevant items that create a dot placement that accurately reflects their priorities and intensity.

Increases Precision and Reliability 

Wiley has published multiple white papers on their adaptive testing program, as well as a summary of their adaptive testing methodology in Chapter 4 of the Everything DiSC® manual. According to their research, this methodology has multiple benefits:

* Increases precision of measurement by about **12%** compared to the prior non-adaptive 79-item Everything DiSC® assessment, and **32%** compared to the original DiSC Classic forced-choice graph assessment.

* More precise measurements allow for more reliable (test consistent) dot placements and style classifications. This directly ties to the high test-retest coefficients already reported in Chapter 4 (.85 – .88 across the four scales), as well as low angle-change statistics (median of 12° over a two-week testing interval).

* Adaptive testing uses each individual respondent to select items that are appropriately difficult/discriminating based on their previous answers. This tailored approach reduces error within each person’s dot placement.

Supports Validity of the Circumplex Model 

Better measurement also strengthens the validity of Everything DiSC®’s circumplex model. Compared to a longer, fixed-form test: 

* More precise measurement of where a respondent falls on the circumplex supports the previously discussed circumplex patterns: moderate positive correlations between adjacent scales, strong negative correlations between opposing scales, and near perfect MDS fit to a two-dimensional model (stress .01326, RSQ .99825).

* Less noise in the measurement means we can more strongly trust the observed data matches the expected theoretical model, which has been demonstrated by factor analysis to be two underlying dimensions (two eigenvalues greater than 1).

* Adaptive testing can also allow for slightly different-item content to determine placement of the priority dot and accompanying feedback in different versions of the Everything DiSC® profile (Workplace, Management, Sales, etc.). More accurate reading of workplace behaviors should translate to increased validity for individuals taking these assessments.

Adaptive testing does an excellent job of placing respondents on the circumplex based on their behavioral style priorities. However, it does not measure additional constructs beyond the workplace styles that Everything DiSC® already assesses. While adaptive testing allows for more precise measurement of an underlying trait or ability (in this case, DiSC® style), it is not a fix for using Everything DiSC® in situations where deep motivators or personality traits may be more helpful. Supplementary tools should be considered to fill these needs (covered in Article 5).

Everything DiSC® increases the reliability and validity of Assessments

Adaptive testing is just one way Everything DiSC® increases the reliability and validity of its assessments beyond prior generations of DISC-style instruments. By only asking each survey-taker the minimum number of questions needed to place them on the DiSC circumplex, Everything DiSC® has created an assessment experience that is not only more psychometrically accurate, but also more convenient and engaging for the individual. Not only does the tool perform well on traditional validation metrics, but Wiley’s continued commitment to research and development helps improve commonly accepted practices for workplace learning and development.

The post Everything DiSC® Uncovered Series Article 6: Strengths and Limitations with Everything DiSC appeared first on DiscProfiles4u.

**DISCLAIMER: This article series is intended for informational purposes only, drawing upon published reliability/validity evidence from the assessment publisher (Wiley) as well as insights and research from outside sources. The articles do not advocate for or against the use of Everything DiSC. Instead, they aim to empower learning and development (L&D) professionals, facilitators, and users of the Everything DiSC tool to make informed decisions about when and how it can be used to support workplace goals. ** 

Everything DiSC® is a popular personality and behavior assessment tool used by many organizations worldwide. It is often used to promote self-awareness, communication skills, teambuilding, and conflict resolution. But how accurate is Everything DiSC®? Is it reliable and valid for purposes common within L&D? And if so, what does it measure well, and where are its limitations?

Unlike clinical-grade personality assessments or career assessments, Everything DiSC® is not designed to be used as a clinical instrument for mental health diagnosis or even to measure traits. It is simply intended to measure behavioral preferences in the workplace.

This is not to say that Everything DiSC® is right or wrong, but it has been designed with a different purpose than other common assessments. As such, it should be held to the appropriate standards within that context: reliable and valid for use in workplace settings, but not necessarily as a predictor of job performance.

For more information, check out the rest of the Everything DiSC® Uncovered Series:

• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 1: Everything You Want to Know About Reliability & Validity but were Afraid to Ask
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 2: Reliability and Validity of Everything DiSC – What Does the Science Say?
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 3: Common Questions Answered (Simplicity, Barnum, Original Theory)
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 4: A Balanced Exploration of Reliability, Validity and Practical Application
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered Series 5: Everything DiSC vs “Deeper” tools like Big Five

In this series, we will review published evidence from the Everything DiSC® assessment publisher (available in the Everything DiSC® Manual, Chapter 4) and compare their findings with outside research, expert recommendations, and observations about similar frameworks.

The series will cover What Everything DiSC® Does Well, What Everything DiSC® Doesn’t Do, and How to Supplement Everything DiSC®. Finally, we will share a balanced “verdict” on using Everything DiSC® that we hope you can apply in your own workplace. Let’s get started! 

What Everything DiSC® Can’t Do For You: Predictive Validity & Job Performance

“What assessment will help me predict X?” is a question we often hear in the world of L&D. Will this tool allow me to predict job performance? Leadership potential? Sales success? Will it help with retention, engagement, or team productivity? Everything DiSC® shows strong reliability (Article 1) and validity in terms of the constructs it intends to measure (Article 2). But how well does Everything DiSC® predict outcomes?

What Everything DiSC® Claims About Predicting Workplace Outcomes

The Everything DiSC® Manual (chapter 4) does not provide validity evidence in terms of predictive or criterion-related validity. In other words, while the publisher has tested the model’s reliability and validity, the manual presents no data to suggest how well Everything DiSC® scores or styles predict external factors such as job performance. Again, this isn’t necessarily a critique, just a different purpose than assessments designed to evaluate candidates for hire or other high-stakes decisions.

The manual dedicates an entire chapter to demonstrating internal reliability (each of the 8 scales has strong internal consistency with Cronbach’s alphas ranging from .80-.90) and stability (test-retest coefficients between .85 – .88, median angle change of 12° over a two-week span), as well as validity in terms of how well everything DiSC® intercorrelations, Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDS), and factor analysis support the use of eight scales and the circumplex model. Can Everything DiSC® scores be used to accurately predict or assess job performance? Supervisor ratings? Sales commissions earned? Boxed objectives? Successful leadership? Team productivity? 

Again, the publisher provides no direct evidence that Everything DiSC® can predict these outcomes. While some professionals may use Everything DiSC® this way, there is limited research to support widespread use except in a general context.

What Others Are Saying About Everything DiSC® Predictive Validity

Reviews of other DISC-style assessments (including newer models like Everything DiSC®) are quick to point out the lack of predictive validity:

Compared with other models and assessments used for hiring, promotion, and leadership development, Everything DiSC® shows limited, if any, ability to predict job performance. Meta-analytic findings and independent research on the Big Five, Cognitive ability tests, Structured Interviews, and more have found large effect sizes for these other assessment types compared to Everything DiSC and other behaviors assessments. For instance, the broad personality dimensions measured by the Big Five on average predict task-related job performance across all occupations, with conscientiousness showing the highest validity coefficients (Ones et al., 1993)

Many experts review Everything DiSC® as “useful for getting people thinking about behavioral style, but not for assessing who will be successful in a role.” Or, “being comfortable with a fast-paced, direct communication style does not necessarily make an employee higher performing.” In other words, while Everything DiSC® may measure certain preferences and patterns related to behavior in the workplace, these factors alone do not equate to aptitude, experience, motivation, or other factors that drive success on the job.

Even Wiley.com states that Everything DiSC® is better suited for development rather than selection. Their own guide for facilitators and professionals using Everything DiSC® explains that the tool should only be used to help existing employees and teams improve.

Everything DiSC® Shouldn’t Be Used For Decisions Involving:

• Job performance evaluation
• Prediction of reaching sales or production targets 
• Sole basis for hiring, promotion, or placement 

What Everything DiSC® Can Do For Your Organization 

As mentioned earlier, Everything DiSC® has been built and tested for different purposes than some of the assessments above. Everything DiSC® is NOT intended to be a selection tool. Instead, it can be used to drive discussions on behavior and help teams develop better working relationships with each other. When used appropriately, Everything DiSC® has been shown to be reliable and valid for these purposes.

HOWEVER… if your organization plans to use Everything DiSC® in ways that predict or assess aspects of job performance, there are a few options to consider:

Use Everything DiSC® alongside other assessment methods. Many qualified professionals who specialize in Everything DiSC® are also skilled in other assessment or measurement tools. Using Everything DiSC® with performance reviews, structured interviews, job knowledge tests, and other methods can provide a more well-rounded view of employees.

Everything DiSC® as your assessment tool

Everything DiSC®, like any other assessment tool, is only as valuable as the purpose for which it’s used. Everything DiSC® has been shown to be internally reliable and valid in terms of its models and constructs. However, it is not designed or validated as a tool for predicting job performance.

Everything DiSC® is a tool like any other. It has strengths and weaknesses that your organization should understand before investing in everything DiSC® training and materials. When used appropriately, it can lead to powerful and highly productive discussions and better workplace relationships.

The post Everything DiSC® Uncovered Series: A Balanced Exploration of Reliability, Validity and Practical Application appeared first on DiscProfiles4u.

DISCLAIMER: This series of articles will assess Everything DiSC’®s reliability and validity using Wiley’s own technical research, where available (mostly Everything DiSC® Manual, Chapter 4), supplemented by outside research and observation. While the sequence of articles may seem weighted toward criticisms of the tool, a fair and accurate review must acknowledge limitations as well as strengths. The goal is to enable informed decision-making by L&D buyers, facilitators, and users—not to persuade against or in favor of using Everything DiSC®. Understanding what Everything DiSC measures well (and can reliably measure) will help users know where it can add value in organizations and where there may be limitations.

As a preview, Everything DiSC® appears to have excellent internal reliability and construct validity, particularly in terms of how people respond to their questions (test-retest reliability is another story). However, like many in the DISC® family, it often comes under fire from the L&D community and users who attempt to poke holes in the validity or question the scientific foundations. Here are some of the most common questions I see in Everything DiSC® discussions online (Facebook groups, alternate tool comparison articles, etc.), user reviews, or FAQs: 

• “Isn’t DISC® too simplistic?” 
• “Why does it only focus on behavior?” 
• “Isn’t DISC® just a bunch of positive generalities that sound good to everyone?”
• “Where does the tool/theory originate, and why isn’t everything built on modern personality insights?”

We’ll address these questions directly below. (Everything DiSC®’s intended purpose – understanding and improving workplace behavior – also means it shouldn’t be compared to more comprehensive clinical tools.)

For more information, check out the rest of the Everything DiSC® Uncovered Series:

• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 1: Everything You Want to Know About Reliability & Validity but were Afraid to Ask
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 2: Reliability and Validity of Everything DiSC – What Does the Science Say?
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 3: Common Questions Answered (Simplicity, Barnum, Original Theory)
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 4: A Balanced Exploration of Reliability, Validity and Practical Application
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered Series 5: Everything DiSC vs “Deeper” tools like Big Five

1. DiSC® Is Oversimplified 

Everything DiSC® measures four scales, each with two facets, arranged in a forced-circumplex model. Participants end up with one of twelve styles.

That is a simplification of human behavior. The strength of this model is that it’s intuitive, creates easily memorable distinctions among team members, and enables fast, focused discussions about how team members might interact or respond to one another. (“How do you think a D might handle conflict differently than an S?”)

It’s also fair to say Everything DiSC® flattens the complexity of how people behave at work. Everyone responds differently to people, challenges, pace, and procedures based on context, mood, cultural background, stress level, role expectations, and a host of internal psychological drivers that Everything DiSC® doesn’t measure. Things like emotional stability (OPQ Describes me as… neurotic vs. calm), openness to new experiences, competitiveness, achievement motivation, affiliation, power – none of these are intended to be captured in the Everything DiSC® assessment.

Put another way, Everything DiSC® is very good at describing how someone will behave in various work situations, but not necessarily why they behave that way. It doesn’t explain how someone’s style may shift when under stress, nor can it predict behavior in areas unrelated to work.

Many skilled facilitators preempt this criticism by explicitly stating Everything DiSC® is a “snapshot of where your priorities are at this moment in time” and by not using it as participants’ sole source of development within a program. Used as a conversation starter or teambuilding activity alongside other exercises (career pathing, 360 feedback, values identification, etc.), the concern over oversimplification is lessened. 

2. Everything DiSC® Feedback Is Susceptible To “The Barnum Effect”

Personality and behavioral assessments are notorious for participants reading their results and thinking, “This is so accurate!” or “Wow, my manager really got me!” This is known as the Barnum or Forer Effect. Dr. Bertram Forer gave his students a personality test, then provided them all with the exact same generalized, flattering feedback a few weeks later. The students were asked to rate how well the description applied to them personally. As you might guess, they gave it high marks!

Everything DiSC® provides very individualized feedback (your priority dots, custom-written style narrative), so it isn’t quite as “generic” as some of the older DISC® versions out there. Additionally, Wiley brands its tools as “behavioral assessments” and goes to some length to avoid using overly broad descriptors for styles in their reporting. Nevertheless, the core style descriptions (“You are direct and results-oriented” for D styles; “You are warm and collaborative” for iS styles) are necessarily vague so most people can relate to them. Users in workshops have told me, “This is so me!” when processing their style—not ideal if they believe the tool captured their unique personality.

Again, the tool itself and many certified facilitators are careful to point out that Everything DiSC® measures are behaviors, not fixed traits. Facilitators are also trained to remind participants that a style is a preference, not a box you fit into, and that no one is 100% one style – we all use all four styles to varying extents.

3. Everything DiSC Is Based on Decades-Old Theory 

The four quadrants of behavior aren’t new. The original DISC® theory is from William Moulton Marston’s Emotions of Normal People, published in 1928. Marston defined four primary ways that people reacted to the world around them.  You’ll also find references to “4 behaviors” that date back to Socrates.

Everything DiSC® is not Marston’s tool, as he created the theory and never worked on a way to measure the 4 components. Wiley has iterated on the original concept developed by Clarke and Geier from the 50’s and 60’s considerably (adaptive item presentation; priority dots; circumplex scaling) over the decades, and Everything DiSC® has undergone large-scale validation studies that the original publishers did not.

However, if you lay the four standard DISC® styles over Marston’s theory, you’ll see they are essentially the same. There have been some shifts in what traits and behaviors belong in each style box, but the quadrants themselves remain intact.

A fair criticism of Everything DiSC® and many other DISC-based tools is that personality research has come a long way since the 1920s and 30s. The Big Five personality dimensions emerged in the late 80s/early 90s after decades of research attempting to solidify the “number of traits” needed to accurately and comprehensively measure personality. With cross-cultural reliability and predictive strength for things like job performance, learning styles, and leadership potential, the Big Five model is considered the gold standard in scientific personality assessments. Everything DiSC® clearly correlates with certain Big Five scales (Your i scale score relates to how Extroverted you are; Your C scale score indicates how detail-oriented you are) but not others, notably low Neuroticism (Everyone DiSC® measures how quick to react you are with its C scale, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to emotional stability) or high Openness to Experience.

Reviewer Joanna Harader puts it best when she says that in academic and research settings, DiSC® tools (and many of their theoretical counterparts) get described as “useful heuristics” rather than formal theories or models. By that, she means they work well for their intended purpose and have some degree of predictive power (nothing is ever perfect!), but the data fits their forced model because of how they are structured, not because it matches the underlying structure of personality.

Does Everything DiSC® Behavior Align with Job Performance?

Everything DiSC’s roots in an early theory of behavior and the lack of certain personality dimensions in its measurement don’t mean the tool isn’t valid for workplace purposes. Wiley clearly states the intended use of the Everything DiSC® tool on its website. The problem arises when users (and unfortunately some facilitators) jump to conclusions from the tool onto clinical inferences about users or hire characteristics.

Looking Ahead… 

As we discussed in the article on validity, reliability is about consistency. But do consistent results mean Everything DiSC® can predict things like job performance? Find out in Article 4.

The post Everything DiSC®: Common Questions Answered (Simplicity, Barnum, Original Theory) appeared first on DiscProfiles4u.

**DISCLAIMER: This article series is intended for informational purposes only, drawing upon published reliability/validity evidence from the assessment publisher (Wiley) as well as insights and research from outside sources. The articles do not advocate for or against the use of Everything DiSC®. Instead, they aim to empower learning and development (L&D) professionals, facilitators, and users of the Everything DiSC® tool to make informed decisions about when and how it can be used to support workplace goals. ** 

Welcome to the DiSC® Uncovered series. This set of articles takes an honest look at the reliability, validity, and practical application of Everything DiSC®. While some perceive it as just another pop personality tool, Everything DiSC® has solid research backing (when you dig into publisher-supplied sources, such as the Everything DiSC® Manual, Chapter 4). The series goal is to present a balanced review of the evidence so L&D professionals and users can decide how and where to use it appropriately, rather than arguing about whether it should be used at all.

For more information, check out the rest of the Everything DiSC® Uncovered Series:

• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 1: Everything You Want to Know About Reliability & Validity but were Afraid to Ask
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 2: Reliability and Validity of Everything DiSC – What Does the Science Say?
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 3: Common Questions Answered (Simplicity, Barnum, and Original Theory)
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 4: A Balanced Exploration of Reliability, Validity, and Practical Application
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered Series 5: Everything DiSC vs “Deeper” tools like Big Five

As one of the most widely used tools in L&D, Everything DiSC® has been around for a very long time, and millions of people have taken it. Organizations find it works for several reasons: its simple, intuitive design; a visually engaging circumplex model, especially for teams and groups; and its immediate relevance to workplace situations. At some point in their journey with DiSC®, however, many L&D professionals and participants may start wondering:

“How does this fit in the ‘big picture’ of personality? And when should we use something else?” 

We’ll explore how Everything DiSC® compares to other popular (and science-based) personality frameworks, specifically:

• Everything DiSC® vs. the Big Five (OCEAN) model
• Everything DiSC® vs. Core Values and Motivational Tools 

Everything DiSC® vs. the Big Five Model 

The Big Five personality dimensions (Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) are considered the most valid and cross-culturally universal model in contemporary personality psychology.

Unlike DiSC® styles, which reflect situational preferences, the Big Five measures broader and relatively stable traits. Here’s how Everything DiSC® overlaps (and doesn’t) with the Big Five:

What they measure: Research has found moderate correlations between the Everything DiSC® scales and some Big Five factors. The i and iS styles correlate with Extraversion, C and SC with Conscientiousness, and D/CD with low Agreeableness (assertiveness). Everything DiSC® doesn’t explicitly measure Openness to Experience (versus tradition) or Neuroticism (versus emotional stability/stress).

In practice: Everything DiSC® is excellent for understanding and discussing observable workplace behaviors and interaction preferences (speed, people vs. tasks focus, etc.). The Big Five model provides a broader view of personality and has stronger predictive links to job performance (conscientiousness is the strongest predictor!), leadership, and stress tolerance. Many organizations teach Everything DiSC® for quick yet substantial “style awareness,” then layer a Big Five assessment for deeper trait analysis (strengths/development) when needed for selection, advancement, or succession planning.

Everything DiSC® vs. Values/Motivational Profiles 

While frameworks like the Big Five get at some aspects of what matters to us, values-based assessments (Barrett Values Center, Personal Values Assessment) and motivational inventories (Reiss Motivation Profile, Hogan Motives, VIA Character Strengths) specifically target the underlying “why” of our behavior.

These tools measure what people care about most, what drives them, and what provides meaning and fulfillment. Here’s how Everything DiSC® differs from values and motivations assessments:

It assesses observable behavior, not internal motivators. Everything DiSC® describes what someone does and how they do it in work settings. It does not assess internal needs, drives, or motives such as achievement, affiliation, power, security, autonomy, or legacy. For example, someone with a predominant D-style may behave in very similar ways to others because they have a strong need for control/results or because they fear failure/difference and feel they must prove themselves. Everything DiSC® captures the observable style; values/drives explain the underlying motivator.

Uses with other tools for deeper insights: Everything DiSC® can be combined with values/motives assessments to help people understand how their underlying needs influence their behavior. Continuing the previous example, an i-style communicator who ranks high on “relationship” values may be perfectly suited for customer service or HR. However, if their driving motivation is achievement rather than affiliation, they may rush people into accomplishing tasks at the expense of relationships. You can’t know that from behavior alone. 

Why Everything DiSC® Has Plenty of Application

Here are other tools out there that cover a lot of what DiSC doesn’t. Does that mean it’s useless? Of course not! Remember that Everything DiSC® has been popular for decades for a reason. It works well within its scope: 

• It’s intentionally designed for the workplace. 
• It’s just twelve styles to remember (with clear priorities illustrated by those bubble-dot things).
• The model itself, along with simple dot placement based on those priorities, makes the discussion of interpersonal differences straightforward.
• As discussed in prior segments of this series, Everything DiSC has strong internal reliability and construct validity.

When Might You Use Something in Addition to Everything DiSC®?

• Behavioral style awareness/team development: Everything DiSC® works great here. Don’t fix it if it isn’t broken! 
• Leadership development/high-potential coaching: This may be a place to layer in broad personality assessment based on the Big Five to give participants a deeper understanding of their strengths and areas for development. Ultimately, leadership requires much more than “nice styles” coming together.
• Applicant screening/performance support: Everything DiSC® provides general knowledge of individual preferences/priorities, though it is not intended to determine job fit like Wiley’s PxT Select. 
• Career exploration/self-improvement: Values/motives assessments can be powerful for helping individuals align with what they do and discover new strengths. Everything DiSC® may be too narrow to provide much insight.
• Training program design: If you plan to use multiple assessments in a program, the order matters as much as the selection of assessments. Many coaches/facilitators introduce Everything DiSC® first because the model is easy to understand and creates a shared language participants can use to discuss themselves. Deeper assessments come later once participants are more comfortable exploring their personality.

Everything DiSC® is not “better than” or “worse than” these other tools. It simply aims to do something different. Understanding these differences can help you use Everything DiSC where it’s most effective and recognize when another tool might offer more depth.

The post Everything DiSC® vs “Deeper” tools like Big Five appeared first on DiscProfiles4u.

When tools promise to measure and develop personality traits, including the famous DISC® models of workplace behavior, we owe it to our learners and leaders to look at the science. Is the tool reliable? Does it measure what it claims to? How well does it work where we use it?

To answer these questions, this series of three articles will draw on the publisher’s own evidence (primarily the Everything DiSC® Manual, Chapter 4), along with outside perspectives and comparisons with other tools to assess the utility of Everything DiSC® fairly and accurately. While this series will raise some concerns based on that evaluation, the intention is not to pick apart a tool that many L&D professionals use and facilitate. Instead, we hope to provide information that empowers people who use these tools – whether they are facilitating with Everything DiSC® or another assessment – to understand what the tool measures well, where it can be useful in an organization, and where it falls short.

Only with this type of nuanced cost-benefit analysis can we make responsible decisions about which tools to use and how to use them.

This second article will dive into the psychometric reliability and validity evidence for Everything DiSC®. While many popular articles bring up these topics, they often mischaracterize the measurement quality of Everything DiSC® or fail to acknowledge that just because a tool has limitations doesn’t mean that it has no value in a development setting. So, let’s take an unbiased look at the science – starting with the good news.

For more information, check out the rest of the Everything DiSC® Uncovered Series:

• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 1: Everything You Want to Know About Reliability & Validity but were Afraid to Ask
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 2: Reliability and Validity of Everything DiSC – What Does the Science Say?
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 3: Common Questions Answered (Simplicity, Barnum, Original Theory)
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 4: A Balanced Exploration of Reliability, Validity and Practical Application
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered Series 5: Everything DiSC vs “Deeper” tools like Big Five

Relevance to Organizational Learning and Development

Everything DiSC® is popular in L&D because it can help develop self-awareness, communication skills, teamwork, and conflict resolution. It is not intended to be used as a clinical or deeply reflective instrument for measuring personality traits. Everything DiSC® was designed with organizational behavior in mind. It targets behavioral preferences that can be observed, discussed, and changed by most people in a workplace setting. It has benefits (discussed below) and some limitations related to this design goal. For example, while it may lack the depth to assess certain aspects of personality, its primary focus on observable behaviors has the benefits of being practical, relatable, and actionable.

Let’s take a look at some of the psychometric properties that support Everything DiSC® as a learning tool.

Construct Validity: Does the Everything DiSC® Model Actually Measure Up?  

One important reason that construct validity matters for workplace L&D assessments is that it can tell us if the assessment actually measures the concepts it purports to measure. For example, if we administer the Everything DiSC® assessment to individuals, we want to be sure that it measures the four constructs of Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness (DiSC®) in a manner consistent with its conceptual foundations. As mentioned in the introduction to this series, Everything DiSC® purports to measure eight scales (Di, i, iS, S, SC, C, CD, and D) that form a circumplex model with twelve resultant styles. Construct validity evidence can help us see if that is the case.

Everything DiSC® Manual, Chapter 4 provides multiple sources of construct validity evidence for the assessment, all based on samples representative of workplace populations (e.g., N = 752 for many of the following analyses).

Positive and Negative Correlations Between Adjacent and Opposite Scales

The circumplex model of DiSC® theory predicts that because adjacent scales are similar in behavioral expression, they will correlate moderately and positively with one another (e.g., Di and i should correlate about .50) and that this correlation will be smaller than the internal consistency of each scale (both .90 in one sample reported). Theory also predicts that opposite scales will correlate negatively and substantially (e.g., i and C should correlate about -.70). The data from 752 participants showed this pattern: all neighboring scales correlated moderately and positively with each other, and all opposite scales correlated negatively and strongly with each other (see Table 4.4 in manual). The authors state, “The correlations among all eight scales conform to the proposed circumplex model. That is, moderate positive correlations are observed among adjacent scales and strong negative correlations are observed between opposite scales.” (p. 4.17)

A more stringent test of this pattern looks at whether the correlations follow the predicted ordered pattern of r₁ > r₂ > r₃ > r₄ where r₄ is the correlation with the opposite scale. Table 4.5 shows the expected pattern of correlations between scales and actual medians of these correlations across multiple samples are very close to the predicted magnitudes (e.g. r₁ actual median=.45 vs. predicted magnitude=.42; r₄ actual median =-.69 vs. predicted magnitude=-.73; see Table 4.6). Not only can this strength and order of correlations help facilitate discussion about why some styles work well together, and others do not “click,” but this test also provides supportive evidence that the scales form a circumplex.

Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) of Everything DiSC® Scales 

MDS is a way of visually representing the distance (or lack thereof) between scales. The closer two scales are in the resulting diagram, the more strongly positively correlated they are. The farther apart the scales are, the less they correlate. The circumplex model of DiSC® predicts that, when plotted using MDS, the eight scales will roughly form a circle, spaced at equal distances. Figure 4.2 reveals that this is the case: look at how close Di is to D and i, how far away i is from C, etc. Notice that while the scales are not perfectly spaced (it is very difficult to get data to fit this perfectly), the distances between scales are approximately equal, and scales that should be next to each other in the circumplex are closer to each other than they are to scales that are not adjacent in the model. Two fit statistics provided by the analysis tell the story: stress = .01326 and RSQ = .99825. Remember that lower stress values are better (ideal is 0) and higher RSQ values are better (ideal is 1). The authors summarize: “This analysis adds strong support for the two-dimensional DiSC® model and the ability of the Everything DiSC® assessment to measure that model.” (p. 4.23)

Factor Analysis of Everything DiSC® Scales 

When the authors conduct a principal components analysis with varimax rotation on the eight scales, they find two factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 (the first two are 3.10 and 2.95; all remaining eigenvalues drop well below 1: 0.60, 0.38, and so on down to .04; see Table 4.7). In other words, the underlying structure of the scales is two dimensions. (These dimensions are often interpreted as Assertiveness vs. Receptiveness or some other paired traits that make sense in the context of a circumplex model.) This is consistent with the predicted structure of the Everything DiSC® model rather than suggesting three or more hidden factors.

How is this information meaningful for using Everything DiSC® in organizations? Primarily, it means that when participants complete the assessment, they can have confidence that it measures the four behavior preferences it claims to. Further, when participants plot their dot on the DiSC® map, they can be fairly certain that their responses to the questions about how they tend to react to challenges (D/CD), people (i/iS), pace (S/SC), or accuracy (C) are accurately represented in the relative distance of the dot to each of the four quadrants. The circumplex model allows us to create intuitive tools like the DiSC® map to facilitate discussion about where individuals prioritize their time and attention in meetings, during feedback conversations, or in their leadership development.  More to come in Article 3!

The post Reliability and Validity of Everything DiSC®: What Does the Science Say? appeared first on DiscProfiles4u.

You’ve likely felt it: that exhausted, antsy sensation following hours filled with consecutive video meetings. Dubbed “Zoom fatigue,” researchers and thought leaders have described how the condition doesn’t affect everyone uniformly: some people dislike being “on camera” all day, while others might feel energized by talking and seeing colleagues face-to-face.

Everything DiSC®, however, breaks our behavior down into four styles. As you’ll see, your unique DiSC® profile can play a significant role in how you experience Zoom fatigue, and how you can recover from it.

Remember DiSC®’s Four Styles: 

• D for Dominance 
• i for Influence 
• S for Steadiness 
• C for Conscientiousness 

Let’s review how Zoom fatigue can uniquely affect everyone’s DiSC® style. Plus, get ready tactics to bounce back. 

1. D Style (Dominance): Results-Oriented, Quick Thinkers Who Hate Wasting Time 

Everything DiSC® D styles live by the mantra, “What do we want to accomplish?” They’re the boss of charging after goals and holding others accountable along the way.

How Zoom Fatigue Affects Them 

• Unnecessary meetings. Repetitive discussions. Slow talkers. 
• If there’s not a clear objective or action item, Zoom meetings can seem like a waste of valuable time to D styles.
• Strict conversational turn-taking can also frustrate Ds who might want to problem-solve without pause.

How to Overcome Zoom Fatigue 

• Cut down on meeting times and run efficient meetings. Circulate agendas in advance, and dive into actionable items.
• Delegate to breakout groups. Give D personalities permission to lead a subgroup or pair up with another employee to solve the problem.
• Allow for independent problem-solving. Don’t be afraid to let them jump into a challenge – and give others the same space to do so.

2. i Style (Influence): People Pleasers who Love Attention and Human Interaction

Do you have an extroverted teammate who lives for small talk? They’re likely an Everything DiSC® Influence style. 

Everything about i’s is about communicating with others. They’re the biggest laughers (and talkers) in group chats and meetings.

How Zoom Fatigue Affects Them 

• Video chats don’t compare to real-life conversations. 
• Yes, we can see (and hear) each other on Zoom. But subtle social cues like body language and in-person charisma are lost on video.
• Even the most extroverted of us can feel drained by endless video calls.

How to Overcome Zoom Fatigue 

• Schedule social time. Five-minute check-ins without an agenda can help satiate your i teammate’s need for socialization.
• Encourage participation. Organize meetings with polls, Q&As, and virtual whiteboards.
• Switch up your meeting mediums. Use asynchronous tools like discussion boards, or switch to good ol’ phone calls when you don’t need to see everyone.

3. S Style (Steadiness): Patient, Dependable, and Value Relationships 

Employees who demonstrate high Steadiness are deeply committed to building strong relationships. They may even be considered Introvert leaning. 

How Zoom Fatigue Affects Them 

• If you’re an S style that dreads virtual meetings, consider that large meetings can be just as taxing on introverts.
• Speaking up for prolonged periods or standing out in a virtual crowd can tire out your S employees.

How to Overcome Zoom Fatigue 

• Limit time in large groups. Facilitate small group collaboration and one-on-ones whenever possible.
• Foster group connection. Allow employees to share how their day is going at the start of meetings.
• Make videoing optional. Some days will feel like you need to video conference, but if your S employee needs a break, they should feel empowered to use the phone or join by audio only.

4. C Style (Conscientiousness): Analytical, Processor, Perfectionists 

C styles crave order, logic, and carefully thought-out plans. There’s a reason why so many employees — and employers! — fall into this Everything DiSC® category. 

How Zoom Fatigue Affects Them 

On video calls, precious time is spent: 

• Decoding personal interactions. 
• Reading into little gestures. 
• Staring at themselves during computer glitches. 

How to Overcome Zoom Fatigue 

• Communicate ahead of time. Share as much information as possible in written form, so they know what to expect during the meeting.
• Have asynchronous conversations. If video and screen sharing isn’t necessary, move dense discussions to audio-only.
• Give them time to think. Unlike their D-style counterparts, Cs may need time to collect their thoughts before they speak.

Three Tools That Will Help Every DiSC® Style Cope

In addition to the above tips, consider implementing these three tools to support all DiSC® styles:

1. Manage your boundaries 

Zoom fatigue can creep up when we’re not careful about managing our boundaries. Block off time in your calendar to create breaks between meetings. Say no to unnecessary meetings. Guard your deep-focus time. 

2. Make video optional 

Not every meeting requires you to be on camera. If you’re sharing data or catching up one-on-one, use audio or group chat to rest your brain.

3. Lean on digital tools 

Whether you’re pausing your video to hide self-view or scrolling through a threaded conversation on Zoom’s chat feature, allow yourself to lean on digital tools to ease anxiety. Your brain will thank you. 

Learn more through Everything DiSC® Styles

Just as your preferred DiSC® style shapes how you work, it also defines how you experience virtual meeting exhaustion. While some DiSC® styles might struggle with online collaboration, others might find video conferences invigorating. The key is to assess your style’s unique triggers and adapt your processes and tool usage to conserve energy, build connection, and remain productive. Do you recharge from social interaction or quiet reflection?

The post Zoom and Teams Meeting Fatigue Through the Lens of Everything DiSC®: How Your Style Impacts Virtual Burnout (and How to Fix It) appeared first on DiscProfiles4u.

When organizations evaluate candidates for jobs, sometimes assessments are considered or already part of the process. Everything DiSC® is a tool often sought by companies for hiring, but is it a good idea? Everything DiSC is intended for use as a development tool to foster self-awareness, communication, and teamwork between employees.

Development tools help employees relate to higher-quality relationships with their co-workers, direct reports, and bosses, be more productive in their personal work styles, and contribute to the company community. Selecting candidates should be reserved for tools that are built and validated with the intent of predicting success in a role (such as cognitive ability and work experience) which Everything DiSC does not address.

Everything DiSC measures where a person’s natural priorities lie in a work setting (approximately speaking around Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness expanded to 8 scales and 12 styles using their circumplex model). While it is certainly possible that these things can be related to success on the job, Everything DiSC was not designed to measure that. People are attracted to certain types of jobs or career paths over time because they fit (or don’t) with their behavioral priorities. Someone high in D or Di will naturally find themselves in positions of leadership, sales, and high risk/reward decision-making jobs because fast-paced and challenging environments allow them to behave naturally.

Someone high in S or iS will naturally be attracted to roles that involve team facilitation, customer service, or support because steady and people-focused environments allow them to behave naturally. If someone is in a position that requires them to regularly stretch (behaviorally) into their weaker quadrants, it takes effort and can cause them to burn out, experience job dissatisfaction, or act outside of their expectations (i.e. high-C individual stressed in a quick-paced sales environment may focus too much on details and not sell enough).

Ipsative versus Normative Assessments

Everything DiSC is an ipsative assessment which means it forces individuals to respond in a way that compares their answers to each other (i.e. “Is Influence more important to you than Conscientiousness?”). Comparing yourself to yourself is great for development because it can help you understand how you differ from others and where you may need to adapt to different styles or situations. However, ipsative tests are not ideal for hiring because you can’t reasonably compare one applicant to another. Normative tests (intelligence tests and many hiring assessments) compare an individual’s response to baselines like what is “average” and provide a fixed basis for comparison between applicants. Hiring should be multifaceted and test characteristics that are directly linked to job performance. Companies like Wiley offer normative selection-focused instruments like PxT Select which is a cognitive and personality assessment combination built from the ground up to be used for best hiring practices.

Best Practices: 

If you do decide to use Everything DiSC in some capacity for hiring, follow these best practices.

• Use it as a supplementary tool only. Everything DiSC should count for no more than one-third toward the hiring decision. The other two-thirds should be dedicated to resume-screening/hire experience and structured interviewing.   Make reference to the test as a development tool only and focus on administering it after an offer has been made or during onboarding. Many companies use Everything DiSC during onboarding to help new hires understand their team members’ communication styles and how they may need to adapt when working with certain individuals.
• Everything DiSC is about behavior and work preferences, not tying a style to any one role. Someone with a high-I might make a great engineer just as much as someone with a high-C. Fit depends on the context of the job and the team they are working with (in addition to skills/experience).  Things like cognitive ability, certifiable skills, company values, and motive will always be better predictors of job success and should be incorporated into your decision.
• On the flip side, Everything DiSC could unintentionally screen out members of a protected class at higher rates than other applicants or potential top performers. Be aware of adverse impact studies to ensure your hiring process, including assessments, does not show adverse impact on any class or group. In the United States, this is determined by the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP) and subsequent four-fifths (80%) rule set by the EEOC. If the selection rate for any race, sex, or ethnic group is less than 80% of the rate for the group with the highest selection rate, then there may be evidence of adverse impact, and the selection process should be reviewed for job-relatedness and business necessity. Pass rates should be calculated for every demographic group.

Ethical/Legal “Don’ts” 

There are several ways using Everything DiSC (or any ipsative personality/inventory tool) can get you in hot water.  Google “Best Buy Employment Practices Investigation” and you’ll find several articles about EEOC cracking down on the use of personality tests for hiring. You can be found guilty of discrimination if there is an unintentional difference in selection rates between groups (disparate impact) under Title VII and other federal legislation if the employers cannot validate their test as job-related.

Selecting candidates who only fit certain “types.” Everything DiSC and other styles theories are controversial due to people stereotyping and profiling candidates as being unable to do a job. Someone may think that a high-C will never be able to succeed in a sales role because they are not “social enough.” Depending on the job and team, someone with an iS could be a fantastic salesperson.  Everything should be transparent to candidates. Give candidates information on how their data will be used. Do not make the assessment feel like it is a “make or break” a high-stakes gamut.

Also, be sure to follow FAQS on privacy when administering assessments. Use assessments that have been validated and administer them with a certified administrator.

Recommendations 

Everything DiSC is an excellent tool to use after hiring employees to help them acclimate to their team and understand how to communicate better. However, when used for hiring it should only be one piece of your “Hiring Pie.” Using Everything DiSC during hiring can put your company at risk legally and should only be used for developmental feedback if utilized at all. Use validated pre-employment assessments like Wiley’s PxT Select that are built from the ground up to predict job success.

References 

Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures. (2013). Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/research/publications/testing-and-assessment-employers-guide-good-practices 

The post Using Everything DiSC® for Hiring: Best Practices, Ethics, and Abuse Practices Awareness appeared first on DiscProfiles4u.

DISC (specifically, Everything DiSC®) is commonly used in organizations worldwide to support self-awareness, communication, team building, and conflict resolution. While not designed as a clinical psychological tool for diagnosing people or measuring traits deeply or broadly, Everything DiSC® is meant to measure and describe observable behavior in the workplace.

As such, it’s designed to be convenient, accessible, and actionable. But how does that translate to reliable and valid measurement? More importantly, how should L&D professionals, facilitators, and tool users think about it?

In this series, we take an objective look at the research on Everything DiSC® published by the tool’s publisher (e.g., Wiley) and compare it with external research on related tools. While critiques of the tool exist, and we will explore some of them, our goal is to cut through the rhetoric. We don’t advocate for or against using Everything DiSC®. Instead, we want to provide information on what it DOES measure well (and has evidence for), where it can be useful in organizations, and what it DOESN’T do.

For more information, check out the rest of the Everything DiSC® Uncovered Series:

• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 1: Everything You Want to Know About Reliability & Validity but were Afraid to Ask
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 2: Reliability and Validity of Everything DiSC – What Does the Science Say?
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 3: Common Questions Answered (Simplicity, Barnum, Original Theory)
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered 4: A Balanced Exploration of Reliability, Validity and Practical Application
• Everything DiSC® Uncovered Series 5: Everything DiSC vs “Deeper” tools like Big Five

If you want to learn more about how Everything DiSC® works and how to think about both sides of the story when it comes to reliability and validity, read on. We promise not to waste your time and will reference the actual manual throughout.

Everything DiSC® Reliability: What the Manual Says 

When people participate in workplace assessments for learning and development, they (and facilitators) often expect some level of reliability. Whether it’s taken again in 6 months for a coaching follow-up or next week in a team-building workshop, participants will often discuss their scores on the tool’s scales. As such, it helps to have confidence that those scores are reliable.

The Everything DiSC® Manual dedicates a chapter to reporting research on the tool’s reliability. Throughout this series, we will quote the manual extensively when discussing reliability and validity. In this article, we’ll focus on reliability as reported by the publisher and save some of the controversies around validity for article 2.

The manual reports on two main types of reliability for both the eight scales (Di, i, iS, S, SC, C, CD, D) and the twelve styles on the Everything DiSC® circumplex map.

Everything DiSC® Insights on Internal Consistency 

Also known as, “Do the questions on each scale really measure the same thing?” Every scale on Everything DiSC® includes multiple statements (e.g. “I am direct” or “I tend to take the lead”) that respondents must rate as true or false. Internal consistency looks at how closely these statements “hang together.” The manual reports internal consistency using a statistic known as Cronbach’s alpha. Values above .70 are generally accepted as sufficient. Values above .80 are considered very good. 

Here’s what they found with two different samples:

• Sample 1 (N = 752): Median alpha = .87 
• Sample 2 (N = 39,607): Median alpha = .83 

As you can see in these numbers and in Table 4.1 in the manual, every scale is above the accepted threshold with many in the .85–.90 range (e.g., Di = .90/.85, i = .90/.88, S = .87/.82 across samples 1 and 2, respectively), indicating exceptional consistency.

Test-Retest Reliability 

Also known as, “Will I get the same scores if I take the assessment twice?” If someone takes Everything DiSC® today and then again next week, will they receive similar scores? A sample of 599 people took Everything DiSC® twice with an interval of two weeks between tests.

For the scales, test-retest correlations were strong: 

• Scale correlations range from .85–.88 across the eight scales (e.g. Di=.86, i=.87, SC=.88; see Table 4.2). 
• These are above the value often considered “very good” which is .80 (Streiner, 2003, as cited in Everything DiSC® Manual).

For styles, because respondents are assigned a style based on angle (not distance from the center) on the Everything DiSC’s 360° circumplex map, and each of the 12 styles covers 30° of the map, the manual cited change in angle from test to retest as the metric for stability of style assignments.

What they found: 

• Median change in angle was 12° (much less than the 90° you would expect if simply assigned a random style each time).
• One third changed by 7° or less. Two thirds changed by 19° or less (see Table 4.3).
• People with longer vectors (higher scores indicating stronger preference toward a style) were more stable than people with short vectors (scores close to the middle of the circle indicating less preference towards any style). The median change for longer vectors was 10° vs. 23° for short vectors. This matches expectations given the theory underlying circumplex models.

The authors conclude: “Taken together, these data suggest that the DiSC® scales are stable over repeated administrations. Consequently, test takers and test administrators should, on average, expect no more than small changes when the instrument is taken at different times.”

Put plainly, if you’re using Everything DiSC® in an organization and participants will be discussing their scale scores in a workshop setting, you can reasonably expect that if they take the assessment a few months later for follow-up coaching, they will receive similar scores.

Will they be exactly the same? Probably not, especially if a longer period of time has passed. People’s responses can change as they think about questions differently over time, or if they’re sitting in a different room taking the assessment for the second time. Some small change is reasonable to expect. 

Overall, these scores appear quite reliable.

Digging Deeper With Everything DiSC®

Internal consistency and test-retest reliability are just two ways of measuring whether a tool does what it claims to do consistently. Everything DiSC® appears to have strong psychometric properties for measuring individuals’ behavioral preferences in the workplace. Does that mean it will predict job performance? Or that it taps into deep, enduring aspects of your personality? Not necessarily. We’ll dig into some of those questions in article 2 of this series.

The post Everything DiSC Uncovered®: Everything You Want to Know About Reliability & Validity but were Afraid to Ask appeared first on DiscProfiles4u.

The Everything DiSC® framework breaks down behavioral styles into four main quadrants – Dominance (D), Influence (i), Steadiness (S), and Conscientiousness (C) – and represents their combination as a simple dot in a circle. The closer your dot is to the center of these quadrants, the easier it is for you to flex across all four styles. DiSC styles on the map’s outskirts indicate a more pronounced, dominant style.  There is no “best” style as we are all a combination if all four to various degrees.

Take D’s for example: they prioritize action, independence, and results. Early-stage entrepreneurship favors that instinctive “do whatever it takes” mentality. But as businesses grow, survive, and stabilize, focus shifts to building systems, delegation, leading teams, establishing boundaries, and sticking to a long-term plan. Entrepreneurs who don’t (or won’t) adapt to meet those new demands risk burning out.

How your DiSC Style can lead to burnout

Michael Goldsby’s study, supported by Ball State University and published in the Journal of Small Business Management in 2018, surveyed 400 entrepreneurs across the United States and Australia to discover why entrepreneurs chose to leave their businesses. The article reported two specific findings that contributed to emotional burnout and increased exit risk:

• Role ambiguity – Unclear responsibilities as business scales 
• Work-family conflict – Excessive hours and lack of boundaries

Goldsby told Startup Savant Magazine, “Emotional exhaustion was a key predictor of exit intention among small-business owners. They are simply worn out and need a break. So, the company — no matter how successful — will be shut down.”

The first step to understanding what your primary DiSC style is and how to better leverage your non-dominant styles to avoid burnout is to take an Everything DiSC Workplace assessment, which represents a unique, state-of-the-art DiSC assessment because of the profound underlying research and the quality of the easy-to-read reporting.  See here: https://www.discprofiles4u.com/everything-disc/workplace/ 

Let’s review how each entrepreneurial DiSC style may experience burnout differently when failing to adapt:

D burning out – Fear of Losing control

Non-adapting D behavior patterns: refusing to delegate, getting aggravated by process/people that move slowly, micro-managing.  

How they get burned out: trying to do everything themselves, working all the hours to “get it done right”, getting frustrated with others not working at their pace.

Why they exit: Burned out D’s often reach a point where they feel trapped by their own company. “I can’t take it anymore” mentality. Many will sell, shut down, or take a step back from the business abruptly.

i burning out – Avoiding the tough conversations

Non-adapting i behavior patterns: assuming people will do what they say, struggling to have difficult conversations (performance, conflict), spreading themselves too thin helping others.

How they get burned out: trying to please everyone, guilt from feeling like they let others down, worry from not addressing problems.

Why they exit: Burned out i’s often feel like the journey isn’t fun anymore, or they just don’t have the passion they once did. They may step away or pass the business on to save relationships and energy.

S burning out  – Taking on the world

Non-adapting S behavior patterns: not wanting to let down team members who may be underperforming, not wanting to make hard decisions that may risk stability, picking up extra work to help others.

How they get burned out: stress from carrying the emotional burden of others, working long hours people please, shame from letting others down.

Why they exit: Exhausted S’s may quietly shut down at work or show resentment. Many want to “just relax” again after burning out.

C burning out – Trying to make it perfect

Non-adapting C behavior patterns: overthinking, unwillingness to delegate work, not accepting good enough, too much focus on details and not the big picture.

How they get burned out: worrying about everything that can go wrong, working long hours building/sticking to process, getting frustrated when they have to move quickly or accept errors.

Why they exit: Burned out C’s may become cynical about their venture. They may also experience serious health issues. Health often forces high-C entrepreneurs out of business.

If the entrepreneur doesn’t change as the business grows, or they aren’t prepared to act differently, Goldsby said they’ll eventually hit a breaking point. Everything DiSC can help entrepreneurs grow their business without burning out by:

• Helping you identify your natural strengths and weaknesses when you join on as early as possible. 
• Stretching your behavior – If you’re a high-D or Dominance color, learn how to delegate and listen more. If you’re a high-C or Conscientiousness color, practice accepting “good enough” deadlines.
• Seeking support from a mentor, coach, therapist, or family business advisor to keep you accountable to your growth journey.

The difference in where your DiSC dots fall on the map reveals why some styles are more naturally equipped to handle the challenges of entrepreneurship. Your dot indicates which one of the four styles you naturally gravitate towards and display most often. If the dot representing your DiSC style is toward or on the outer edge of the circle map, you will find it more challenging to flex into other styles without a lot of practice stretching.

Learn to avoid unhealthy practices

Entrepreneurs who learn about their Everything DiSC style and utilize it as a tool for continuous learning are better equipped to recognize when role ambiguity and work-family conflict are present. They know how to ask for help, where to direct their focus, and when to step back to avoid burning out before they get there.

Reference: Goldsby, M. J., (2018). Antecedents and consequences of small business owner intention to leave the business. Journal of Small Business Management, 56(1), 161-192. Web.

The post Everything DiSC® Entrepreneurs: How your DiSC Style can lead to burnout – Part 2 appeared first on DiscProfiles4u.