10 Common Mistakes When Using the DISC Assessment

The DISC behavioral profile is as popular as it’s ever been.  It has been produced by thousands of companies all over the world and used by millions for numerous purposes. From wanting to know more about an individual’s behavior style to finding the right fit for a particular job, and everything in between, DISC has been an important and vital tool. But with anything that is as popular and widespread as DISC, common mistakes and misconceptions arise.

MISTAKE #1:  DISC is a complete personality profile

MISTAKE #2: All DISC suppliers are offering the same product

MISTAKE #3: DISC tells you who will be a superstar or a dud performer

MISTAKE #4:  Making general assumptions based solely on primary behavioral style

MISTAKE #5: There is no proof that assessments are accurate

MISTAKE #6:  The results can be manipulated

MISTAKE #7:  Taking an assessment is time consuming

MISTAKE #8:  Assessments can be discriminatory

MISTAKE #9:  Assessment results don’t change

MISTAKE #10:  Assessments are too expensive

Avoid These 10 Mistakes

Download the slide deck from TTI Success Insights.

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Misconception #1

“Assessments All Measure the Same Thing"

To tell a more complete story about a person, multiple assessments should be employed. Based on a case study of 76 serial entrepreneurs that participated in the study.

68.9%

of respondents are correctly classified using SINGLE SCIENCE of adapted behaviors. 

88.2%

of respondents are correctly classified using the Multi-Science Tool TriMetrix® DNA Legacy.

Misconception #2

Courtesy Flickr

“All Assessments are created equal"

Just as no one will ever confuse a rusted out Pinto with a sleek, world-class, high-performance
Mercedes..

Assessments come in all shapes, sizes and levels of quality. Work with a company that has a proven track record of success.

Misconception #3

Courtesy WikiMedia Commons

“There isn’t proof that assessments are accurate.”

Any worthwhile company will support their assessments with extensive, proven research that confirms the validity of the assessments.

Measuring quantifiable aspects of a person such as behaviors and motivators can be PROVEN VALID.

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Our Partner, TTI Success Insights has these six predictions for the coming year.

Micro Careers

will continue to be on the rise

Work/Life Balance

will become a Work/Life Blend

Millennials

will continue to become the most populous generation in the workforce

Micromanaging

will continue to decrease

Marketing 

will continue to grow more personalized

Businesses

will prioritize employee happiness

---

Click to view and download the PDG Infographic

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I believe that improving your self awareness and gaining the ability to understand and relate to others has a lot of value.  The Myers-Briggs “tool” delivers on that.  But when it comes to making talent decisions, there are more valid tools.

I realize that I’m piling on here. MBTI has never been validated for use in hiring decisions.

Is DISC a Suitable Replacement for Meyers-Briggs?

While I use DISC as a component of the Talent Assessment puzzle, I would never recommend using DISC as a sole determining factor for a hiring decision. There are other important pieces to the talent assessment puzzle. I’ve known people who have performed at a high level despite the fact that their style wasn’t a fit for their job activities.

As we seek insight into how a candidate approaches a job in terms of their HOW, WHAT and WHY, DISC looks only at HOW.  Given the opportunity to understand all three aspects, why would you make an important decision on only one?

More

View The VOX article on Meyers-Briggs

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Recruiting talented candidates is not enough. It’s crucial that people are assigned to specific roles, where their talents will have the greatest impact on achieving company goals — and where they are most likely to remain onboard fully engaged.

Download and Enjoy:

Job Matching: The Key to Performance

Table of Contents

The ROI of TTI’s Job Matching System

• Get the Best Performance at Every Level of the Workforce
• Branded as the Best Place to Work
• Big Picture Organizational Benefits

Why Traditional Employment Practices Aren’t Enough:

• Biases
• Hiring Issues
• The Cost of Disengagement

 How TTI Job Matching Produces Superior Performance

• No Limits on Competitive Performance
• Subject Matter Experts Determine
• What it Takes to Get the Job Done Right
• Key Accountabilities Example
• The Behaviors the Job Calls For
• Value Motivators are the Energy from Within
• Skill Competencies for Achieving Results
• Acumen Indicators of Successful
• Thought Processes
• Ideal Candidate Form
• Objectively Defining the Ideal Candidate

Job Matching is the Foundation for the Entire

• Employment Lifecycle

Summary:

• The Benefits of Listening to the Job

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As Shawn shares, the world she envisions is a reality at some organizations today.

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This free, fun survey is designed for dog and cats.  It was created by the principals of our talent assessment partner, Target Training International.

To take the survey and receive a report on your pet, go to Pets Talk Back, select GET STARTED and complete the five minute questionnaire. You will receive a link to your four page report that includes communication tips and general statements about your pet’s preferences.

Since I’ve worked with TTI for years, I trust them to keep my email address private.

ENJOY!

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In a seminar session led by Alan Kaplan of Masuda Funai, Alan asked for a show of hands for how many used LinkedIn to vet candidates. To my

surprise, less than half the audience raised their hands. Then I learned why.

Alan advised the audience NOT to view the LinkedIn profiles of candidates if you seek to minimize the risk of potential litigation for discriminatory hiring practices. He cited an example where a candidate’s LinkedIn profile listed affiliations with either ethnic or religious orientated LinkedIn Groups.

He noted that a candidate who applies and feels he or she was denied employment on the basis of their ethnic or religious association could have grounds for filing suit.  So to play it safe, they recommend that not viewing candidate profiles.

An Alternative

What CAN be done is to use an outside recruiter to find candidates and instruct the recruiter not to share information that would be legally inappropriate.

Or, Take Your Chances

It is not illegal to view the LinkedIn profile of a candidate.  Just understand that, when you do, you increase the risk of legal action. So I’m simply sharing a qualified legal opinion that recommends against the practice.  You need weigh the risks as with any business decision.  And I suspect the folks at LinkedIn might be concerned about all of this as it was founded first and foremost as a recruiting tool.

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1. Competition for customers
2. Competition for the talent needed to attract, serve and maintain those customers.

Some attrition is natural in both arenas. Significant defection in either area will adversely affect the other. Because this is a briefing, let’s examine one element of defection: employees who voluntarily leave and why.

The July issue of Workplace Solutions Magazine published a list of the top reasons people leave their jobs. (Note: these are listed in no particular order)

The Top Five Drivers of Voluntary Terminations

• Relationship with Manager
• Opportunities for Growth
• Workload
• Organization
• Compensation

What Are You Hearing?

Of these five reasons, which one do you hear most frequently? I am willing to wager that it is the last one on the list, “More money.” Why? The authors of the book Play To Your Strengths provide some insight about a potential flaw in the exit interviewing process they call the Say-Do Trap. Just as political pollsters face challenges with the accuracy of their responses, the same is true for exit interviewers. What employees say is not always what drives their behavior. Exiting employees who prefer not to burn bridges may be saying that they have found a position for more money. But that answer often masks the real issue. Compensation is a socially acceptable reason to leave and it typically will not be challenged. The exiting employee can easily avoid having a potentially uncomfortable conversation about the real reasons that led them to seek a happier workplace. While their search may have coincidentally resulted in higher pay, the reality may be that they would have been content to work for less money just to escape a bad situation.

There’s Something Else About Mary

Here’s a hypothetical scenario about “Mary”. Mary tells her exit interviewer that she got “more money” elsewhere while her real reason for departure is that her manager is a condescending, incompetent idiot. Mary is one of several in her department who have recently left for that same stated reason, more money.  To address this defection problem uncovered by socially correct exit interview responses, what does management do?  They decide it’s time to raise the department pay scale. So, not only has the exit interview failed to get to the root cause of the problem, misinformed management’s remedy results in an unnecessary increase in overhead. They succeed in slowing down turnover by creating a barrier to exiting in the form of combat pay that is not easily exceeded. But what happens to productivity in this manager’s combat zone of a department?  The company now pays more for less output.  

Take it to the bank…

Whether your dealing with the departure of either your external or internal customers, it’s about more than money. There’s always something else. In either case, it’s about the overall value proposition of your offering.  In either case, examine your information gathering process to determine if your boat has sprung a leak. 

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