DiSC and Myers Briggs, Competing or complementary 3Most people in Learning and development touch upon Myers Briggs as a personality intrument at some point in their careers, but not enough people realise (not just) the surface and potentially deep power of DiSC, because it’s a very intuitive model and application set to work with, as a trainer. If your training time is limited, if you want the learning and ‘recall’ to stick and you want to make sure that people apply the learning to work more effectively together, then DiSC is really worth evaluating.

In current ‘stressed out’ times in which organisations operate, anything that makes it easier for people to learn and to engage with this learning is worthwhile. Sustaining behavioural change or applying and practicing a skill can be hard enough, so why make it even harder for participants or on ourselves as trainers?

DiSC is so very user-friendly and is a totally validated instrument, validated in Ireland and the UK. DiSC also measures some core dimensions of behaviour around “power, control and authority” and the degree to which people experience ‘people-leadership’ either directly or indirectly. It also measures more easily who are the committed consistent followers and contributors, but who prefer to operate in a team. These people are however, very systematic and really high team performers over a long time.

The MBTI.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a personality inventory that measures source personality. It can measure an individual’s stable, personal preferences on four primary scales (i.e., Introversion /Extraversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving).

However, based on the theoretical DiSC model, only one of the MBTI scales (i.e., Introversion/Extraversion) was proposed in research studies to have a strong relationship with the scales of the DiSC profile, that is the Influence/Conscientiousness dimension of DiSC.

Another MBTI scale (i.e., Thinking/Feeling) has a limited relationship with the scales of the DiSC profile, therefore DiSC measure another dimenion, as described below.

The fact that DiSC allows us to measure this D / S dimension, Dominance and Steadiness behavioural styles so well, gives it an added value in organisations where the power and control dynamic is not always fully understood by people or where learning can be deepened with clear impacts for leading teams and creating highly committed team players.

While DiSC measures our behavioural tendencies it also goes deeper too. It is a fantastic way to help people to apply learning, because there are now so many DiSC applications (developed over 25 years), for leaderhship, for management, for teams and in Sles and customer service. DiSC teaches course participants in a much easier to understand manner, how to not just understand them selves, but also to flex their style when understanding and dealing with others.

DiSC can be thought of as a two dimensional model, whereas Myers Briggs is a Four dimensional model. This makes DiSC easier and more memorable for course participants to learn. Oh, yes and it costs less !

This article was written by Peter O’Connor. Peter is the founding Director of Performance Partners Ltd in Ireland.
Peter and his colleagues works with Businesses in leadership, sales and service to clarify Business Sales & Marketing processes and development of sales people. Contact Peter at peter(AT)performancepartners.ie