How to assemble a harmonious team according to the DISC typology
In recent years, the importance of flexible skills — or, as we used to say, soft-skills — has been growing faster. Many companies are looking for support in methodologies that would allow them to assess the stress resistance and commitment of employees, their level of empathy, the ability to listen and compromise.
At the moment, many Russian companies are reaping the benefits of following this trend: the new approaches of Sber, Ozon, Avito and other domestic business giants prove it. It even seems hard to immediately remember which other Russian market leaders have already managed to partially redraw their development tracks for the methods of studying personality.
Due to the growing popularity of this trend, founders of startups are also trying to keep up with the market leaders. Inspired by the example of major players, some young entrepreneurs select teams for startups partly relying on behavioral personality typologies. Without a doubt, such an approach can be beneficial, but someone still becomes defeated while unreasonably delving into fashionable techniques.
What can help us in selecting a team for a young business? What tools are better to use, and how not to fall into the trap at the courtship stage?
To begin with, let's figure out what is called the courtship stage, and why excessive attention to the personality of teammates can play a cruel joke here. Courtship — or nursing — is the first stage of your company's life cycle according to the methodology of Ichak Adizes, a recognized world leader in the field of business change management. At the first stage —courtship — your startup exists as an idea, as something bright and attracting ambitious like-minded people. Without a doubt, at this exact stage of the company's development the personal characteristics of the team members are of the highest importance.
This stage implies a dedicated founder and colleagues who share his passion. Often, at the courtship stage, everyone involved in a startup shares the vision of the leader, has common goals, priorities and ambitions. However, with nothing but unsupported desires for growth, nothing fated to success can be built. Right here for the convenience of describing a successful and promising team, we will introduce new terms and talk about the DISC typology.
DISC: What is it about?
The name of this methodology is an abbreviation of four personality types, which for clarity and ease of use are defined as colors. So, you can create your startup with a Red, Yellow, Green or Blue colleague.
The founder of the DISC language, William Marston, identifies four factors that describe human behavior:
— reaction to problems and difficulties;
— influence on others;
— reaction to changes;
— following the rules.
To determine the type of personality by DISC, you should use specially designed tests, but you should also not neglect ordinary communication, which can help you consider some factors from the interlocutor, indicating that he belongs to a certain “color”.
Dominance: red
The “reds” are energetic by nature and strive to manage the situation. They are very demanding, willing to take on difficult tasks in order to test themselves, to demonstrate their strong qualities in practice. Red is characterized by perseverance, determination, straightforwardness and a desire to keep everything under control.
Influence: yellow
“Yellow” people are prone to talk about personal topics. During the conversation, they can jump from one subject to another without a visible logical connection, sometimes they give the impression of superficial people who do not delve into the essence of the issues being discussed. The solutions they offer are often distinguished by originality, although at the same time they may be absolutely not thought out. Such people are characterized by enthusiasm, sociability and truthfulness.
Steadiness: green
“Green” are distinguished by the ability to establish good relationships with others. In the process of interaction and communication with colleagues, they show tact, attention and cordiality. They perfectly follow the process of execution of the decision, you can always rely on them. Such people are often defined as team builders: they are characterized by sincerity, empathy, sensitivity and patience.
Compliance: Blue
And, in conclusion, the “blue” ones are recognized experts in their field who know every detail and can answer any question concerning their professional activities. People of this type often do not seek personal contact, so they can give the impression of people devoid of emotions. “Blue” people can be described as patient, punctual, accurate and focused on details. As you might have guessed, it is not uncommon to meet a “blue” person among analysts.
Getting acquainted with this technique, you could find yourself thinking that some of your surroundings combine the characteristics of several colors. We will not ignore this remark and, of course, we will say that there are personality types at the junction of two colors. Usually we meet people of two colors : “pure colors" are much less common.
Now — after a detailed consideration of the DISC typology — we can move on to the main question. How are these personality types related to the success of your startup? Why did we have to dive into the details of this technique, and how it will help to avoid a crisis?
Imagine that after you come up with a wonderful idea to create a new product, you begin to gather people around you who will help to implement this idea. That's where DISC comes to the rescue.
At first glance, everything seems very transparent: the founder of a startup wants to surround himself with people with the same burning eyes as himself. They want to see people around me who are ready to put all their strength on the altar of developing a new idea. They want to assemble a team of superheroes, whose skills and ambitions together will give an extremely successful result.
It is the stage where we need to try to correctly implement DISC in the process of selecting colleagues. Otherwise, there is a chance to come face to face with the crisis of the courtship stage, which we talked about above: you risk going so far in your dreams that general enthusiasm and high ambitions will cloud your mind, distancing you from the real state of affairs. Therefore, the crisis of the first stage of the Adizes typology is called “affair”.
Due to a possible obstacle to the growth of your startup, you should not neglect the DISC at the initial stages.
When communicating with potential colleagues, try to read the factors inherent in the various “colors” of DISC. When choosing between several specialists with a similar set of skills and abilities, pay due attention to their “color”. Learn to communicate with people in the language of their “color”: show your affinity for details and facts with “blue”, listen carefully to the interlocutor and show indifference to problems with “green”.
And, of course, don't forget about yourself. What color, according to the DISC methodology, are you characterized by? Are you an inspiration or a performer, an organizer or a promoter? Correct awareness of your own type is an important step towards creating a successful team.
Without a doubt, it is not easy to immediately determine your personality type by DISC. This task is impossible either after one online test or after five. Here, as in any business, practice is crucial. It is vital to communicate and immerse in the environment of people as interested in development and implementation as you are. And even if sometimes it seems to you that finding like-minded people is not an easy task, then you should not give up and not lead your business forward along the path of least resistance. In the Wonder Woman community by Favot magazine you can be inspired by the ideas of its founder, get useful tips on launching a startup, as well as meet potential colleagues who can share your ideas. And by joining Wonder Woman, of course, don't forget to practice identifying personality types by DISC. Suddenly, it is there that you will competently assemble your dream team.
