Using DISC at Christmas!

We have practically reached the end of another year and Christmas is knocking at our doors.  So, the question is; does DISC help us at this festive time?

Of course, the answer is “Oh yes it does!” (If you have answered “Oh no it doesn’t” then congratulations! The Panto season is strong within you!)

Let’s start with the area that can be very time consuming…Buying the perfect gift.  The first place to start is to consider each person’s primary needs…

So, by using this table above we can work out what each profile’s ‘Christmas List’ could look like…

Right, so that’s the Christmas presents sorted. Now it comes to organising the big day. This is where DISC becomes really useful because each of us has a part to play and our individual skills will ensure the day is a success.  As usual, we’ll look at an overview of how everybody is going to be helpful, as seen below:

Next, we must consider where everyone will want to sit…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, wherever you get groups of people you will get combinations of DISC profiles, which brings me to the last part of this blog…which combinations work well and perhaps, may not, work so well.

As you have probably already worked out (actually the Conscientious readers, definitely, will have thought of this already) there is in fact, 16 combinations, which is far too many to go through today, if we want to reach Christmas day in one piece!  So, let’s consider a few of the possibilities…

We can start by splitting our DISC profiles into two categories; People orientated and Task orientated.  Our Dominant and Conscientious are far more interested in tasks, whereas our Steady and Influencers are, definitely, People orientated.  This means that, if it comes to seating, or grouping together; the D’s and C’s think and act in similar ways and the S’s and I’s will be far more in tune with each other.

As we have considered in the past two Influencers together is very likely to result in lots of talking and not a lot of getting things done and due to lots of distractions the quality might not be great either – so if you leave them to the washing up you might have a few bits of lunch on your dishes plus it will take forever!  It will, though, probably great fun and a lot of laughter, which isn’t bad on Christmas day!

What about two Dominant profiles together?  Well there are two possibilities here, on the one hand they will think alike and won’t bothered about the triviality of games and gossip.  Of course, the danger is that two Dominant profiles can clash if there is a ‘power struggle’, therefore, if you think that is going to happen then give them separate things to do.  Ask one to organise what is going to happen after lunch, whilst the other can co-ordinate the events in the evening. The other way is to let them combine their strengths and ask them to consider what options they think are available to a local problem – trust me they will have clear views!

When it comes to our Conscientious group the key here is to let them use their natural abilities.  So, if anybody has a technical Christmas present and they can’t be bothered to read the instructions the Conscientious group will have it all worked out in super quick time and they will be totally harmonious working together.  If you don’t have a technical present find something that is broken and ask them to take a look at it whilst you get on with the clearing up, and if all else fails tell them that Aunty Joyce can’t work out her phone – that’ll work!

And finally, we come to our Steady profiles- they truly are the knights in shining armour during this festive time.  One of the great strengths of the Steady profile is that they will always want to be the ones that are likely to want harmony and, therefore, can often pick up early on if somebody is not happy.  So, ensure your Steady person acts as the barometer for any potential family or friend’s situations, plus give them the nod early on in the day and say “can you keep an eye out for Grandad getting a bit grumpy and if he does just give him a bit of attention”.  They will love this and do it well.

Right that’s it, for 2017.  For the first blog of 2018 I’ll be looking at new year’s resolutions and planning for the year ahead.  In the meantime, have a great time over the festive period and I wish you all the best for 2018!

Cheers!

Tags: Christmas, DISC, DISC Profiling, LEarning and Development. Training, Learning styles, Marketing, Organisation, Telemarketing, Training