Students behaving badly

Tonight I ran three workshops at my local school for A’ Level students and their parents at the Career Fair.

I did a whistlestop tour through the DISC behaviour profile tool. It’s a fun workshop to run and gives people insight into their behaviour and that of others. It’s a tool that I use with all my coaching clients.

Let’s explore DISC now. First decide whether you are outgoing or reserved. Next are you task focussed or people focussed? Do you want to get the job or task done? Do you focus on the achievement? Are you more interested in the people aspect? In the feelings?

If you are outgoing and task focussed, you fit the D of DISC. Ds are determined, dominant, decisive, motivated by challenges, appear to be direct and self-assured, and tend to focus on results. They don’t want to appear vulnerable or being taken advantage of.

If you are outgoing and people focussed, this is the I of DISC. Is are influencers, inspiring, impulsive, independent, they prioritise people and communication, are motivated by social recognition, feel restricted by too many rules and regulations, are persuasive, enthusiastic, and optimistic. They fear rejection.

S style are reserved and people focussed. They prioritise people and collaboration. Ss are steadfast, systematic, supportive, tend not to panic in a crisis, can be predictable. They are motivated by stability and status quo and don’t really like change, especially unplanned change.

Cs are reserved and task focussed. They are cautious, conservative, compliant, creative thinkers (problem-solvers), conscientious. They prioritise accuracy. They like to deal with facts, good with detail. They hate unjustified criticism.

All of us have a preferred behaviour style – typically we have two and possibly three dominant styles. For example, I am a strong C and D. I am conscientious, I value knowledge and expertise, I am an action taker and like to get things done but I want them to be done properly. That doesn’t mean I’m not good with people – I am a qualified counsellor and people love the space that I hold for them as individuals or in a group.

In my workshop, everybody decides their dominant style i.e. D, I, S or C. I split the participants into their profile groups i.e. all Ds together, all Is together etc. I give each group a collection of celebrity photos and ask them to discuss in their group which behaviour style seems most suited to that celebrity.

It’s fascinating to watch the groups work. The Ds are quick, decisive and always finish first. The Cs take their time and want to get it exactly right. The Is – well they talk a lot and often forget about the task in hand! While the Ss worry about getting in the way and take it more steadily.

Understanding our own behaviour style is so valuable – it helps us to communicate better, but more importantly if you have an appreciation of the different behaviour styles, you can see why different styles might clash. This can then give you the confidence to deal with the situation appropriately. For example Ds and Cs are likely to want to get to the point. Cs are likely to add in much more detail. Whereas the Is may well give you a long story before the Ds will jump in and ask them to “just get to the point”. So when you notice you are always getting annoyed by a particular work colleague or somebody on the PTA or even your partner or neighbour, perhaps you are experiencing a clash of behaviour styles, in which modifying the way you communicate could well resolve the issue for you.

As the students and parents work together, I see lots of lightbulb moments! NOW I understand why I just don’t work well with that teacher. At last I understand why my colleague is driving me nuts!

Find out how you can bring a DISC profiling workshop into your college or workplace and Get in touch today.