DiSC Exercises

I had an interesting call with a client a couple of weeks ago about DiSC exercises and training tools. She was preparing to do a teambuilding session with a group of high level managers in a well-known construction company. She explained to me that she had been struggling with this group because collectively, they could not come up with a single idea that everyone agreed on. Each individual believed that his or her idea was best and no one was interested in compromise. While I was 99% sure that I already knew the answer, I asked her what the group culture was. Not surprisingly, she told me the 100% of the group had a primary or secondary D. We started to discuss some options for exercises that this group would open communication lines. We settled on two main exercises and I have attached instructions for each of them.

• QuikDiSC Exercise
• DiSC Sales Action Planner Exercise

One of my favorite things about DiSC is its versatility. You can create your own exercises or mold existing ones to suit your needs, and it’s helpful in essentially any situation.

For more information, please visit our website at http://www.resourcesunlimited.com/ or call us at 515.278.1292.

Close More Sales Using a DiSC-Based Approach

Resources Unlimited President, Barbara Stennes, attended ASTD with Inscape Publishing in June to help promote Inscape's newest training programs, idXready. The feedback they received was amazing. Visitors to the booth were impressed by the outstanding quality of the materials, the contemporary video, and the fact that the training program is ready for DiSC trainers to use immediately.

Using DiSC to identify and adapt to the differences in customers can help reduce the likelihood of miscommunication and lost sales, and can help your salesforce develop positive relationships with all types of customers.

DiSC-Powered Selling from Inscape Publishing is the newest and most innovative DiSC sales training program on the market. DiSC-Powered Selling helps participants understand their own selling tendencies and their customers’ needs so they can adapt when needed for better results.

DiSC-Powered Selling integrates and synchronizes all aspects of the DiSC learning experience, from participant pre-work to individualized workbooks; from video embedded right into PowerPoint to proven learning activities.

Visit the Resources Unlimited site for information on DiSC-Powered Selling.

DiSC Phone Coaching Sessions

Our personalized DiSC phone coaching sessions are customized to address your specific organizational objectives. One-on-one DiSC phone coaching will provide you with the assistance you need to design an effective DiSC training program, and will strengthen your investment in DiSC learning assessments.

DiSC phone coaching will give you the opportunity to speak one-on-one with one of our DiSC Certified Master Trainers with 20+ years of DiSC training experience.

DiSC phone coaching is available in one-hour sessions.

Whether you are a first-time user of DiSC learning assessments and need more in-depth information to learn how to interpret your results and incorporate the DiSC profile into your organization, or a DiSC trainer looking for additional DiSC activities, our DiSC Master Trainers will give you the information and confidence you need to achieve your organization’s learning objectives.

Our DiSC clients use DiSC phone coaching to take advantage of:

• A professional opinion to learn the best way to achieve your training goals
• A sounding board for your training ideas, which will ensure you are using the most effective DiSC exercises
• An experienced trainer to coach you during and after your purchase of DiSC assessments to ensure you use them most effectively

After your DiSC phone coaching session you'll feel better prepared to integrate DiSC learning assessments into your organization, and will have the information necessary to carry out your next steps.

Call 515.278.1292 for DiSC phone coaching information.

2 Ways to Learn About DiSC Profiles and DiSC Training

We're hosting two virtual opportunities to learn more about the DiSC Profile in February!

A Taste of DiSC - An Introduction to the DiSC Profile

Join DiSC Certified Master Trainer, Linda Houts, as she discusses the key features of the DiSC Online Profile and shows you how this valuable tool will dramatically enhance employee and team performance in your organization.

As a participant, you will learn:

• How to interpret your DiSC profile results
• How to understand each of the 4 DiSC dimensions
• How DiSC was developed
• DiSC research and validity
• How to easily administer DiSC profiles to your entire organization

Plus, you'll receive 1 free DiSC 2.0 profile to use yourself or send to a friend!

Date: Thursday, February 22
Time: 2 PM EST, 1 PM CST, 12 PM MST, 11 AM PST
Cost: Complimentary

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DiSConference Call for DiSC Trainers

Join DiSC Certified Master Trainer, Judy Zitzloff, for a highly interactive session where you can share your ideas and ask questions of our Master DiSC Trainer and other DiSC Trainers.

As a participant, you will:

• Discover imaginative new ways other DiSC trainers are using the DiSC Profile
• Hear about the latest DiSC products, including the DiSC Group Culture Report, International Translations of the Online DiSC Profile, Everything DiSC Facilitation System, and EPIC
• Learn new interactive DiSC exercises you can use in your training sessions
• Discover creative new ideas for follow-up DiSC sessions
• Learn how to shorten your training sessions by using blended learning that incorporates the DiSC online training courses
• Learn how to handle questions from your participants
• Q & A

Date: Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Time: 2:00 pm Eastern Standard (1:00 pm Central 12:00 pm Mountain 11:00 am Pacific)
Cost: Complimentary

DiSC Training Exercise from Linda Houts

Linda Houts, Certified DiSC Master Trainer hosted last Thursday's A Taste of DiSC teleseminar. After walking attendees through their DiSC report, Linda offered the following DiSC Training Exercise:

Exercises using the Intensity Index

I am often asked how to keep the understandings and insights from a DiSC session fresh and useful in the day-to-day setting. It is important that employees get to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and DiSC language helps with that. These exercises can be used in a one-on-one or group/team setting. They can also be used during the first ten minutes of a staff meeting if your objective is team building or developing more camaraderie. I am going to give you 2 different exercises that use the Intensity Index. Please turn to pages 5-9 (in the DiSC Classic 2.0) while I describe a couple of activities you can use.

Activity 1. Remember that page 5 is the index itself and pages 6-9 describe those words or phrases that are highlighted in each style category. Chose 2 words from each style or focus on your highest style depending on how much time you want to allow. Talk with others about how those strengths contribute to your success as a manager/team member/ or job specific. The second step is to discuss overuses for those same words. Overuses are when we allow it to become a weakness or liability. When has this same behavior gotten you into trouble with others?

This activity is described in the Everything DiSC Facilitation System for any of you who have it or are looking for a great program for understanding all the styles also with many applications.

Activity 2. Back to page 5. Focus on your situation – business/department goals, teamwork, managing others etc. Look at all the words in the Intensity Index across all styles. What behaviors are important to success in the focus you chose? Discuss with others how that behavior is important. Also discuss what it would take for you to adapt to that behavior. What stretches (do more of) will you need to make as well as what possible ways might you need to redirect do less of) your behavior? This is a particularly helpful discussion to help teams and managers identify what behaviors are needed for success given the business and departmental goals. The discussion is the most important part of this activity. Openness is fostered.

Questions? Call us at 800.278.1292 or visit www.ResourcesUnlimited.com

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Featured DiSC Training Exercise with QuikDiSC Cards

Appreciating Strengths Exercise: Refer to Insight Module 5-2 in the Everything DiSC Facilitation System

When to use this exercise: At the end of a DiSC Training Session or in a follow-up session.

Purpose of the Exercise: To provide DiSC-based feedback between workshop participants. This exercise gives the learners an opportunity to learn what DiSC behaviors they have displayed during the training. This exercise is particularly valuable because it enables participants to learn whether others perceive their DiSC style to be similar to one’s own self-perception.

Directions:

1. Place one deck of QuikDiSC cards in the center of each table group (face up).
2. Ask each participant to select one card for each participant at the table. The card selected for each participant describes the behavior exhibited by that participant during the training session. (For example, “expressive.”)
3. Each participant at the table explains why the selected card (e.g., “expressive”) represents the person.

More about the QuikDiSC Cards: Visit http://www.resourcesunlimited.com/shop/QuikDiSC.asp

Questions for DiSC Trainers:

• Have you used this exercise in your DiSC Training session?
• Did you modify any part of the exercise?
• How would you modify this exercise for a particular group?

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DiSC Training Tips: Opening Exercises Before Participants Complete DiSC

7 ideas for Introductions and Opening Exercises Before Your Participants Complete the DiSC Profile:

1. Have participants write the name of a friend or coworker. Ask them why the two of them are compatible.
2. Have participants write the name of a person with whom they have difficulty communicating. Ask: "What types of friction do you experience?" Later on they can pull it out again and apply what they’ve learned.
3. Use the QuikDiSC Card Game as an ice-breaker.
4. Using the Whiteboard, have participants use adjectives to describe one person who scribes
5. Have your group think about the group's mission. What is this person’s contribution to the mission? The group provides these adjectives, not the person they’re describing.
6. Focus on the value of diversity in teams.
7. Have participants capture their unique contribution to the group and draw a picture of what they are doing.

What methods do you use in your DiSC training sessions?

Questions? Call us at 800.278.1292 or visit www.ResourcesUnlimited.com

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Do TV Characters have a DiSC Behavioral Style?

I asked the question around our office today: do TV characters have DiSC behavioral styles? It was a unanimous "yes" throughout our office. I think writers mirror characters after real people. Linda Houts, one of our Master DiSC Trainers also had a good point: she says that "writers create characters from what they unconsciously understand about behavior."

I know Grey's Anatomy is currently a popular show (I watch it occasionally, when I just happen to come across it), so I took a guess at each of the characters' DiSC style. Here is my best guess:

George- S
Meredith- D and/or i
Isobel- S and/or C
Christina- D
Miranda- D
Alex- iD

This could easily be used in your next DiSC Training session. Simply record a clip from your favorite TV show and have your participants guess the characters' behavioral style. Use the DiSC People Reading Cards to help your participants determine whether the character perceives their environment as favorable or unfavorable, and if the character sees themself as more powerful as the environment. For more training ideas, please call us at 800.278.1292.

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DiSC Humor

Getting on a busy elevator…

• The D walks up, gets on the elevator, and pushes the button that closes the door.
• The i lets others in, says “Always room for one more,” and “Come in, you’re going to be late; we’ll wait for you!”
• The S will wait in line, moving from one line to another, unable to make adecision.
• The C will get on the elevator. If it’s crowded, the C will count the number ofpeople and, if the number is over the limit, will make someone get off.

Shopping for groceries…

• The D is the impulse shopper. No list.
• The i tells you where everything is in the store, whether you ask or not.
• The S is prepared, has a list, and gets it done efficiently.
• The C wouldn’t think of going shopping without coupons and a calculator.
  

On the golf course…

• The D frequently drives through groups of golfers.
• The i spends more time in the clubhouse talking than on the course.
• The S plays golf the same day, the same time, the same place, using the same clubs.
• The C keeps score, plays strictly by the rules, and cleans his or her clubs a lot.
  

Hanging wallpaper…

• The D says, “Come over Saturday and help me wallpaper. And bring the paste.” The D then starts in the middle of the living room. The patterns don’t match. The D says, “So what? That’s what drapes and pictures are for.”
• The i has the wallpaper in the closet with the paste. It’s on the list of things to do. The i never gets around to it.
• The S has to find a pattern that everyone likes before even beginning to think about hanging it.
• The C starts in a closet or in the garage to be sure the pattern is going to match. The C then gets it exactly right before starting on the living room.

Learn your DiSC Behavior by taking the DiSC Classic 2.0 Online Profile or call us at 800.278.1292.

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