Scenario: Margaret (moderately
inclined “D” style) is having difficulty in her work relationship with her
boss, Susan (highly inclined “D” style).
Margaret has learned to be more flexible in modifying her style than
Susan. Each of them have had DiSC training
and been provided with a comparison report.
How would you as a
trainer deal with this situation? It appears that the boss has a difficult or
abrasive personality that is seen all too often in the workplace. Is there a specific approach you would offer
or throw up your hands and say “I just don’t know, you will have to deal with
it?”
While there is no
cookie cutter answer for this situation, we have an approach that we would
take. We do not know the whole story;
there may be other factors that could cause the ripple in the relationship. Focused
solely on the details we have, it is not uncommon to see two D’s struggling
over control and territorial issues. The
situation could become more serious when they are under pressure and neither
would like to budge, amplifying the situation.
8
Dimensions of Leadership
is a great resource for trainers to provide to their leaders regardless of if
there is tension or not. Each
participant will receive a personalized Book Map based off a report that guides
them through each dimension. If Susan
and Margaret share some of the same dimensions, this could be a cause of
friction.
Building
relationships are not always characteristic of D styles unless it can help them
obtain their results. These are just
generalization and each person is unique in their style and many factors
involved.
While the
comparison report may cause some push back, D’s will often score high on the
forceful scale and that alone can uncover some issues and get them talking
about how that impacts their relationship.
Often times, people concentrate only on what they are far apart on in
the Comparison
Reports and to be honest, some of what we are close on can cause the most
grief. It is important to get both
parties to see how a conflict can impact the results.
What do you think
of this approach? Do you have other suggestions on how to approach this
situation or maybe have a situation of your own that you would like for us to
address? Let us know!
