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What is the DISC test?
DISC stands for dominance (D), influence (I), steadiness (S), and conscientiousness (C). It is a personality test based on a model of personality developed by a psychologist called William Marston.
Here is how this behavioral assessment is classifying the way we express emotions:
- Dominance: Describes the way you deal with problems, assert yourself and control situations.
- Influence: Describes the way you deal with people, the way you communicate and relate to others.
- Steadiness: Describes your temperament – patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness.
- Compliance: Describes how you approach and organize your activity, procedures and responsibilities.
Note: in William Marston model, the C stands for Compliance while most personality tests results will point to “conscientiousness”. Apparently because the new term is more “advanced”. While the definitions of both terms vary, one is definitely harder to pronounce than the other! 🤣 I let you choose which one you prefer to use. For this article we will use “conscientiousness” because it is now the term being used.
Why it is recommended that you take this test?
This test is recommended for any position. You could be a manager but also a fresher. It could be a recruitment test or something to give to your current team members or business partners. The idea is to understand which behavior type motivates you to take action and make decisions that will enable you to navigate relationships, collaborations, and conversations with others better.
Once you understand that main trait that governs your and others’ behavior you can tailor your words and actions and guide those of others to achieve better results together.
You do not communicate the same way with everyone, right? Then the DISC test can help you to know exactly how to communicate with others (and also how to tell others to communicate with you).
The DISC test provides insights into how each type behaves in their personal relationships and at work and describes their best traits and main challenges. You can use the results to build effective ways to collaborate and communicate as a team.
12 combinations of DISC personalities
Note: many people tend to think that psychologists are only “curing” people from a burnout or some other mental pathologies. But it is rather a misconception. the main mission of a psychologist is to help you to understand yourself so you can better interact with others. And that is how William Marston invented the DISC test in the 1920s.
That being said, the DISC theory is often visualised as a quadrant like this:
This means that your score on one dimension does not determine your scores on any of the other dimension. With different scores on each of the four traits there are nearly unlimited possible outcomes in combined scores.
Adjectives often associated with each DISC Type:
Dominance: Driven, Direct, Decisive, Strong-willed, Self-confident, Daring, Determined, Fast-paced.
Influence: Charming, Collaborative, Energizing, Trusting, Enthusiastic, Impulsive, Optimistic, Persuasive.
Steadiness: Calm, Patient, Predictable, Deliberate, Stable, Warm, Passive, Loyal.
Conscientiousness: Cautious, Systematic, Private, Objective, Analytical, Diplomatic, Accurate, Reserved.
After doing some researches on these combinations, here is what I found interesting:
- All DiSC styles are equally valuable.
- Everyone is a blend of all four styles.
- People can adapt their styles to fit particular situations or environments.
- Learning about DISC can help you communicate with each other better. For example, if you know your partner is a D, then you can adapt your communication style to match with what they will relate to.
Where to take the test?
You can find some free DISC tests on some specific websites. We’re not going to provide any links as there are many options out there. But if you find any, please ensure that it provides the full results of your profile.
Note: I did mine for free, and paid 15$ for the full results to be sent to me via email. Maybe you can find better options out there.
Let’s end this article with a little game! 😆
Along the researches done for this article, I found some quotes that were attributed to each DISC type. Can you which quote belongs to with DISC type?
“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Whoever is happy will make others happy too.” Anne Frank
“What’s the point of playing if winning isn’t the goal?” J.D. Robb, Author
“It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
So, which quote is dominance (D), influence (I), steadiness (S), and conscientiousness (C)? Answer in the comments!
