What an Extended DISC Personal Analysis Report told us about an individual

Written on the 1 April 2014 by EDA & Talent Tools

Often the reports will not describe in full detail some of the perhaps sensitive information we can translate from the Profiles. The reason for this should be obvious and our training programmes provide material that assists in looking behind the information provided in reports.
We try hard not to over-analyse reports and we need to be careful that we don’t find ourselves stepping outside our area of expertise. We are not psychologists but we have many clients who are qualified to go that step further and provide sound professional advice based on our reports along with other information they obtain in their area of expertise.

However, there are some things that are obvious from our reports and so hopefully this case study will help explain what some of these are.

The Profiles opposite have been taken from an Extended DISC Personal Analysis Report, and below are some of the conclusions we made from the shape, size and position of the Profiles.

The shape of Profile II explains who they are (their natural behavioural style) and the report is based largely on this Profile. The size and position of Profile II plus Profile I describes how he/she is feeling.

We can conclude from Profile II that the individual is a mixture of three styles, 60% “I”, 30% “D”, and 10% “C” and the report will explain the behavioural style of this mix of styles. Because Extended DISC identifies and reports on 160 different behavioural styles, the report is very detailed with no “might be”, “could be” or “should be” explanations. They are direct and to the point.

Profile I shows however that the person concerned has felt the need to focus 100% on their “D” characteristics and the Profile is quite elevated. The Flexibility Zones page (shown opposite) show just how far the person feels they have to change their style to cope with their current environment. The darkest zone (in the “I” quadrant) is the person’s natural style and the end of the arrow identifies the conscious adjusted behaviour.
So what does this tell us that may not be detailed in the report.

We know that they aim at being tougher, more independent, and decisive in their current role although this is not a natural style for them. Therefore, this takes the individual outside of their comfort zone. It also means they feel they the need to focus on facts and tough values rather than on people and emotional issues. The individual may in fact feel like they are being pressured into this situation, and have to suppress their natural “I” characteristics.

Profile I generally relates to the individual’s work environment. In this case, the elevation of Profile I also tells us that that this person feels like they are being forced into this situation, which could be through the demands of the manager or management, and this could well lead to stress if not addressed.

There are also indications of a feeling of constraint, and they may well be feeling that they are working to the limit of their ability to meet the demands of the work environment. It would be advantageous for the person, if they, together with their manager, reflected on the current situation; and think about the effect on the individual in the long term. Generally, we would suggest that the individual’s job environment or description should be reconsidered/visited.

Reports that verge on “special cases” need to be handled with care!

This article has been adapted from the March 2014 edition of the Extended DISC Australasia Newsletter