Assessments – WHAT & WHY

People vary in innumerable ways and yet it is generally agreed that finding a way to identify consistency and predictability in human behaviour is desirable.

Being able to communicate with others in their preferred behavioural language is a skill that would dramatically improve our interpersonal relationships!

Challenging though it maybe, there is hope.

What we do and how others see us is a function of our unique blend of temperaments. Learning to recognize preferences in ourselves and in others provides a platform for improved interpersonal communication and the enhancing of individual, team and organizational performance.

We use the DISCerning Model of Communication, Leadership and Conflict Management to capture this process of communicating in the language of behaviours.

Behavioural Assessments (psychometric analysis) provide us with the grammar and syntax that underpins the language of behaviours.

There is no doubt that the ‘people factor’ is one of the most important issues to be dealt with as we strive for increased productivity. We have to bring new strategies to bear on this challenge. People skills are central to personal and organizational success. Behavioural styles and Interpersonal approaches require the same rigorous analysis and training investment as technical areas.

The Extended DISC® System provides customized and powerful reports that facilitate the management of individuals, teams and organizations in all spheres of the enterprise. They serve as a compass that guides organizations in identifying where they are and in determining where they need to be.

The Extended DISC® System represents a structured framework for the more effective management of people and for fostering effective collaboration and enhanced productivity.

 

History

The DISC Framework is based on a psychological theory developed in the 1920’s. Carl G. Jung created the foundations for the theory in his book The Psychological Types by defining a four dimensional behavioural map. His ideas were based on defining two behavioural axes; sensation-intuition and thinking-feeling, and the four main behavioural traits that they composed.

As a result, the four-quadrant thinking of human behaviour was developed. It is still popular and it guides many management, sales and leadership training techniques.

The DISC Framework has proven to be a very clear way of describing and analysing an individual’s natural reaction mode to the stimuli in the environment. The theory does not have any good-bad categories, making it a behavioural inventory, not a test that one can pass or fail.

A few variations of the theory also exist that use, for example, eight or sixteen categories of behavioural styles. The over-simplification of behaviour and its classifications have proven to be a weakness of these systems.

To be clear, DISC-theory is not designed to place individuals into boxes that define what they can or cannot do. Some things come more naturally to us and the assessment helps to identify things the require more energy and focus and those that we can perform more easily.

What we have here then is a guide at a particular point in time as to our tendencies, preferences, preferred ways of receiving and sending information, instruction and feedback. Armed with this knowledge team and group members reap the benefits of being able to:

• Understand themselves and the behaviour styles of others
• Use the related concepts to modify their behaviour as needed
• Communicate to others in their preferred behavioural language
• Identify blind spots that could limit their effectiveness and development
• Create a climate in which bonding takes place within the team/group
• Lay the foundation for the development of high performance teams

 

Extended DISC® Assessments

Extended DISC® was founded in 1991 by Jukka Sappinen, an MBA graduate from the Helsinki School of Economics who spent his early professional years consulting clients with the use of psychometric tools.

Jukka was motivated to solve the problem of the gap that he saw between corporate needs and what was being offered by existing assessments.

Extended DISC® is one of the top five psychometric tools in the field today, with global reach and an annual growth rate of 20-50%.

Extended DISC® is the world’s fastest growing assessment system. Its revolutionary FinxS® Platform has transformed the assessment landscape and the FinxS® Playground is used by thousands daily, with over one million assessments completed annually.

 

Solutions

Extended DISC® is validated and periodically re-validated around the world to ensure reliability and accuracy.

There is considerable investment in strengthening the system and there is a constant flow of carefully developed assessments. These include support for:

• Recruitment and Employee retention
• Employee Engagement
• Screening staff for promotion, assignment and career planning
• Human resource database management and analysis
• Succession Planning
• People development, Counselling and Coaching
• Job and Role Fit Analysis
• Leadership, Management and Supervisory training & development
• Interpersonal and Communication interventions
• Work Pair, Team Cohesiveness and Team alignment
• Sales Competence
• Marketing and Public Relations
• Customer Service
• Sports Competence
• Remote Worker Assessment
• Organization Development
• Climate/Satisfaction Surveys
• Change Management and Corporate Entrepreneurship