Know yourself to know your team

November 30, 2016

Using the DiSC personality profile to work better with your team and manage them more effectively.

I am a big proponent of the use of personality profiles as a tool in being a better leader and manager in your dental office.

I have become accredited as a DiSC trainer by Wiley trainer. However, my clients have not had the opportunity to have the level of training I have received, and in most cases, do not seem to be nearly as excited as I am about its usefulness.

I was explaining to a client about how great this added service was going to be and how it would help her be a better manager of her staff. She made a pained face and said, “Why do we need to do that? I have taken this test and know what I am. How is that going to be helpful?” I guess I needed to work on my explanation a little more.

For a minute, let’s forget about you, the leader. You need to understand that knowing how you act and how you react is one of the keys to being a more effective leader.

This tool does you no good if you don’t use this to understand your team. We each have a tendency to act and react in a certain way. Your team members have a tendency to act and react in a certain way, which probably is different than your tendency.

Where you get into trouble is assuming that your team has the same way of hearing and reacting to what you say or do as you hear and react. You may have a need for your team member to do something immediately, without any question or debate. Or they may have dropped an instrument at a crucial point in a procedure, slowing down what you are doing. How do you react?

Use the DiSC with patients: 7 behavioral cues that lead to increased treatment acceptance

If you know how your team member is predisposed to act, you may act in a more appropriate way. That is not to say that you have to coddle your team if they make a crucial mistake, but if you understand how to get the best response to correction, you are using a leadership skill that will lead to a better long-term outcome.

My client had not been given an explanation about how best to use this valuable skill in previous trainings. An inspirational book that I enjoyed started with the quote, “It’s Not about YOU”! The first part of using DiSC personality profiling is to learn about yourself, so that you can use the more important skill of knowing about your team.