Big News – Wiley has come out with a new engine/operating system of DiSC!

Catalyst™ is a new platform designed to make it easier for organizations to integrate DiSC into their work on an ongoing basis. It connects independent learning and facilitated sessions in a single, personalized space.

Everything DiSC on Catalyst is a game-changer. Your DiSC Profile is no longer just a PDF file – it is in a dynamic, live platform called Catalyst where you can see all of your workmates, how you are similar and different, and how you can work together more effectively. It truly is a “catalyst” for culture change.

Each Everything DiSC on Catalyst learning experience starts with our best-selling Everything DiSC Workplace application. From there, learners can continue their DiSC journey with other more specific DiSC profiles (Agile EQ, Management, Productive Conflict – stay tuned for more applications of DiSC coming in the future!). Wiley’s future vision is to migrate and create more applications of DiSC to Catalyst so that DiSC will become a continuous learning experience. Whether it’s learning to transform conflict or manage with impact, you will be able to continue adding value to your clients and learners over time using Everything DiSC on Catalyst.

The Everything DiSC Assessment – each person is invited to take the online Workplace assessment which is powered and proven by 40+ years of research. This self-assessment informs the content and builds the foundation for an ongoing, personalized learning experience. As soon as the assessment is completed, participants will have immediate access to the Catalyst platform.

Catalyst – an interactive learning platform that gives immediate access to the results of the assessment which allows learners to delve into their style and develop new skills. The platform houses all of the DiSC results for everyone in the learner’s organization which means that it is quick and easy to get real-time tips and strategies about how to build better working relationships with others.

Workplace on Catalyst Facilitation. Brings the learner’s DiSC results to life in an instructor-led experience that engages and educates. Possible to conduct as in-person training or as virtual training. Modules include scripted content, new learning videos, and activities. Short-format, modular design that is easily tailored to any group size or time constraint.

P.S. Catalyst currently works only in English and with English language profiles.

Introducing the Catalyst learning platform

Catalyst takes your Everything DiSC experience to the next level by making the hard work of lasting behavior change possible—even fun!

On Catalyst, learners will:

1. Take the Assessment

As the original DiSC provider with over 40 years of expertise, Everything DiSC offers a proven, scientifically validated assessment with a 90%+ accuracy rating from learners worldwide. Learners respond to behavioral statements on a five-point scale to measure their preferences and tendencies based on the DiSC model.

2. Discover Their DiSC Style

Catalyst delivers each learner’s assessment results using a personalized, narrative-style behavioral profile. The personalized profile content:

• Deepens self-understanding through the lens of each learner’s unique DiSC style
• Gives learners insights into their preferences and tendencies
• Lays the groundwork for a transformational learning experience full of “aha!” moments

3. Connect with Colleagues

The Find Colleagues feature enables learners to integrate DiSC into their day-to-day work lives. Learners can use this feature to:

• Compare DiSC styles and gain tips for more effective interactions
• Easily navigate through the platform to view comparison continua, actionable tips, and more
• Adapt to the unique needs of each person and situation they encounter in real-time

4. Learn about DiSC·ology

This section guides learners through modules that familiarize them with the DiSC model and the theory behind it. The modules are:

• The DiSC model
• The 12 styles
• DiSC research
• DiSC theory
• DiSC history

5. Access other DiSC assessments for Ongoing Learning

Catalyst offers a range of DiSC application content designed to help learners develop the social and emotional know-how for more effective interactions at work. After completing the first DiSC module (Workplace), the learner can continue their learning with the next DiSC profiles along with new facilitation from a certified DiSC trainer. This will help to keep DiSC alive in the organization and offer great follow-up training options for those who have already experienced DiSC once.

Investing in organizational culture should have a lasting impact – and now it can!

*Past Everything DiSC (any profile) and DiSC Classic in English learners are eligible for a free Everything DiSC Workplace on Catalyst upgrade!

For more information, download the Everything DiSC Catalyst brochure.

If Catalyst sounds interesting and you would like to know more, please let us know here and we can introduce you to the platform personally!

It’s no secret that many people love working from home. Over this past year, we were all tossed into a grand experiment in which many of us learned how to work remotely. Remote work comes with many advantages: suddenly, you are free to roll out of bed in the morning and join a meeting, pick up your child in the middle of the afternoon, or work out immediately after the workday ends.

However, many of these perceived benefits to the employee come at an almost imperceptible cost: we feel less connected to our workplace and coworkers. And this is not surprising! When we trade these natural times to connect for virtual interaction, the opportunities for colleagues to connect on a personal level—let alone express empathy—are few and far between. We think a decline in workplace empathy could tell part of the story of why people are feeling disconnected right now.

A 2020 State of Workplace Empathy report by Businessolver found that the number of employees who feel their workplace is empathetic has declined from 78% to 68%, down 10% from previous years. Furthermore, the percentage of HR professionals who felt their organization is empathetic declined even more dramatically from 95% to 77%.

At its core, empathy is about understanding someone else’s point of view, and it is essential for creating cooperative and productive relationships in the workplace. Research also shows that developing an empathetic workforce contributes to increased motivation, productivity, and lower turnover. If empathy is essential to workplace success, why might it be on the decline? We hypothesize that three common misconceptions can prevent leaders from prioritizing this important business imperative:

• Building an empathetic workforce takes more time than it’s worth.
• Expressing empathy requires a certain level of vulnerability and being vulnerable in the workplace can be seen as a weakness.
• It’s tough to know how people are feeling when you aren’t face-to-face, so practicing empathy isn’t essential in a remote/hybrid workplace.

However, you can overcome all three of these misconceptions with strategic investments in your workplace culture. Let’s take a look at each misconception and reframe our thinking.

Misconception #1: Building an empathic workforce takes more time than it’s worth

One of the keys to creating strong and healthy workplace morale is good communication. You’ve likely had meetings where people talk over one another, so only the loudest ideas in the room gain traction. Conversely, you may have seen the opposite, where no one talks, and the collective silence is taken as a tacit agreement to the prevailing idea. This is where a skill like empathy really matters, it allows people to read situations and respond accordingly, which fosters human connection, allowing people to work better together.

Empathy is considered a soft skill, also known as a social and emotional skill. These skills allow us to improve our relationships with our co-workers, develop more productive teams, and resolve conflicts when necessary. However, soft skills are hard work and require a time investment to be effective. Many of us don’t always think we have the time to invest in soft skills development because they can’t be directly tied to business objectives. But, research suggests that investing in employee well-being and soft skill development increases retention, engagement, productivity, and overall job satisfaction. With a time investment on the front end, your team will learn how to stretch beyond their natural tendencies to express empathy in every situation, ultimately getting to great ideas more quickly.

Misconception #2: Expressing empathy requires a certain level of vulnerability and being vulnerable in the workplace can be seen as a weakness

Empathy in the workplace requires you to be, to a certain extent, a little bit vulnerable. And you might be thinking, “be vulnerable at work? No thank you!” But being vulnerable at work is important because it helps to create a culture of trust. And if you’re a manager, creating a culture that allows space for vulnerability is critical. For instance, would you rather have your employees ask for help when they are having problems because they trust you will respond with empathy, or would you prefer to become aware of issues when deadlines are missed because your team does not feel comfortable opening up to you when concerns arise?

According to Harvard Business Review, “managers who display high levels of empathy have three times the impact on their employee’s performance than those who display low levels of empathy.” When leaders have high levels of emotional intelligence, they create an atmosphere where their employees feel supported and thus more engaged.

Misconception #3: It’s tough to know how people are feeling when you aren’t face-to-face, so practicing empathy isn’t essential in a remote/hybrid workplace

Your working environment has likely shifted due to the universal challenges of the past year. Virtual meetings and communications have become a part of your new normal. As a result, you are often not in physical proximity with your coworkers, making it easy to forget that you are working with people who also have their own communication styles, behaviors, and natural tendencies. Some coworkers thrive while working from home, while others miss all the daily interactions that come from working in an office. According to Virtual Vocations, there are four concrete ways to show empathy with a remote and hybrid team:

1. Incorporate unstructured face time into virtual meetings.
2. Allow each person time and space to contribute.
3. Listen and encourage different perspectives.
4. Always remain open to communication.

By implementing these concepts, empathy can increase in the remote or hybrid workplace, and what follows is a more inclusive, harmonious, and efficient remote team. That’s a result worth the effort.

Empathy is an investment in building an environment that people want to be a part of—the kind of place that inspires people to do what they do even better. The good news? You can reverse the decline in workplace empathy by providing your entire team with the opportunity to learn the social and emotional skills that are critical for creating lasting change through positive and productive day-to-day interactions.

Because empathy is a skill that doesn’t come naturally to everyone, and it takes effort to learn and develop, it’s imperative to provide your people with the right tools for self-discovery. That’s where Everything DiSC^® can help. Everything DiSC utilizes the DiSC model to describe four basic behavior styles: dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness. While identifying your DiSC style is a step towards richer personal growth and understanding, it is only one piece of the relationship puzzle. Taking that knowledge, a step further and putting it into practice leads to tangible transformation.

This blog content belongs to Everything DiSC, a Wiley brand.

Some DISC tools claim to measure “natural behavior” vs “adapted behavior”. These are typically older DISC tools similar to our DiSC Classic^® profiles. The questionnaire in these types of assessments consists of groups of four words where you have to choose a word that is most like you and a word that is least like you. As a result, you see two graphs – one with the words you picked that are most like you and one with the words that are least like you. The sum of these two graphs shows your DISC style.

Some DISC tool providers claim that the graph with your “most” choices shows “adapted behavior” (because it is a very conscious choice), while the graph with your “least” choices shows your “natural behavior” because it is a less conscious choice.

“Our researchers have not been able to find any scientific evidence that supports this interpretation, and when reviewing research reports from assessment providers who make this claim, we cannot find any research that documents that one graph shows natural behavior and the other adapted behavior.”

While you can have a lot of good conversations around natural and adapted behavior, we don’t see any evidence that DISC actually measures this.

Most other DISC providers claim that the first and second graphs measure adaptive and natural behaviour. This is a myth. The British Psychological Society, in the early 90s, performed its own validation study on the 24-item DISC questionnaire and concluded that Graph I and II were measuring nothing more than different views of self-perception. Current DISC providers continuing to make this assertion are working with outdated and unsupported facts.

When a person is responding to the basic 24-item questionnaire they are simply focusing on their self-perception – a singular focus. It is implausible to then believe that they could get two different results from that single focus such as adaptive and natural behaviour.

Adjusting Results for Social Bias

It is standard practice in the world of psychometric testing to recognize that when a person is assessing themselves, they have a tendency towards social bias – to choose items that are more socially desirable as being like them, such as “friendly”, and to not choose socially undesirable attributes such as “aggressive”.

The original 24-item questionnaire developed by John Cleaver offered attributes that describe the different behaviours that DISC measures and asked which of these attributes are most like you, and which are least like you. Then the least scores were subtracted from the most to determine the difference. This formed three graphs – most like, least like, and the difference. The reason for this type of questionnaire design was to reduce the impact of people tending to answer with responses that were more socially desirable.

This showed up in the psychometric analysis in that Graph 3, the difference scores, were always more internally reliable than Graphs 1 or 2.

For some reason, many providers of DISC profiles do not provide the results of Graph 3 – the only graph that can show the person’s overall self-perception with the removal of the social bias.

There is a myth that “you don’t need graph III, only using Graph I and II is more accurate”.

First, Wiley does not use Graph I, II and III anymore in their new generation tools (they were only used in DiSC Classic), since the new generation Everything DiSC instruments use a “circumplex”, which is a circular map, with 8 priorities around it. This “new” model goes all the way back to the origins of DiSC where it used to be drawn on a circle. So why the fuss about Graph I, II and III? Because some people claim Graph III is more accurate while others claim you should not consider Graph III, since using Graph I and II, “showing natural and adapted behavior” as some claim, is more effective.

Historically, Graph III is the result of adding up the scores of Graph I and Graph II.

Why was that done? Because the instrument (the 24 question forced-choice) was unprecise, and the research report written in 1996 proves that. By upgrading the questions and adding 4 new questions, Wiley strongly improved the accuracy of the instrument (called Personal Profile System 2800, and later on DiSC Classic II), which has been the DiSC profile of choice for decades.

In the early days of DISC, Walter Clarke and John Cleaver used the “vector analysis tool”, which consisted in a set of cards that would describe a person’s behavior, “as seen by herself and as seen by others”. William Moulton Marston also mentioned “natural and adapted behavior” in his writing. However, since John Cleaver designed the first 24 question assessment, there have been no specific questions measuring “adapted or natural” behavior. This was established by Wiley when they lead extensive research and by the British Society of Psychology around 1994. This does not mean that people do not adopt “natural” or “adapted” behavior, it just means that the 24 and subsequent DISC assessment questionnaires are not designed to measure that specifically.

There are many significant differences between the Everything DiSC® assessment and other DISC tools available in the marketplace, including our use of the little ‘i’ to differentiate our bestselling assessments from the others.

But what sets Everything DiSC apart as the most valid and reliable tool on the market?

The Assessment Questionnaire

The first DISC profile developed was a 24-item questionnaire developed by John Cleaver in the 1950s and most of the other DISC profiles available today still use a version of that original 24-item forced-choice questionnaire.

The Everything DiSC questionnaire that sets our profile apart is our use of a five-point Likert scale and our use of adaptive testing technology. There is no forced choice – respondents respond to all items. When the respondent answers inconsistently on any scale, the program asks additional questions to get a more accurate plot of their position on that scale.

This methodology increases the accuracy of the Everything DiSC assessment significantly over the 24 item version. This technology behind Everything DiSC profile is light years ahead of the technology behind other DISC profiles in the marketplace.

Four Scales versus Eight

Everything DiSC is the only DISC profile that measures more than the basic four scales of D, I, S and C. What our research has found is that the combination scales, Di, iS, SC  and CD are not an addition of the two styles they represent – they are an integration of the two dimensions.

For example, the Di style has strengths that are unique to the combination that are not shared by the D or i styles independently.

Research and Quality Standards

Everything DiSC is published by John Wiley & Sons, Wiley is a 208-year-old multinational publishing company with a strong reputation in the academic and professional world.

You probably had several Wiley-published textbooks during your university days. Wiley does not publish anything that has not met the most rigorous standards of validity and reliability.

So Wiley developed items that measure these four combination scales in 2007 when the first Everything DiSC profiles were released. The addition of adaptive testing technology in 2012 took our DiSC profiles to another level.

Sources:

https://www.integro.com.au/disc-vs-disc-the-little-i-isnt-the-only-way-our-disc-is-different/

https://www.disc-partners.com/the-truth-about-6-myths-about-disc-in-3-minutes/

https://ptc.bps.org.uk/tests-and-testing/test-reviews-and-registration

Wiley surveyed 3,000 hiring managers to understand recruiting, interviewing, selecting, and onboarding needs. The results, explored in detail in The State of Hiring whitepaper, are clear: what enables organizations to hire the best talent is a consistent, data-driven hiring process—even if that means a complete revamp.

Download the report here.

Read more about PXT® recruitment- and selection tool: https://ipbpartners.eu/en/profilext

We are thrilled to announce that Everything DiSC Workplace® in English has been granted a DNV-GL Certification!

(Some of you might be thinking, “I have no idea what that is, but it sounds like a big deal…”)

It is! The European Federation of Psychologists’ Association (EFPA) has developed a widely used standard for reviewing psychological tests—which helps organizations, practitioners, and learners make informed decisions about the quality and utility of an assessment. And the DNV-GL, an accredited body, has certified the compliance of our assessment to the EFPA’s standard. When prospective client or learner sees that Everything DiSC Workplace has been awarded the DNV-GL certification mark, they can feel confident that our assessment is a quality choice.

See the detailed review report here.

Primary motive

• Control

Fears

• Losing control, being taken advantage of

Desires

• Strength and authority
• Challenges
• Straight answers
• Freedom from direct control and rules
• New and varied activities
• Possibility of individual achievement

Characteristics

• Self-confident/egoistic
• Willing to take risks
• Decisive
• Result-oriented
• Straightforward and demanding
• Unambiguous

Limitations

• Lack of consideration towards others
• Impatience
• Insufficient focus on quality

DiSC®-based Communication – High D

When Communicating with a Person with a High D:

• Come quickly to the point
• Recognize achievements
• Give direct answers
• Be decisive
• Keep to the point
• Present the facts
• Stress the logic
• Use specific examples
• Outline the options
• If there is a difference of opinion, focus on the facts and not on the person
• Be frank
• Depart promptly

A Person with a High D May Develop by:

• Thinking more about the consequences before reacting
• Listening more, and more actively, to others’ thoughts, feelings and experiences
• Learning more about how e.g. negotiations can become win/win situations
• Explaining his thoughts instead of just stating his conclusions
• Learning how to participate in a group without necessarily leading or controlling it
• Developing more tact and diplomacy in their dealings with others
• Becoming better at giving praise and recognition to others when it is deserved
• Smiling more
• Being more considerate of others

A Person with a Low D May Develop by:

• Taking on new and varied tasks more often
• Seeking new and diverse challenges
• Exercising authority somewhat more
• Making quicker and more independent decisions
• Asserting themselves more – even if it means going against others
• Being more direct and demanding towards others
• Relying more on their own judgment
• Stretching their boundaries – breaking limits and challenging themselves and others
• Asking direct and pertinent questions and demanding clear answers
• Being more ready to take risks and try out new things
• Speaking out and making their position clear
• Remaining firm when agreeing or disagreeing
• Setting specific and personal goals – thinking more in terms of results
• Being prepared to enter conflicts and solve problems