GOAL
Our client Change Partners conducted a Leadership Succession Program for middle managers in the Estonian civil service. It was one of the biggest public training tenders that year to provide an innovative and practical development program for ambitious first-level leaders. The program provided a cooperation network, new knowledge and tools, and experience needed to succeed in leadership roles. The program aimed to help ensure the strong future growth of middle managers for the Estonian state. And to increase the readiness and confidence of the participants to accept the role associated with higher management responsibilities in the future.PROGRAM’S CONTENT AND SOLUTION
In one of the first modules of the program named “Personal Efficiency and Self- Leadership”, DiSC played a major part in giving participants a clearer focus on self- development as leaders and on techniques for team development, engagement and communication. Since the customer expected a high-standard development program that has already proven itself worldwide and has an innovative approach, Everything DiSC Workplace came out to be the perfect fit. All 115 participated managers received a personal profile and learned how to implement this powerful new generation DiSC tool.
This DiSC-based module was a very good introduction to a large-scale program. Many of the following modules often referred back to DiSC - therefore becoming a so-called "common language" to talk about the topics covered in the program.
VALUE FOR PARTICIPANTS (BOTH FROM DiSC AND THE PROGRAM AS A WHOLE)?
There is a need for more cooperation within the civil service today, and in a completely different way than before - throughout the organization, between departments, and among roles. DiSC gave the participating managers additional insight and tools to enhance communication strategies and communication between different parties. Participants emphasized that DiSC provided a significant amount of new practical knowledge about themselves, particularly in relation to their strengths and challenges. Immediate implementation of DiSC in relation to ongoing projects or management dilemmas was also considered important - such as how to create a more personalized approach to specific employees depending on their behavioral style or how to support the motivation of different people. Although participants were mostly from different institutions, many of them were interested in following up with Everything DiSC Comparison reports between each other after the studies, in order to improve one-on-one relationships and understanding of each other more specifically.CONCLUSIONS & FEEDBACK
Key message is that DiSC training should not be just a one-time thing. It’s methodology and profiles can be nicely linked to and add value to many other important management topics - communication, change management and more.
Some thoughts from the participants:
“I will definitely try to engage with DiSC systematically, as well as practice different situation recognition and situational management. I will also try to monitor the developmental needs and reactions of my personality type more closely."
"DiSC behavioral styles can be applied very well - they help to understand people, mediate a better communication between them, and also contribute to compiling departments."
“It seems reasonable to apply DiSC analysis at workplace right away and take the behavioral styles into consideration when giving out tasks and communicating with people. It also helps to adjust the expectation levels for your team members."
