Client
A national civil service, in one of the biggest public training tenders of its year
Challenge
Prepare middle managers to step up to senior management responsibilities
Solution
Everything DiSC® Workplace at the start of a large leadership succession programme
Scale
115 managers, each with a personal profile
Our certified training partner Change Partners ran a leadership succession programme for middle managers in a national civil service. It was one of the biggest public training tenders of that year: a practical development programme for ambitious first-level leaders.
The challenge
The civil service wanted to secure strong future growth for its middle managers and make them ready and confident to take on senior management responsibilities. The programme gave them a network, new knowledge and tools, and the experience needed to succeed in leadership roles.
What they did
One of the first modules, „Personal efficiency and self-leadership”, used DiSC to help participants focus on their own development as leaders and on techniques for team development, engagement and communication.
The client expected a high-standard programme with an innovative approach that had already proven itself worldwide. Everything DiSC® Workplace was the right fit. All 115 managers received a personal profile and learned how to use it.
Because DiSC came early, later modules kept referring back to it. It became the programme’s common language for talking about the topics that followed.
The results
The civil service needs more cooperation than before: across the organisation, between departments and between roles. DiSC gave the managers practical tools for communicating with all of these groups.
- New knowledge about themselves. Participants said DiSC gave them a lot of practical insight into their strengths and challenges.
- Used straight away. They applied DiSC to current projects and management dilemmas, for example adapting their approach to individual employees or supporting the motivation of different people.
- Relationships beyond the programme. Although most participants came from different institutions, many wanted Everything DiSC® Comparison reports with each other afterwards, to work better one to one.
The main lesson: DiSC should not be a one-time event. The model connects naturally to other management topics, from communication to change management.
In their words
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.
Participant
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.
Participant
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.
Participant
Running a leadership programme for many managers? Start with DiSC and it becomes the common language for every module that follows.