DISC Behavioral Styles Overview
DISC Chart Key
Style A – Cautious Style (C)
Style C – Interactive Style (I)
Style B – Steadiness Style (S)
Style D – Dominance Style (D)
As we review the descriptions of each style think about new insights into your preferences. You
might prefer relationships to tasks, or you may act slower than faster, or you may like to tell
people what you think instead of keeping it to yourself. Keep in mind that no one style is better
than another. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Remember, strengths, when pushed
to extremes can also become weaknesses.
The Dominance Style (D): Driven by two governing needs: the need to control and the need to
achieve. D-styles are goal-oriented go-getters who are most comfortable when they are in
charge of people and situations. They want to accomplish many things in the “Now” so they
focus on no-nonsense approaches to bottom-line results.
Dominance styles seek expedience and are not afraid to bend the rules. Their motto is “It’s
better to ask for forgiveness than permission.” D Styles accept challenges, take authority, and
plunge headfirst into solving problems. They take charge in a crisis; are fast-paced, taskoriented, and work quickly and impressively by themselves…which means they become
annoyed with delays. They are willing to challenge outdated thinking and ideas.
The Interactive Style (I): Friendly, enthusiastic “party-animals” who like to be where the action
is. They thrive on the admiration, acknowledgement and compliments that come with being in
the limelight. I’s just want to have fun and are more relationship oriented than task-oriented.
They would rather build relationships with clients over lunch than work in the office.
The strengths of Interactive styles are enthusiasm, charm, persuasiveness, and warmth. They
are gifted in people and communication skills with individuals as well as in groups. They are
great-influencers, dreamers and “idea people” who excel at getting others excited about their
vision. They are optimists with an abundance of charisma. The qualities possessed by I’s help
them influence people and build alliances to accomplish their goals.
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The Steadiness Style (S): Warm, supportive and nurturing individuals. The most peopleoriented of the four styles. S’s are excellent listeners, devoted friends and loyal employees.
Their relaxed disposition makes them approachable and warm. They are excellent team players
and develop strong networks of people who are willing to be mutually supportive and reliable.
Steadiness styles are risk-adverse and may tolerate unpleasant environments rather than risk
change. They like the status-quo and become distressed when disruptions are severe. When
faces with change, they need to think through, plan and accept it into their world. S’s strive to
maintain personal composure, stability and balance. Steadiness styles are courteous, friendly
and willing to share responsibilities in office settings. They are good planners, persistent
workers and good with follow-through. S’s typically go along to get along and are slow decision
makers because of their need for security, their need to avoid risk, and their desire to include
others in the decision-making process.
The Cautious Style (C): Are analytical, persistent, systematic people who enjoy problem solving.
They are detailed-oriented which makes them more concerned with content than style. C Styles
are task-oriented and enjoy perfecting processes and working towards tangible results. They
are almost always in control of their emotions and can become uncomfortable around people
who are very out-going.
Cautious styles work at a slow pace and tend to double-check their work. They have high
expectations of themselves and others, which can make them over-critical. They sometimes
become victim to “analysis paralysis. C’s are slow and deliberate decision makers who do their
research, make comparisons, determine risks, calculate margins of error, and then take action.
The C Style is skeptical and has an eye for detail, accuracy, dependability, independence,
persistence, follow-through, and organization. They like to see promises in writing and tend to
ask a lot of questions. They are good-listeners, however, they tend to miss the forest for the
trees.
Now, that we’ve reviewed the primary behavioral styles, think about the people around you in
the office…what style do their behavioral tendencies reflect? We generally develop our
behavioral style in childhood through some genetic predisposition, our early life experience,
and our environment. Everyone has a primary style that we tend to use most of the time,
however, each primary style also contains four sub-styles. We all use some of the behaviors of
the other styles in our daily work, social or family lives to some degree.
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Sub-Style Definitions
Dd – The Director – motivated by new opportunities
Di – The Adventurer – motivated by dominance and independence
Ds – The Producer – motivated by accomplishing bigger and better goals according to an
internal timetable
Dc- The Pioneer – motivated by being in a position to direct and redirect task accomplishments
Ii - The Socializer – motivated by social approval of others
Is- The Helper – motivated by friendship
Ic – The Impressor – motivated by winning with flair
Id – The Enthusiast – motivated by influencing people
Ss – The Relator – motivated by personal stability
Sc- The Specialist – motivated by doing only what you know and knowing what you’re doing
Sd – The Go-getter – motivated by a desire for a steady flow of accomplishments
Si – The Harmonizer – motivated by the acceptance and approval of others you help
Cc – The Thinker – motivated by the desire to be correct
Cd – The Master-Minder – motivated by increased opportunities for unique and significant
personal accomplishments
Ci – The Assessor – motivated by accomplishing goals with excellence
Cs – The Perfecter – motivated by predictable results.
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