The DISC leadership types

The DISC model of temperaments has four main types, called D I S C:

 

D	I
C	S

 

Let's look at the zones first:
• The left half of the diagram is for people who are task oriented. They like doing things.
• The right half of the diagram is for people who are people oriented. They prefer to work with people.
• The top half of the diagram is for product-oriented people. Besides liking change, they like to achieve things, arrive somewhere, and have the job done.
• The bottom half of the diagram is for process-oriented people. For them, the journey is about making sure the trip goes well, not about arriving.

This gets back to our four types:

Driven Leaders who want to get things done (about 3% of the population)	Influencers Sociable leaders who work by influencing other people (about 3-4% of the population)
Conscientious Prefer tasks with detail (about 40% of the population)	Stable Prefer a stable working environment defined by personal relationships (about 40% of the population)

Observations:

1. Leaders of either kind (D or I) are not very numerous. Most people are followers (S or C).
2. The percentages don't add up because some people are not clearly one type.

To function at its best, your leadership team needs a workable balance of temperaments, but you should have more leaders (D and I types). If you have too few leaders in the team, talented leaders who are not in leadership will probably become frustrated with your non-performance and move to another organization.

With thanks to Barry Austin.