We all know that not every person is built the same way. We say things like “Thats just how they are.” Or “I’m just not that type of person who enjoys that.” Even though there is some things about personality where you know that we don’t all function the same way, we still tend to treat people as if they think like we do. We do customer service the way that we would want to receive it. However, if we recognize that customer service is not one size fits all then we can do it better. If we recognize that not everyone has the same emotional need, them we are able to better meet the emotional need of the person we are currently serving.
Let’s just acknowledge that we are all individuals. Like snowflakes, there are not two the same. What we are about to talk about is ways to give a framework to give quick insights to the way that people respond to situations and decisions. There are many assessment tools for evaluating personality types, but the one that I am going to focus on today is the DISC. Most people are a combination of all 4, higher in some than others. We are not going to get into the nuance of the combinations, instead we will just focus on characteristics of people who are highest in one of the 4 categories.
D – Dominance. This person is fast paced and task driven. The can make decisions quickly and are most concerned about being effective.
I – Influence. This person is also fast paced but more people focused. They love to have fun and be social. They are most concerned about being liked.
S – Steadiness. This person is slower paced and people focused. They are someone you would describe as really nice and agreeable. They dislike change and value acceptance and security.
C – Conscientious. This person is very thorough and contemplative. They do all their research first and fear making a poor decision because they didn’t take the time to get all the facts. They value accuracy and precision.
You can quickly see that the needs of a D who wants things fast and effective “Just bottom line this thing for me” is going to be much different from a C who wants every piece of research lined up and explained. Our job is to see those needs and cater to them. If your personality style is different from theirs this may not come naturally to you, but if you take the time to pay attention and use the DISC as a tool for understanding where they are coming from, you will both have a better experience.