Can a Survey Read Your Mind?!

I have had a the opportunity a few times in my career to take personality tests and assessments of my work style. I haven’t put a crazy amount of credence into most tests like this because I think that personality and style are much more nuanced than surveys are able to accurately assess. But, I will say that there are two that I feel actually surprised me – StengthsQuest and DiSC.

I took StrengthsQuest back in 2013 at the behest of a supervisor, and was both skeptical, and had little interest in the results. Low and behold it put into words an outline of exactly who I am as a person. It blew my mind. I think what I really loved about it was that the results described all of the parts of myself that I felt made me really great at my job, and it did so in a really human way. It didn’t talk about how I was analytical and organized, and took direction well – it talked about how I felt with people, and how I listened to people and how I used my strengths in adaptability, and empathy, and (over)thinking to really help people develop. I really took the results to heart, and have embraced these aspects of my character to further my work with students. Check out my full report here.

Flash forward to 2019, I recently took the DiSC Assessment, and despite having had a good experience with StrengthQuest, I was still pretty skeptical that this would churn out accurate results. During the what felt like super short assessment, I said to myself over and over how the questions seemed too broad or vague. I consistently felt that it was difficult to answer things honestly, but I knew that I had to trust my gut and go with my first responses. I finished feeling like there was truly zero chance of this capturing my nature. Of course, my hubris is showing here, because obviously the DiSC assessment is a widely used and accepted form of personality testing for the workplace. As soon as I opened my report and started reading, I literally laughed my way through the entire thing as it described me to a T.

Similar to StrengthsQuest, here was a document that was describing me in ways that I had never put into words. Really, it’s a pretty weird feeling – knowing that a brief and at times infuriating survey can spit out results based on some complex algorithm that accurately depict some of your most essential qualities – hence the uncomfortable laughter while I was reading it for the first time. Have you ever read a horoscope that is so strikingly, incredulously accurate to your life and circumstance that it almost feels like someone is following you and tapping into your innermost thoughts? And then, you’re like, don’t be silly, it’s a horoscope that is meant to apply to like 90% of the population? That’s kind of how I feel about both the DISC and StengthsQuest!

As is turns out, I’m a super high C (Conscientiousness) followed closely by S (Steadiness), with a splash of D (Dominiance), and as you’ll note - my I (Influence) is somewhere down in the non-existent realm. There is absolutely nothing about this profile that is a surprise to me. Again, I may not have labeled myself this way in these exact terms, but as I reviewed what these things stood for, it was completely accurate.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the DiSC, here are a few of the qualities of each:

D: Direct, demanding, results-oriented, assertive, decisive, independent, impatient, strong-willed

I: Outgoing, spontaneous, talkative, enthusiastic, optimistic, animated, persuasive, expressive

S: Steady, caring, supportive, pleasant, sincere, patient, calm, stable

C: Analytical, detailed, exact, systematic, cautious, thorough, private, logical

I think that for most people who interact with me, say at a conference, in class, at a meeting, or watching me with a student, they see a side of me that would suggest that I have a lot more “I” in me than what these results suggest. But the great thing about having adaptability as a strength, is that I am a pretty great chameleon, and I’m typically able to muster the amount of “I” that people around me need. As the results graph shows though, this is me at my most natural state, which means it takes a sometimes astronomical amount of energy to do that “I” mustering. At this point in my adult life, and in my career, I’ve become really adept at managing this kind of energy expense. I absolutely love conferences, and things like long field trips with students serving as the chaperone. It’s exhausting, but so worth it! I think that this is something that I’ve really worked on over time, and I know when to take time to recover back to my natural state, locked up in my office with spreadsheets and headphones.

I have two huge take-aways from the DiSC. Firstly, I tend to struggle with putting words to concepts and theories, and that sometimes manifests itself in describing what my strengths and weaknesses are in the workplace. The DISC gives me really concise phrases that accurately depict some of my needs. For instance, “Operates according to instruction”, “Ambitious about reaching perfection”, “Cannot be pursued without facts”, “Considers matters to the last minute”, and “Stays in a role of an expert”. Totally all true, totally not words I’d have formulated in such a straightforward manner.

Secondly, I think it is so valuable to see how my profile aligns (or absolutely does not) with some of my peers, and being able to really easily, kind of “read” other people in my everyday work-life. As I reflect on some supervisors that I have had difficulty communicating with, I can see that they are people with opposite profiles to mine. Understanding that no DiSC profile is bad, or better or worse than another, and that everyone has their own personality and style reflected in their DiSCs, really helps to mitigate annoyance, anger, or just general discomfort. The full DISC report (33 pages) gives tons of useful tips on how to communicate better with styles that differ with your own. For me this really would manifest itself in high “I” profiles that are also really high “D”. These two styles are super active versus my top two “C” and “S” that are reserved. However, if someone is high “I” and high “S”, they share some of my more reserved qualities, and it takes less energy to meet that people halfway.

Knowing how to communicate with different profiles and how to get to that halfway point, is crucial to a successful work environment.

I think that StrengthsQuest and DiSC are two assessments that are well worth the money, time, and energy it would cost an organization to implement them with their staff. Again, the two are very different in their outcomes, but paired together, I really like how they paint a full picture of an employee. My final thought after having taken both is that I would consider StengthQuest more of a Student Affairs-y type test with results that are a little more personal, and the DiSC would be more Academic Affairs-y with results that get down to the nitty gritty of your functional skill-sets.

I’d love to hear anyone else’s experiences with either of these, or if you’ve taken another assessment that has really resonated with you!

Cheers,

Brianna