The Extended DISC - Essay Example

Position Paper Extended DISC The Extended DISC was a very interesting assessment to take because I feel that it actually helped me understand myselfas a supervisor and gave me some great ideas for areas where I can improve or pick up skills. I have to say that I would have difficulty leading an organization because it goes against my comfort zone. According to my profile I am an "assurer" which means that I would rather work behind the scenes than work as a manager (p. 13, Expanded DISC). I felt that this assessment was very good for me. I agree that I am a perfectionist and prefer to have it spelled out as to exactly what the supervisor needs for me to do. I am most comfortable in this role because I am more introverted and prefer to stay away from people in terms of leadership. However, for this paper I am supposed to talk about how I would lead in an organization. The way I see it according to this profile I would have to totally jump out of my comfort zone in order to do it. According to my profile on p. 8 there are several things that take a lot of energy for me. None of these are in my profile because they take too much energy. To be a leader I would have to entirely change my personality. I would have to be somewhat charismatic, make decisions quickly and draw attention to myself. All of these traits are areas where I would have to leave my comfort zone. According to the readings a charismatic leader is both positive and negative. On the one hand, they are able to bring people to them quickly. They are also very people oriented and know how to make people feel like they are the only person alive when they are talking. This would take an extreme amount of energy for me and I am not sure whether it would be something I would want to do. What is equally as interesting is that most of the areas on the Leadership Style Assessment (p.7) were out of my comfort zone. The only things that were part of my style were providing comfort and support to experts and patiently developing others professional skills; all the other skills were outside my natural style. I looked at this and thought that I would do better as the secondary person. As an example, if I were to become part of the Presidential Candidacy, I would make a better Vice President than President because I like to help the supervisor but I wouldnt want their job. I think as a leader I would be better as a secondary leader rather than the person on the first line and this is basically what my profile says to me. I could do the items that require a little energy (p. 8) and these are probably the extent to which I would want to spend my energy. I guess my bottom line is that I really do not want to be responsible for other peoples work because I am such a perfectionist. I feel that if you tell me what I need to do, I can do it well. I can be a part of the team, but I really have no desire to be the team leader. My profile also reinforces this notion in the Team Style Assessment -- they only item in this section that is my natural style is "specialist concentrating on work alone" (p. 9). Since I would be a secondary leader I think that I my style might be close to what Gardner said in Chapter 17 in the “The Moral Dimension”. I would hope that I could model my integrity and work ethic and that it would exemplary enough that people would want to follow me. I also feel that I am confident in myself and that I have self-awareness -- I understand myself better than a lot of people think I do but I do not say a lot. I also found it interesting that on the Personal Analysis (p. 12) I was the highest in the "C" category on both Profiles I and II. According to the explanation I am comfortable being precise and somewhat of a perfectionist. I also pride myself in doing good work and showing what I can do with a project. I have also been seen by coworkers as somewhat cold or distant, but this is because I am so focused. As I looked at this area I was re-reading the information about the Contingency Theory and I think that it is necessary to have a "right" or "wrong" way of doing things. You have to have a way that is shown to be tried and true or people will not be able to know when they have completed a task. I do agree though that there are many different leadership styles that can get you to the same place. In other words if you are all on the same page as far as following a leader, then whatever leadership style they choose can be effective. The second area that I showed the highest on Profile II was the "S" style which I think fits me to a point but their suggestion is that "S" styles should speak out more and be more assertive. I do not feel comfortable in that role. As I said, I am more a person who likes to follow a strong leader and contribute to the team in my own way. When I have the flexibility to do this with a supervisor I am more prone to do more. As I read through this section I thought about the discussion questions we had that discussed the “Desirable Characteristics of Leaders” and although my profile shows that I have some of those qualities -- strategic thinking and the ability to facilitate -- I prefer doing these as a secondary leader. I do not like to be out front and telling people what to do. As I said, I do not like to be responsible for other peoples work but I will help them do what they need to do to get a job done. I think another trait that a great leader must have is the art of communication in any situation. Aristotle spoke to this but I think he just had the gift of gab and understood how to talk well enough that people listened to him intently. I am too shy to do this and I think so much before I speak that people seem to get bored waiting on me to say what I have to say. The DISC Extended Version profile was an eye opener for me. I saw many areas that I related to that seemed as though they really knew me. I also think that it put into perspective the major reason why I do not take a leadership role usually and that is because I am comfortable with my skills and my work. In the beginning of the profile where they said that I dont like sudden changes because I dont have the time to prepare (p. 2) they knew me. I do not like to have other peoples changes put upon me because it seems to throw off my balance. I think that leaders have to deal with sudden change al the time. I can say that I enjoyed taking the assessment and that it gave me many things to think about. I dont know whether I will be willing to change and jump out of my comfort zone in the future, but at this time I would rather be behind the scenes. They also have my decision making style. I do not like to make mistakes and I would rather gather all the information about the decision, weighing the pros and cons before I come up with what I would call the best answer. They are also correct about not wanting conflict. I avoid it as much as I can and I think a leader would have to be more confrontational in many situations. I will be thinking about this assessment for a very long time because it impacted me greatly. I am not certain at this time how I will use it but I am still thinking about it. Read More