The National Society of Leadership and Success shares tips for communicating with different personality types, based on the DISC guide from William Marston.

1. COMMUNICATING WITH
DIFFERENT
PERSONALITY TYPES
THE "DISC" GUIDE TO

2. Communication makes the world go
around. Yet not all audiences are alike; if
you wish to communicate effectively
with different types of people, you must
learn to read different personality types-
-and understand how to deal with them.

3. Play to your audience’s strengths,
and talk to them using familiar
language and methods. Thankfully,
that’s where the DISC methodology
comes in.

4. Invented by William Marston, DISC is
an acronym for the four common
categories of personality and emotions
Dominance
Influence
Steadiness
Conscientiousness

5. Marston believed that all interactions,
in one form or another, fell into one
(or more) of these categories. Further,
he theorized that everyone has a
dominant characteristic, favoring one
(or more) of the categories over the
others.

6. By understanding which of the
DISC traits was the strongest in a
person, Marston believed it was
possible to effectively deal with
these personalities.

7. This guide helps leaders
recognize different types and
provides tips for communicating
with each team member.

8. DOMINANCE

9. Like a Type A personality,
Dominants are
independent, focused, and
outspoken. They excel at
problem-solving, love
challenges, and prefer
direct, to-the-point
exchanges. As such, they
don’t always excel at
socializing.
PERSONALITY
TRAITS

10. To best work together,
leaders should ask what,
not how. Dominants do well
with lots of autonomy and
blunt talk.
Dominants should try to be
more social and listen more
than they speak. Try to
explain actions, or else you
will come off as curt at best,
and rude at worst.
COMMUNICATION
TIPS

11. INFLUENCE

12. In contrast, Influencers are
highly social, high-
performing
communicators. Masters of
group dynamics,
Influencers are friendly,
gregarious, and love
outings. At times, they can
talk over others, and may be
impulsive.
PERSONALITY
TRAITS

13. For leaders, recognize that
Influencers are very
socially adept. Continue to
provide (or perhaps
increase) a healthy supply
of social activities.
Also, make an effort to
listen to Influencers as well.
Conversely, influencers
should try to listen more,
and be less impulsive.
COMMUNICATION
TIPS

14. STEADINESS

15. Dependable team players,
Steady people are loyal,
sincere, and empathetic.
By nature, they are
patient, and almost never
confrontational. As a
result, Steady people may
not assert themselves,
speak up for themselves,
nor be flexible.
PERSONALITY
TRAITS

16. To have a real impact on
Steady types, leaders
should dial back their
approach and not be pushy.
Instead, try encouraging
Steady team members to
try new approaches and
take new risks (within
reason). Steady team
members should work on
adapting to change.
COMMUNICATION
TIPS

17. CONSCIENTIOUSNESS

18. Logical, detail-oriented,
and systematic,
Conscientious people
strive for quality control,
consensus, and sharing
tasks. Though they are
great at detail-oriented
jobs, they may not always
be decisive--nor do they
prioritize responsibilities
correctly.
PERSONALITY
TRAITS

19. Leaders should provide as
much structure as possible.
Support ideas with data, be
extremely specific in
feedback, and never make
anything personal.
On the other hand,
Conscientious team
members should make an
effort to prioritize correctly.
COMMUNICATION
TIPS

20. Of course, humans are complex and
one may not always fit into a single
category; there are nuances to
consider. However, DISC is a useful
shorthand for classifying and
generalizing human behavior.

21. Remember, communication is
about making a connection. As a
leader, you are much more
effective when you speak to
someone the way they want to be
spoken to.

22. FOR MORE
INFO
Visit NSLSFacts.org
SocietyLeadership.com
Follow @TheNSLS