DISC Profile Factors in Strategic Planning During Times of Uncertainty
Many companies and organizations have hit pause to their long-term strategic goals for the sake of survival in a year of great uncertainty the world pandemic put us in. These early decisions were predicated on the need to keep cash flow rolling via cost reduction efforts and by scaling back R&D, innovation, technology, and new product development. Because all industries faced the same threats, each sector dealt with the Covid-19 crisis in similar ways.
The organizations that continued to operate strategically during the downturn will undoubtedly have a significant advantage when the economy moves away from the pandemic environment and switches back to thriving and driving mode.
Time to Make Strategic Moves
While facing many unknowns and limited capital, one consideration when making strategic decisions is your DISC personality type. It reflects your viewpoint on the best way forward and can be a boon, and a limit, to your thinking and approach. Knowing how your DISC type skews your decision-making logic is necessary for realizing where you may be over, or under, indexing.
The D DISC Profile
Dominant personalities are all about "go big or go home" when it comes to strategic thinking and investments. Their goal is to make a big enough step into a given market to make an immediate and noticeable difference. While this fearless approach to strategic decision-making can provide quite potent change, should it miss the goal, the consequences can be turning yourself into a sore loser. D personalities must ensure to keep their plans realistic and make sure you communicate them in detail to your team.
The I DISC Profile
Influential personality styles find no problem with the ambiguity of the current market. The current instability allows them to use their brainstorming capabilities to quickly formulate multiple possible outcomes and scenarios. At issue is their ability to come to a conclusion on which elements will most affect their ecosystem. I styles should focus on gaining a more well-rounded perspective while exercising their usual passion to network and develop active listening skills. Even with this added dimension of understanding, they may find it hard to decide on a single strategic approach.
The S DISC Profile
Steady personality types don't like change and are all about playing it safe. They are likely to make many smaller investment steps in their market, playing to their regard for steadiness and stability. This approach is the dabble method of strategic thinking, whereby paying into enough pots, you hope that one or more of them will sprout. While this has the benefit of enabling some success, it can be costly due to many under-examined and under-invested strategic thrusts providing limited overall payout.
The C DISC Profile
Compliant DISC styles are excellent market modelers and forecasters, whose detailed analysis of the current market situation and well-examined future predictions provide a wealth of data to consider. By focusing on the micro of the macro picture, they sometimes get lost in the details and worry about their predictions' accuracy. They can benefit from less time delay causing evaluation by acting early, with less information, to learn and adjust their approach.
Scenario Thinking for Perspective
No matter your DISC profile, you will gain from operating from a scenario planning model allowing for multiple potential futures for the next year. Scenario modeling enables you to consider various alternatives for gauging the potential risk factors for each and aligning a strategy that will operate effectively in most cases.
Don't forget the knowledge of your strategic thinking is your own and, therefore, can be biased, limited, and not always perfect. Gain a deeper understanding of behavioral tendencies and team management by increasing the potential of your business strategy for more agile leadership with DISC Certification. Teaming is critical, so combining multiple workplace disc style perspectives and behavioral approaches will help you to create the space for a complete strategic picture for an uncertain future, enabling better decisions by all.
