Effective management goes beyond simply delegating tasks. It’s about building connections and empowering your team.
Each manager brings a distinct blend of personality traits to their role.
By understanding DiSC® management styles, managers can enhance their effectiveness and lead with greater impact.
Which DiSC profile is best for management?
Every DiSC style is equally valuable, and individuals of any style can be effective managers. A manager’s personality style matters less than the training and coaching they receive to enable them to leverage their strengths and work with their areas for growth and development.
Wiley Workplace Solutions has done extensive research and has discovered that employees generally want managers who can:
- adapt their leadership style to individual needs
- provide personalized development opportunities
- offer clear expectations
- actively listen to concerns
- prioritize open communication.
Essentially, the most successful managers understand their unique DiSC managerial style and intentionally adapt their approach to best motivate and support each individual employee.
D-Style Management Strengths
D-style managers recognize their direct and results-driven approach and adapt their leadership to effectively motivate and support each employee.
By doing so, they achieve greater success, regardless of their team members’ styles.
D-style managers are typically direct, assertive, and strong-willed.
Managerial strengths of the D style:
- willingness to take risks
- comfort with being in charge
- confidence in their opinions
- persistent through failure
- competitive spirit
- ability to find effective shortcuts
- ability to create a sense of urgency in others
A crucial aspect of developing these managers is guiding them to genuinely recognize the importance of empathy in leadership.
By considering different perspectives, they realize that others may not share their same sense of urgency.
Ultimately, demonstrating compassion in the moment can lead to better outcomes.
i-Style Management Strengths
Managers with an i style bring an energetic and people-focused approach to their leadership.
By adapting their style to effectively motivate and support the style of each employee, regardless of their style, they build a more engaged and successful team. In other words, the key to success is speaking to the other person in their style not yours.
i-style managers tend to be outgoing, enthusiastic, and optimistic.
Managerial strengths of the i style:
- willingness to experiment
- willingness to accept new ideas
- collaborative, interested in working with others
- comfort in taking the lead
- persistence through optimism
- ability to rally others around an idea
Managers with the i style naturally offer praise and encouragement.
A key insight for their growth is recognizing how much more stability, predictability, and/or control others may need compared to them.
Gaining perspective helps them see that not everyone shares their ease with improvisation or emotional expression.
At times, they may need to adopt a more task-focused or firm approach.
S-Style Management Strengths
S-style managers leverage their supportive and steady approach to create a positive work environment.
By adapting their leadership to effectively motivate and support each employee, regardless of their style, they foster a harmonious and successful team.
S-style managers value being even-tempered, accommodating, and patient.
Managerial strengths of the S style:
- interest in maintaining steady progress
- diplomatic approach
- support of team members and team goals
- provides information clearly and systematically
- tendency to follow through on commitments
- understanding of others’ perspectives
- ability to work with different types of people
These managers develop when they learn to embrace moments of tension and instability.
Gaining insight into other styles helps them realize that not everyone prioritizes harmony as they do.
In many cases, the long-term success of their team relies on allowing some short-term discomfort.
C-Style Management Strengths
C-style managers utilize their analytical and detail-oriented approach to create a structured work environment.
By adapting their leadership to effectively motivate and support each employee, regardless of their style, they build a high-performing team.
C-style managers are often analytical, reserved, and detail-oriented.
Managerial strengths of the C style:
- high expectations and insistence on quality
- ability to look at ideas and problems logically
- faces challenges head-on
- ability to exercise caution and manage risks
- interest in developing systematizing tasks
- persistence in finding and analyzing solutions
- lays out expectations objectively
These managers often need support in recognizing that true leadership growth comes from deeply embracing the humanity of their direct reports.
By understanding different personality types, they realize that their team members may crave praise, excitement, optimism, camaraderie, or risk-taking far more than they do.
After reviewing the managerial strengths of each DiSC management style, let’s consider the areas for growth and the unconscious assumptions each style tends to make.
At Laura A. Davis & Associates, Inc., we help organizations create exceptional and empowering work cultures that lead to greater productivity and profit. CEO & Founder, Laura A. Davis, is a Diamond-Award winning Wiley Authorized Partner leveraging the power of Everything DiSC® on Catalyst and The Five Behaviors® to help leaders and teams communicate and collaborate more effectively.
