In our last blog, we explored how understanding your team’s personalities can help you better motivate, support, and make the most of their strengths to grow your business.
A key area where personality really comes into play is in decision-making. People approach decisions in different ways, and it’s helpful to involve the team member whose personality traits best fit the solution required. Giving the right person the space to lead – or contribute – can lead to more thoughtful, well-rounded decisions.
A great tool for understanding these differences is the DISC Assessment. This framework groups people into four personality sectors, each with a focus on different traits: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness.
Everyone has all the DISC traits but may be dominant or balanced between some or weaker in others. Think of it like a personality “recipe” with varying portions of D, I, S, and C in varying intensities. Understanding the different traits in each personality sector will help you identify the blend of traits you could have.
Let’s look at how each DISC sector tends to approach decision-making:
D – Dominance
People who have strong D traits, including being decisive, driven by results, and tending to take risks, are often good leaders as they are happy to make quick decisions and will gracefully accept potential blowback. They are motivated by success, completion, and authority.
Dominance types:
- Are fast, direct, and action-oriented
- Focus on efficiency, results, and winning
- Are willing to take risks and make tough calls
- Can be impatient with overanalysing
- Might overlook details in favour of quick execution
I – Influence
Influence refers to those who are social, enthusiastic, and can be quite persuasive. They would work well in your sales team as they thrive on being around people. They are motivated by social recognition, social interaction, relationships, and group activities.
People with strong I traits:
- Are spontaneous and people-focused
- Make decisions based on gut feelings, emotions, and input from others
- Prioritise collaboration and excitement over strict logic
- Can be impulsive and might struggle with follow-through
- Prefer brainstorming and bouncing ideas around before committing
S – Steadiness
Steadiness covers those who are patient, supportive, and loyal—the ideal mix of characteristics to be an asset in any team. They are thoughtful and will take their time to ensure details are correct before they sign off on something. They are motivated by sincere appreciation, cooperation, stability, and being needed.
They:
- Are careful, thoughtful, and risk-averse
- Make decisions based on stability, harmony, and long-term relationships
- Prefer consensus and avoid conflict
- May take longer to decide due to overthinking or fear of change
- Need clarity and reassurance before committing
C – Conscientiousness
Conscientious types are detail-oriented, logical, and can be perfectionists, which is what you want as the last line of defence before a plan or strategy goes live. They are motivated by learning new things, opportunities to use their knowledge, and quality.
Those strong in conscientiousness:
- Are analytical and research-driven
- Focus on accuracy, logic, and data
- Prefer cautious, well-reasoned decisions
- Avoid rushed or emotional choices
- Can experience “paralysis by analysis” if they lack enough information
Each personality brings something valuable to the table, and most people will be a wonderful mix of sectors—and that’s the beauty of a diverse team. But when you take the time to understand your team’s DISC profiles, you can create a more balanced and collaborative workplace. Even better, it helps you align people with the roles and responsibilities that truly play to their strengths—which, in turn, is great for your business.
Want more insight into how you lead and communicate?
We’re offering you a FREE DISC assessment to help you understand more about your strengths, leadership style, and team dynamics.
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