Flex for Success: 4 Personality Muscles You Should Be Using
A strong personality is usually a compliment, but lean too far on one side of any scale and it’s bound to tip. Sometimes effective communication means meeting a coworker somewhere in the middle. When communication breakdown is a matter of muscle against muscle, it might be time to stretch out those personality flexors. Try the following mantras for each of the four DISC personality types: Dominant, Influence, Steady and Compliant.
Flex the “Dominant” Muscle
Slow and Steady doesn’t always win the race. While Steady types are great at building deep, careful relationships, they aren’t exactly known for getting the job done or making quick decisions. Flex the Dominant muscle: make a snap decision under pressure, act before planning just once, and repeat this mantra: “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.” ― William James
Flex the “Influence” Muscle
The system is in place for a reason – or is it? Adherence with structure and obsessive accuracy in Compliant, task-oriented individuals can only do so much. Study up and take a lesson from Influence, an energetic and spontaneous muscle. Look around and engage in playful participation. To take a break from taking everything so seriously, keep that mantra written on a detailed spreadsheet: “If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.” ― Leo Tolstoy
Flex the “Steady” Muscle
Great at making the tough decisions? Those Dominant muscles must be getting quite the workout, but that probably also means that patience and sympathetic listening don’t come as easily. Flex the Steady muscle – that elusive, sensitive and more relaxed armament that listens to friends’ thoughts and builds teamwork and trust. Frustrated with slower-paced colleagues? Repeat the Steady mantra three times: “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” ― Aristotle
Flex the “Compliant” Muscle
Social butterflies that Influencers are, flitting from circle to circle doesn’t always leave time for attention to detail and quality of results. When it’s time to turn from entertaining to precise, flex the Compliant muscle by zoning in on the details, working more slowly, and remembering the mantra: “It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
By stepping into the different DISC shoes, and with the help of a few mantras, flexing is a great way to be more well-rounded.
As Carl Jung would say, “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”
How do you flex your personality? Tell us or send your flexing photos on Twitter @ACISpecBenefits .
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