My DISC Personality Type
My DISC type is one who is socially oriented. I am self-motivated to interact with people from all walks of life and develop relationships with them. I am naturally interested in all types of ideas and projects. In the eyes of other people, I am persuasive, optimistic, and gregarious. Therefore, since I am outgoing and enthusiastic about new ideas and projects, I tend to be a people person.
Impact on Leadership
Through the DISC personality test, I have learned some things about myself that have definitely affected the way I think about leadership as well as my style of leading. I have always known that I have a lot of influence, but I did not know that it would be my main personality attribute. The personality test results have shown that I score highest in influencing other people. In this sense, the influence score of 39 ranks highest, followed by dominance, steadiness, and compliance, in that order. I thought maybe dominance would come up on top. However, as seen, I have learned something new about my personality. Therefore, I am more interested in meeting and interacting with new people. Although I believe that I am generally low on compliance, it is surprising that I score terribly low compared to the other characteristics. I had a score of 33 and 23 in dominance and steadiness respectively. However, in compliance, I had a score of 5. As seen, there is a big difference compared to the scores in other characteristics. I always resent rules and consider myself a risk taker, but I thought I possessed some level of cautiousness. As it turns out, however, I am more of an independent and uninhibited person who is always willing to try new things.
Changing Perception of Leadership
These realizations have not changed how I perceive leadership. I still believe leadership involves the ability to inspire and guide other people positively to achieve personal as well as organizational goals. Learning that I possess more influence than dominance, however, has changed the way I view myself as a leader. I can say I consider myself now more of a leader than I did before reading the results of the test. Leadership is all about influence. For one to be an effective leader, she or he has to be able to influence others towards the right direction. Given that influence is the most dominant personality factor I possess, I think I have desirable leadership abilities. I can easily interact with people and be able to influence them towards something I consider important. One feature of people scoring high on influence is that they are quick to establish relationships. Given that I have scored highly in this factor, I think possess desirable leadership characteristics.
Transformational Leadership
From the results of the test, it is deducible that I possess the characteristics of a transformational leader. The reason for this is that I scored highly on influence and dominance. In addition, in the description of my DISC type, I am highly interested in knowing people and establishing relationships. Also, I exhibit natural enthusiasm for all project types and ideas. I think these features describe a transformational leader. A major characteristic of transformational leaders is they possess a high ability to embrace change rather than avoiding it. Given that I am interested in all types of ideas and projects, it is highly probable that I also embrace change. One feature of the dominance factor, in which I scored relatively high, is that such people enjoy challenge and competition. It is obvious that a person who enjoys challenge and competition will embrace change. It is for this reason that I think I possess the characteristics of a transformational leader. I would like to be an all-round transformational leader. For this to happen, I will have to increase my scores on compliance. I believe an all-round transformational leader takes calculated risks rather than taking extremely high risks.
Changing Personality Behaviors for Better Leadership
I think it is possible for one to change some personality behaviors and adopt new ones that will help him or her become a better leader. It is not an easy undertaking, but once one has identified the areas that need improvement, significant steps can be made towards becoming the ideal leader. Taking a personality assessment such as the DISC test can help one identify the areas that one needs to improve on. Through the test, I think we become more aware of what we can do and what we cannot. Therefore, when one identifies his or her weakness, I think it is possible to make improvement towards being a better leader. For example, in my case, I have scored low on compliance. If I think being more compliant will make me a better leader, I can work towards it by being conscious of the behaviors that influence my compliance. In situations that require compliance, I would take time to exercise caution and make a more informed decision. Therefore, it is my opinion that one can change some of his or her personality behaviors to become a better leader.
