Preparation and pre-work for learners on Catalyst

Catalyst is designed to be easily adapted for your training objectives. You can go through assessment results, the Catalyst platform, and the facilitation kit materials in any order you choose. It can be adapted to better meet the needs of your learners. To prepare yourself, you'll want to review all the materials in the facilitation kit and determine what elements you'll be including in your instruction.

We offer a few ideas here as additional actions to consider when offering Everything DiSC® through Catalyst. Pick and choose what works for your needs.

Preparation

It's helpful to inform learners about the assessment and how it will be used before asking them to invest their time. An introductory (or reminder) email or announcement might include:

• Reason for assessment; how it fits into employee development, workplace culture, or other plans
• Privacy information. You can use wording from the Catalyst site:

"Sharing with colleagues allows them to see your DiSC® information and for you to see theirs. This enables you to compare DiSC styles and explore strategies for working together. To get the most out of your Everything DiSC® on Catalyst™ experience, we recommend that you share with colleagues."

Wiley (the assessment publisher) will not send any promotional communications. They do not share, sell, rent, or trade personal data collected with third parties for their promotional purposes.

• Training dates and details, including videoconferencing access information, if relevant.
• Short explanation of DiSC: "DiSC® can lend you a deeper understanding of your motivators and frustrations, as well as where you tend to focus your energy."
• Suggestion to set aside time to complete the assessment. If the learner takes the full Everything DiSC on Catalyst assessment, it will take approximately 25-40 minutes to complete. If a learner was assigned the assessment using existing data from a past Everything DiSC experience, it will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.

Sharing these statements can address issues some participants might have with taking a personality assessment and/or sharing their results.

1. All DiSC styles and priorities are equally valuable and everyone is a blend of all four styles.
2. Your work style is also influenced by other factors such as life experiences, education, and maturity.

If you know that some learners have taken other assessments based on the DISC model, consider letting them know that their results might differ. The assessment they are taking is built upon the original test based on the DISC model, but updated with new research and testing methods. If they've done the MBTI, let them know that DiSC doesn't measure the same personality traits.

After the assessment

EPIC administrators can check to see who has and has not completed their assessment and send reminder emails. Facilitators might want to offer additional messaging or ask a manager to send a reminder.

Edit account settings

Suggest that learners take a look around the Catalyst site and consider editing their account settings: photo, department, and privacy. You might want to use language such as this:

To maximize the full potential of the Catalyst platform and its features, we recommend you:

• • Bookmark the Catalyst platform – this way you can easily return to the platform to dig in deeper or learn more about how to work effectively with your colleagues.
  • Add a picture to your account – this will help your colleagues recognize and find one another.
  • Indicate your department within your organization – this feature helps to filter and sort colleagues.

Print reports

Learners might prefer to read (or share) their report in a printed format. Share how to download one's report. If you want learners to share anything from their results with others during training, it is often easier for the learners if they have a printed copy that they can highlight or make notes on. 

Colleague comparisons

Learners will be able to see their own results and those of others in their organization who have completed their assessments and not changed their privacy settings. You can ask that learners not look at the styles of their colleagues until you get to that point in the training. Or you can ask learners to set their "Share with colleagues" setting to off and later turn it on when you direct them or they desire. Of course, there's no guarantee learners will follow your request.

Conversely, you can generate some real interest in DiSC by suggesting that people look at the styles of their colleagues, reminding them again of Everything DiSC's cornerstone principles. This is more appropriate if most of your group has gone through a DiSC training in the past.

Before training

Let learners know what elements of the Catalyst site you will be going over as a group and what else you have planned for the training. Provide an agenda.

Consider, too, what won't be covered during training, but is available on the Catalyst platform. For example, you might not give learners time to listen to the audio description of their style during your session(s), so you can recommend that they listen to that on their own before or after your training session.

Cornerstone principles for the profile(s)

Sharing these statements will set the stage for learners reviewing their own results and those of their colleagues.

1. Understanding yourself better is the first step to becoming more effective when working with others.
2. Learning about other people's DiSC styles can help you understand their priorities and how they may differ from your own.
3. You can improve the quality of your workplace by using DiSC to build more effective relationships.

Pre-work

You might want to assign pre-work to learners who are joining the training after you've covered a topic, to supplement topics you won't be covering, or to reduce the time you'll spend on a topic. If you're skipping a module from the facilitation kit, you can always assign it as a supplemental activity.

Overview video

The DiSC model overview video found in the DiSC·ology section of Catalyst and will introduce important concepts.

Treasure hunt

To familiarize your learners with the Catalyst platform, you can ask them to answer the following questions. This will require the learner to move about the site.

1. Where can you change your privacy preference?
2. Where can you add your photo to your profile?
3. Where can you learn about the validity and reliability of DiSC?
4. Where can you "compare your tendencies" with a colleague?
5. Where can you find an audio file with a researcher going into depth about your style?

Your style

Once learners complete their assessment they will be curious about their own style. Even if you cover some of this during your training, you can direct their attention towards specific activities.

Ask learners to click on "Learn about your style" from the Catalyst home page and read through the information there. Ask them to make notes on any questions they have. Let them know they'll have a chance to ask these questions during training.

If you want learners to look a little more critically into their profile, suggest they go through the Your DiSC Style page with three types of reactions in mind, as listed below. Ask them to record these reactions so they can share a few with a partner during training. (This is an alternative to the checkmark and X activity in the facilitation kit.) Ask about what's right on target, what doesn't quite ring true, and what makes them reconsider things.

AHA: These are reactions that elicit an aha or of course reaction. This might be a reaction to something they already knew, but just hadn't expressed or understood in quite the same way the report presents. Or it might be a no wonder or this is why type of reaction.

HMM: Some statements will make a participant stop and wonder. It might be about the accuracy of the statement, or it could be a question that occurs to them while reading.

WHOA: This is a reaction that stops the reader in their tracks. It's an insight they really want to remember and perhaps share with their team(s). It might be something that challenges their way of thinking or that they want to question.

These types of reactions can be highlighted with different colors or copied into a new document.

Guide to Me

Provide learners with A Guide to Me (.pdf or .docx formats) and ask them to begin filling it out. This will start them thinking about how issues around personality and communication styles matter. They can complete the form during or after training. Suggest that they share it with their colleagues.

Open-website quiz

These are questions you can use before, during, or after training. If you have a learner who missed an initial training, share questions like this to help them catch up. Questions are divided by section of the Catalyst website.

The DiSC model

1. Are the D and C styles more skeptical or more accepting?
2. Which two styles are more active than reflective?
3. There are four primary DiSC styles, but how many distinct styles are there in total?
4. What does it mean if your dot is closer to the edge of the circle on your DiSC map?

The DiSC theory

1. What do the four letters D, i, S, and C stand for in DiSC?
2. A person with an i style who is working on their taxes is probably acting in a way that isn't as comfortable for them as attending a networking event. They are working outside their comfort zone. This is an example of what idea related to DiSC?

Your DiSC style

1. What, in addition to your personality, can influence your work style?
2. Which style is most even-tempered and accommodating?
3. Which style is more direct and firm?
4. Which style is most outgoing and enthusiastic?
5. Which style is most analytical and reserved?

Workplace

1. What are your three (four, or five) priorities as described by your Everything DiSC Workplace profile? How have these influenced your life, career, or role on a team?
2. What motivators have you recently experienced in your workplace? Is there a way to build upon your motivators to make work more satisfying?
3. What stressors are you currently experiencing? Are there changes in routine, tasks, environment, or mindsets that could reduce these?
4. Understanding that you are much more than your DiSC style, what insights from your profile would you most like to share with your manager, colleagues, or friends? What would help them better understand you?
5. Of the three strategies presented in your profile, which one would you like to begin working on first? Can you list a few concrete actions you can take this week?
6. When you review the other DiSC styles, can you think of ways to interact with them in more meaningful or more effective ways?