DiSC styles and teamwork
Objectives: Teams will consider how their individual DiSC styles contribute to their teams and how to get their priorities met on the team.
Prerequisites: An introductory understanding of DiSC.
Materials: None required; a flip chart or question slide can be helpful
Time required: ~45 minutes
Instructions:
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Divide your group by styles. If you have one larger group, you can divide it again into one of the eight styles. In other words, if you have a room full of Ds, you can ask some of them to move into a Di, D, or DC group.
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Each group should answer a few of the following questions—perhaps using a flip chart as a prompt—and present back to the larger group with their answers. These questions focus on teams. Let participants answer while thinking about work teams, sporting teams, or volunteer work groups. They can define situations as they choose.
- What’s your immediate reaction to being told you’re being put on a new team?
- What’s your immediate reaction to being told you’re going to need to lead a group?
- How easy is it for you to share personal details with team members?
- What makes it easier for you to trust your teammates?
- What makes it easier for you to admit your weaknesses or a mistake with your team?
- How do you typically deal with conflict in a group in which you are a member?
- How do you typically deal with conflict in a group in which you are the leader?
- How do you like to celebrate team success?
- How likely are you to speak up if you disagree with a group?
- How do you typically express disagreement with a team or team member?
- How do you typically respond to brainstorming sessions?
- How do you prefer to get positive feedback?
- How do you prefer to get negative feedback?
- How do you typically respond to a deadline missed by another member of your team?
- What are your favorite teamwork quotes (.pptx) and why?
After answering a few of these questions, you can have them add a few answers to their Everything DiSC Workplace Style Guides.
QuikDiSC activities for teams
Objectives: Teams will consider their roles on the team and how to improve team cohesion.
Prerequisites: An introductory understanding of DiSC.
Materials: QuikDiSC deck
Time required: varies
Instructions:
Shuffle the QuikDiSC deck and give each person six cards. Several extra cards can go face-up on their tables. Ask each person to select one card from their hand or table that reflects a strength they bring to their team. Participants can share their selected card and offer an example of when they used this behavior to support their team. Others on the team can also offer examples of when or how this behavior contributed to more success, effectiveness, or cohesion on their team.
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Shuffle the QuikDiSC deck and give each person five or six cards. Ask each person to select a card that reflects a trait they feel their team could use more of, or could use more productively.
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Shuffle the QuikDiSC deck and give each person six cards. Several extra cards can go face-up on their tables. Ask each person to select a card from their hand or table that reflects a strength the person to their left brings to their team. They should then share the card and an example of when that person exhibited that strength with the team.
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Have each team or table select an upcoming or just-initiated project for which they are responsible. Give them time to talk about a few of the challenges they expect to encounter.
Place at least a dozen cards at each table. Ask participants to select four or five cards that reflect behaviors they’ll need to make progress on their project.
Ask everyone to discuss how they can support each other to reflect each of these behaviors. For example, if “fact-finder” was selected and only one team member is naturally inclined to this behavior, is fact-finding the default responsibility of only that one person?
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Tip: These team culture posters can be helpful and fun to post after these exercises.
