DISC Platinum Rule and Behavior Styles in Learning Teams

“The ultimate goal of the Platinum Rule is personal chemistry and productive relationships” (Alessandra). The University of Phoenix creates learning teams in each online classroom setting. Individuals bring different behavior styles when they come together in a group. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the different behavior styles as defined by the DISC Platinum Rule assessment and how it relates to learning team members. The DISC Platinum Rule breaks out into four dimensions of behavior. Each different dimension has strengths and weaknesses and no dimension is better than another.

The four different dimensions are the dominance style, the interactive style, the steadiness style, and the cautious style. Dominance Style The dominance style has two main governing needs. These needs are the need to control and the need to achieve. People who fit into the dominance style are goal-orientated go-getters. They find themselves most comfortable when they are in charge of people and situations. People with the dominance style are fast-paced, task-oriented, and work quickly and impressively by themselves. They are annoyed by delays and challenge outdated thinking and ideas. Alessandra) The four sub styles of the dominance style are the director, the adventurer, the producer and the pioneer. The director questions authority, takes more risks, and is motivated by new opportunities. The adventurer, wary of people who may take advantage, is result-orientated and is motivated by dominance and independence. The producer chooses to be involved in chosen activities from start to finish. They resist people who are obstacles and are motivated by accomplishing bigger and better goals according to their internal timetable.

The pioneer tends to focus on the future and is driven by a quest for unique accomplishments to avoid boredom. Holding a position to direct and redirect task accomplishments motivates them. (Alessandra) Tijuana Muse and Nessa Little, two members of the learning team, both fit into the dominance style behavior dimension. The snapshot of their sub style report marked them both as “The Producer. ” The assessment described them as less guarded and less direct then most other dominance styles. The assessment also stated their primary goal is to achieve bigger and better goals.

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Weaknesses presented in the assessment include impatience and taking themselves to seriously. Strengths presented in the assessment include the ability to juggle tasks and a high energy level. Tijuana agrees with these results as they describe her work patterns and behavior. She needs goals to be set to help motivate her to achieve a higher level of performance. Even though she does not like timeframes, she prefers to work at a higher pace. Her behavior style effects the learning team by providing results quickly and timely if given a set goal. Nessa agreed with the results of her assessment.

She will use the weaknesses presented as areas for improvement. She wants to broaden her point of view when it comes to goals. She becomes very focused on the task at hand and will forget that other things need her attention also. She needs to learn to be more flexible and show more confidence in other people. These observations from the assessment affect the team because she knows to ask others to share ideas and to will become more tolerant of the differences in others. Interactive Style The second style is the interactive style. People in this behavioral style are friendly and enthusiastic.

They prefer to be in the middle of the action and thrive on admiration, acknowledgment, and compliments. People in the interactive style are more relationship-orientated and less task-orientated. Their main strengths are people skills and communication and they do so with enthusiasm, charm, persuasiveness, and warmth. Good communication skills help them influence people and bring them together to accomplish goals. (Alessandra) The sub styles of the interactive style are the socializer, the helper, the impresser, and the enthusiast. The socializer has a natural tendency to meet people.

They speak freely about their thoughts feelings, and experiences, and receiving social approval from others motivates them. The helper has a natural dislike of pressuring others or telling them what to do. They seek close personal relationships that focus on caring and sharing and they are motivated by friendship. The impresser feels taking shortcuts to accomplish a goal is cheating. They become impatient with procrastinators and winning with flair motivates them. The enthusiast enjoys symbols of authority and prestige and is uncomfortable with confinement or restriction of freedom.

Influencing others provides them motivation. (Alessandra) CooKie, a member of the learning team, fits into the interactive style behavior dimension. The snapshot of her sub style marked her as “The Impresser. ” The assessment described her as seeing winning as an all-or-nothing proposition, judging people by their ability to make things happen, and working harder when there are bigger risks and rewards at stake. Weaknesses presented in the assessment included disorganized, careless, exaggerating, and poor follow through. Strengths presented in the assessment included persuasiveness, optimistic, motivating, and enthusiastic.

CooKie agreed with how the assessment described her characteristics at work. She likes to go above and beyond expectations to complete a task. She often collaborates with co-workers in order to ensure the goals of the company are achieved efficiently. This causes her to be considerate of co-workers’ feelings when working on projects. As deadlines approach she tends to overreact that they will not be met. This is her reason to avoid procrastination. Her behavior style affects the learning team by providing a high attention to detail and being mindful of the other team members’ feelings. Steadiness Style

The third style is the steadiness style. Individuals with this style are warm, supportive, and nurturing. They are excellent listeners, devoted friends, and loyal employees. This makes them the most people-orientated of the four styles. With a relaxed disposition they are approachable, which allows them to develop strong networks of people. People in the steadiness style do not like risk. They may tolerate bad situations rather than risk changing the status quo. They prefer to maintain their personal composure, stability, and balance. They exhibit behaviors of courtesy, friendliness, and a willingness to share responsibilities.

People in this style are good planners, persistent workers, and good with follow-through. Because of their need of security, need to avoid risk, and desire to include others; Individuals with the steadiness style are slow decision-makers. (Alessandra) The four sub styles of the steadiness style are the relater, the specialist, the go-getter, and the harmonizer. The relater is threatened by changes that jeopardize relationships or surroundings, prefers to deal with concrete situations and data rather than theory, trends, or conjecture, and is motivated by personal stability. Specialists prefer to focus on their own interests.

The excel in conditions that are stable and allow for steady, incremental gains and are motivated by doing what they know and only knowing what they do. The go-getter is a good short-term planner with an ability to identify roles, resources, and time lines. They are highly self-reliant and are motivated by a desire for a steady flow of more accomplishments. The harmonizer wants to be the person wanted and needed by others. They are motivated by the acceptance and approval gained from helping others. (Alessandra) Cautious Style The fourth behavior dimension is the cautious style. People in this style are analytical, persistent, and systematic.

They enjoy problem solving and are detail-oriented. This causes them to be concerned with content over style. They enjoy working toward tangible results and perfecting the processes to achieve them. This type of person controls their emotions and tends to be uncomfortable amongst out-going people. Even though they tend to see the serious and complex side to situations, their intelligence and ability to see different points of view allows them to be quick and present a unique sense of humor. People in the cautious style can be over-critical because of having high expectations of themselves and others.

In extreme cases their tendency toward perfection can cause paralysis by over-analysis. They do research, make comparisons, determine risks, and calculate margins of error before making decisions. This causes them to be slow and deliberate decision-makers. Some main strengths of the cautious style are an eye for detail and accuracy, dependable, independent, persistent, and organized. (Alessandra) The four sub styles of the cautious style are the thinker, the master-minder, the assessor, and the perfecter. The thinker has a preference for privacy, has a natural talent for deliberate decision-making and is motivated by the desire to be correct.

The master-minder expresses his or herself more by what they do than by what they say. They choose to work alone and are motivated by increased opportunities for unique and significant personal accomplishments. The assessor is a quick thinker and can deal with many inputs simultaneously. They are motivated by accomplishing goals with excellence. The perfecter pays attention to key processes and details. They are methodical, thorough, dependable, and is motivated predictable results. (Alessandra) Anthony Cosenza, another member of the learning team, fits into the cautious style behavior dimension.

His snapshot of sub style report marked him as “The Master-Minder. ” His assessment described him as more guarded and less direct than most other cautious styles. The assessment also described his primary goal that motivates him is to increase opportunities for unique and significant personal accomplishments. His tendencies include being very alert to conflict and resistance, appearing focused and self-controlled with people, taking some calculated risks when making decisions, preferring to work alone, becoming overly analytical, and possibly procrastinating when under pressure.

Weaknesses presented in the assessment include perfectionistic, critical and unresponsive. Strengths presented in the assessment include planning, dependability, problem solving, and systematizing. Anthony agreed with most of his assessment as it described many of his behaviors. During stressful times he does become withdrawn and focuses on tasks and the processes to complete them. He wants to be right and does depend heavily on data collection. He prefers to work alone and has good problem solving skills as the assessment identified.

His behavior style affects the team by providing an awareness of the situation and being able to solve issues. Conclusion The DISC Platinum Rule assessment identifies a person’s behavior style. When working in a team each member will have a different style. Each style provides the team with unique characteristics that provide strengths and weaknesses. An effective team will utilize each team member’s strengths and look out for and correct weaknesses. By doing this a team will be highly effective in accomplishing goals and achieving success.

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