How to Determine the Right Pace for Your Team with DISC?

During a crisis, many leaders face one of two challenges: determining the organizational pace required to maintain operations and learning the pace at which their teams can effectively operate. They have the responsibility of executing the mission, but cannot do it alone; they must trust and empower teams to carry the task load from start to finish. This requires leaders to develop a solid understanding of team strengths to determine the right team for the right task, and effectively and appropriately delegate.

The pace at which a leader can operate is often determined by their dominant behavioral style, which may or may not blend well with the team, especially during times of crisis. Leaders need to slow down or speed up the pace, depending on your and your team’s personality styles. This doesn’t mean to not be proactive in coming up with solutions; it means that as a leader, you want to keep the pace of your team even.

Setting the Pace (Rallying the Team)

Many times, “D” style leaders come into a crisis and want to get through it as fast as they can. They want to move quickly and be decisive. Their challenge will be providing “C” or “S” styles with information and time needed to feel confident about completing the task on-time and to-standard. The “D” style may need to slow down the pace to communicate by setting clear guidelines and expectations effectively.

Conversely, “C” or “S” style leaders will respond to the crisis with a more systematic approach, slowing the pace to critically analyze and create a detailed plan of action. “C” styles want all the facts and “S” styles want others’ input before making decisions. Their challenge will be delegating tasks in an effective and timely manner. These styles may speed up their pace by delegating tasks and trusting their teams to make the best decisions.

“I” style leaders can be force multipliers during times of crisis. They can keep pace with “D” styles or serve a catalyst for speeding up the pace by motivating “C” and “S” styles. Their challenge will be remaining task-oriented and time-bound to meet critical deadlines. This will require “I” leaders to manage their pace by relying on the strengths of their “D,” “S,” and “C” style teammates to keep focused, on-task, and moving forward.

Keeping the Pace (Finishing as a Team)

As a leader, there will be times when you may have to slow down or quicken the pace, even if it seems counterintuitive. It would be best if you moved at a pace in which your entire team can remain engaged and productive. It’s not about the speed in which you cross the finish line; it’s the speed in which your team crosses the finish line.

For example, suppose you are a mountain climbing guide taking a team of people up Mount Everest. If you summit Everest, but the rest of your squad died in the process means you failed at being a good leader. Reaching the summit was a collective team goal, but from basecamp, your mission as a leader was to guide and safely return all team members. At some point during the ascent, you lost sight of the needs of the team and disconnected, leaving them behind without critical guidance or direction. In business, this can be detrimental to the success of an organization!

Leaders must learn to balance the needs of the team, with their own personal desire to succeed. You can have both, but you must remain flexible throughout the process. Set the pace, keep the pace, and make necessary adjustments along the way to ensure team and organizational success.