How to Discover your Leadership Strengths with PowerDISC?

When we think of leaders, we often think of the high “D” personality style: assertive, bottom line oriented, forceful, and direct. The truth is, however, everyone can be a strong leader if they learn to lead through their personality strengths.

Leadership is essentially the ability to influence others. Each of the four personality styles (D = Dominant, I = Influencing, S = Stable, and C = Compliant) have key characteristics and strengths, that when operating within these strengths, can influence others and be a strong leader. This model of leadership is often described to be like a flock of geese, where each goose takes their turn leading while the others fall behind them.

To determine what this “strength zone” or “time to lead” is for each person, along with their personality strengths, look at the PowerDISC section of your PeopleKeys Leadership Report. PowerDISC identifies seven critical elements of leadership and the intensity of each in relation to your DISC style. These seven areas are:

• Influencing – the ability to lead and delegate to others, charisma, and enthusiasm, which is a combination of “D” and “I” style personality traits.
• Directing – the ability to meet tight deadlines, strong worth ethic, attention to detail, and inner drive. These come with “D” and “C” styles.
• Processing – the ability to take an idea and make a workable model around the concept, great at follow-through. The best in processing are representative of “S” and “C” styles.
• Detailing – the commitment to precision and accuracy, and the ability to solve problems logically and methodically is a strength of team members with high “C” style and low “I” personality.
• Creating – the ability to creatively perfect basic concepts while keeping the team accountable in areas others may compromise. The combination of high “I” and high “C” brings the creativity in.
• Persisting - strong and steady with a very hands-on approach and an ability to work through problems that would sidetrack others. The most persisting people show a combination of “D” and “S” above the midline on their DISC graph.
• Relating – the ability to be a great encourager, optimistic and loyal, who strives to maintain a friendly and secure environment. This strength comes from the combination of high “I” and “S” personality traits.

As you look at your PowerDISC graph, or that of someone on your team, you’ll see your natural abilities in these seven areas are plotted on a chart. If you see your ability above the midline in an area, like Influencing or Creating, then that is the area where you are most likely to succeed when leading. Leading in those unique strengths will allow you to shine as a leader. If you see your ability at or slightly below the midline, that is an area you might want to hone a bit and improve on, thus allowing for not only personal development but also leadership development. If you see your ability in an area way below the midline, that is likely an area you should give others who have strengths in those areas an opportunity to lead, even if you are the team leader.

Imagine a team that:

• When setting the goal and vision for the team, assigning tasks relies on a leader who is highly effective or well developed in Influencing (D+I).
• When developing a plan or model for achieving a goal, relies on a leader who is highly effective or well developed in Processing (C+S).
• When needing creative ways to accomplish a plan, relies on a leader who is highly effective or well developed in Creating (I+C).
• When meeting challenges and obstacles along the way, relies on a leader who is highly effective or well developed in Persisting (D+S).
• When checking and double-checking the team’s work to ensure accuracy, relies on a leader who is highly effective or well developed in Detailing (C-I).
• When down-to-the-wire on a deadline, relies on a leader who is highly effective or well developed in Directing (D+C).
• When morale becomes low within a group and motivation is needed to revive them, relies on a leader who is highly effective or well developed in Relating (I+S).

There are various stages of a project, and by giving each member a chance to lead during the stage with in their strength zone, a team, like a flock of geese, can fly far indeed. Likewise, as an individual, if you can discover those areas that are in your strength zone and volunteer in those stages of a project, you can be a leader no matter what your unique strengths are.