Taking Measured Actions with Your Team

Leadership is not a position; it is a measured process that requires continuous calibration. When applied to teams and organizations, leadership must remain flexible and adaptable. The best leaders know they cannot lead everyone the same. Thus, they learn the individual and collective needs within the organization.

Learning DISC styles within your organization equips leaders with actionable, relevant information about the team. Once you understand the personalities you're dealing with, you can analyze the needs of your team, and take measured actions. Let me explain:

I tell this one story to my team all the time about when I had owned my own software company. I'd come back from a tradeshow or meeting and try to motivate everybody. I had a bunch of predominantly "C" and "S" style engineers working for me. Everyone would complain and say they were quitting because I would try to cast the vision way out in the future. Meanwhile, my team was worried about hitting current deadlines while making sure client projects met quality standards.

Problem: I was moving ahead of the current pace of the team because I didn't address the needs of the team.

"C" and "S" style people are not quick to accept changes to the status quo. Although I was motivated to share my new insights, they were not yet convinced there was a need to change, and indeed weren't ready to implement any changes in their daily workflow. I realized it was going to require a different approach to attain the “buy-in” necessary to get the team on board and moving in a new direction.

Solution: I needed to recalibrate my "D" style approach to change to meet the needs of my team.

I learned it's important to take measured actions. Not everybody wants to know the five-year plan during a crisis, or the one-year tasks. Many people need to know the measured actions of "what do I need to do today?" or "what do I need to do this week?" While we're all similarly concerned with quality, quantity, and customer satisfaction, my quick and decisive, action-oriented nature caused the team's dominant fears to take over. I needed to adjust my leadership style to focus on managing expectations, timelines, and addressing any questions or concerns before trying to motivate them into action.

Result: The team will understand the reasons ("why") behind a new vision and how their participation in the process is vital to success.

By addressing the dominant fears, leaders can increase trust by validating and answering the team concerns. The team was able to understand their roles and responsibilities in the new vision, gained a sense of ownership and accountability, and began working together to achieve new milestones and goals.

With DISC, leaders can learn how to close the gap and guide their teams through change, step-by-step, building on daily and weekly accomplishments that support the short and long-term vision. Even if you have a great plan or a vision as a leader, it's essential to take the appropriate measured actions for your team.

What measured actions do you need to take for your team?