MBTI, DISC, SOCIAL STYLES

Every organization is looking to get ahead and maximize every dollar spent.  Where should you focus to create the most ROI?  While research shows that corporate training executives overwhelmingly believe in the value of interpersonal effectiveness training (IET), many are not sure of the best way to build these skills.   Colorado State University conducted a comparison of the three leading IET models and found that SOCIAL STYLE is easier to learn and apply than both the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and DiSC.

MBTI, DISC, SOCIAL STYLES

Dr. Kurt Kraiger, director of the Center of Organizational Excellence at CSU explained the findings.  ”We felt it was important to conduct a thorough evaluation of the three models and see if there were measurable differences in their impact.  This study in fact shows that SOCIAL STYLES does outperform DiSC and Myers-Briggs in terms of workplace training.”  Do one thing for your business and your employees this year.  Implement SOCIAL STYLES.

Download the full report on Social Styles vs Myers Briggs vs DiSC

We might not like growing older. Most of us would gladly trade our middle-aged eyes for the vision we had when we were younger. But there are some undeniable benefits of aging. Years of experience, and all the successes and mistakes along the way, can make us wiser and smarter.

Versatility is a measure of a person’s ability to work effectively with others. And when you think about it, Versatility is affected by our experiences. After all, so much of our workplace skills are learned and developed over years of experience. And if we’re fortunate, we learn about Versatility through a coordinated learning program and figure out how to consciously improve our skills. This means we can actively work on Versatility and see the effects of our improved behavior right away, as opposed to simply letting time take its course.

We decided to look at our extensive SOCIAL STYLE database to see if there are differences in Versatility across age groups. We found that Versatility does, in fact, increase with age.

On average, Versatility is lowest for the youngest group in our study – people aged 30 and younger. These are the people with the least experience, so they are still figuring out how to get by and work productively with others. When we looked at the next oldest group, those aged 31 to 40, we found a substantial increase in average Versatility scores. These individuals have learned from their experiences; they have started to understand what behaviors are valued in the workplace.

We found another moderate increase in Versatility for people who are aged 41 to 50. These people are established and well experienced in their work lives, so it’s not surprising that Versatility continues to increase, albeit modestly. From there it levels out, with only a minor increase for people who are aged 50 and older.

So when it comes to Versatility, growing older has its benefits. That is one more reason we should respect our elders, they really do know what’s best.

by Casey M., Tracom Group

In past blogs we’ve talked about some of the similarities and differences between groups of people on their Style and Versatility. One finding we noticed is that many women are Amiable and Expressive (60% combined), while more men tend to be Analytical and Driving (57% combined).

So this begs the question, since many women are more comfortable showing their emotions, does this make them more effective communicators? After all, we tend to describe impassioned leaders as more charismatic communicators than leaders who are less emotional in their behavior.

So at the risk of fanning the flames for a new gender war, we decided to stop pondering and let the data speak for itself. To answer our question we analyzed people’s Feedback profiles. Feedback is the component of Versatility that indicates how effectively a person communicates in one-on-one situations.

What we found is that women have higher Feedback skills than men. The difference is not overwhelming, but it is noticeable. I’m sure many of you, especially the women, are saying, “Duh, I could’ve told you that!” But it’s always nice when hard data confirms our impressions.

So what does this mean for how we communicate with others in our daily lives? Realistically, it means that we still have to approach one another as individuals, and pay attention to one another’s Styles more so than our genders. Like all statistics, the difference in Feedback between men and women is at a group level, and interpersonal skills are, well, interpersonal. So all of us, regardless of our chromosomes, should pay attention to our communication skills and keep working to improve.

By Casey M., Tracom Group