I have taken part in lots of training over the years.  Training is great as if it is new, one learns new things.  If the training has been done before, it consolidates or updates existing knowledge.  In July 2016, I took part in communication training.  Heading into the training, I was interested to see if my communication style had altered since the last time a DiSC assessment was used on me in 2009. As a trained trainer, I know all about communication styles and how to pitch training programs for effective knowledge transfer.  Day to day communication is similar and I enjoy observing how trainers train.

In 2009 I took part in training using the DiSC model run by a company called Bridgeworks.  From the discprofile website “DiSC is a personal assessment tool used to improve work productivity, teamwork and communication. DiSC is non-judgmental and helps people discuss their behavioral differences.”  Then I scored 5223, making me a “panther”.  That indicated I had a dominant personality and summed me up as:

• Sees the big picture
• Can be blunt
• Accepts challenges
• Gets straight to the point

As a team leader, good traits.  Always room for improvement however.

Enter 2016 where I took part in training run by TMI/TACK International, using the same model.  This time around I scored 6136.  This means I remain a panther but also have a strong “owl” component.  As one would expect for someone coming from a quality assurance and control background where such behaviours were not my strongest in 2009, improvement has been shown as now as well as being dominant, I am conscientious, displaying these traits:

Behaviors

• Enjoys independence
• Objective reasoning
• Wants the details
• Fears being wrong

While working in a lab, everyone was my customer.  My direct supervisors and reports.  Other departments.  The end-user.  Little has changed now I am working in tech support.  The major difference would be now I directly interface with the end-user.

It is possible that my visual communication (graphic design) training has influenced my communication style as a big part of creating briefs is gathering information and designing something for the customer, not for me (so an objectively good, rather than subjectively good design).

I fear being wrong as I know I do not know everything and knowledge is fluid and for any given situation, the variables might make the outcome different to the predicted outcome.  Also, things I knew to be true 20 years ago have often been proven to be false.  Taken to the extremes, I can clearly see alternate timelines where I’m present (or dead), not to mention those where humans never arose.

No change on how to communicate well since 2009.  Feedback is still important to ensure the receiver heard what it is that I was trying to convey, vs what they think, or I think, they heard.

No change to communication input.  Body language still makes up a large part of communication, and for phone conversation, tone and content is important.  For email, content is 100% of communication.  That’s one of the reasons why I’ll pick up a phone if some vital form of information needs to be communicated.

The trainer was nicely animated and used real world stories to get his training transferred effectively to us.

In summary, my communication style has changed slightly since 2009 where my main objectives were deemed to be control and results with the ability to make quick decisions.  Seven years later and I am now more diplomatic and analytical.   These are solid additions to my personality.

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