What companies use DISC Assessments
Adam Stamm
Managing Partner: Online DISC Profile
Many companies use DISC assessments worldwide.
Companies and organizations that use DISC for hiring can continue to leverage the tool to help develop their leaders and to help teams work more effectively together. The DISC model can be used during onboarding to help determine workplace personnel pairings.
DISC is an effective tool because it’s easy to understand and provides deep insights into self-awareness and communication. It measures four primary personality styles, each broken into 12 distinct personality types:
- Dominance (D-Personality Type): Focuses on challenges and problems. Takes charge and is unafraid of risks.
- Influence (I Personality Type): Focuses on people. Optimistic, trusting, and very social. A true people person!
- Steadiness (S Personality Type): Focuses on teams and systems. Cautious, patient, and calm. Consistent and even-tempered.
- Conscientious (C Personality Type): Focuses on processes and details. Cautious, accurate, and detailed focused.
Here are a few reasons why companies use DISC:
- To improve teamwork. DISC can help bridge personality differences by promoting understanding and connection. Teamwork thrives when we trust those around us.
- To provide personal development opportunities. DISC assessments can help individuals to understand their own personality type and how it affects their behavior. This can be helpful in identifying areas for personal development and improvement.
- To develop better leaders. Companies that develop empathetic and more self-aware leaders through DISC are more productive.
There are many other reasons why companies use DISC. however, let’s move into what companies use it.
Industries and use cases
Every imaginable industry uses DISC. We have broken out this list by industry, use case, and company.
When possible, we’ve shared the problem each company sought to solve when they decided to use DISC.
Tech and engineering
Google Cloud
Google Cloud uses DISC for Team Development. Googlers benefit from the concepts that help them connect with their colleagues all over the world.
In 2023, team leaders from Google Cloud used DISC to help improve collaboration and communication. They used DISC within a workshop format. Each person had a chance to learn about their DISC personality and engage in activities that helped them understand others’ styles.
Following the sessions, team members had a better appreciation of each other’s needs and stressors. They were able to talk about past situations and gain a better understanding of why certain conversations had a lot of friction or intensity.
New Relic
New Relic offers technology to help businesses support their online applications. They use DISC to support leadership development and team culture.
New Relic sent their HR team through DISC Certification to learn how to use DISC Assessments effectively in their leadership development program. Leaders who complete a DISC workshop learn to expand their management skills to meet the needs of their direct reports.
New Relic has since integrated DISC into its leadership development program. It became a thread that weaved each module of their program together. Leaders are not only being trained on the nuances of being a leader, but also how they can communicate strategy and recognize individual needs of their direct reports and the teams that follow their leadership.
Expert Tip:
Increase the impact of these tools by completing the DISC train-the-trainer course, DISC Certification. When organizations have an in-house subject matter expert, they can ensure the tool is used correctly and implemented successfully. Save your budget too by not paying an external facilitator to run the training programs.
TikTok
TikTok is a well-known social media platform that features short video formats. What might be less well known is how they leverage DISC to support their organizational culture development plans.
TikTok had members of its talent development team join a DISC Certification class to learn how to leverage DISC in their adult learning programs. Their goal was to improve self-awareness and collaboration. DISC would play a key role in helping team members recognize that individual motivations and stressors are unique based on personality types.
Customer support
Walmart
Walmart is one of the largest retailers in the world. They also use DISC within their professional development programs including for customer support.
By using DISC to identify their customers’ needs, Walmart employees can communicate more effectively and build lasting trust. Issues that arise can become opportunities to build stronger customer relationships when personality insights are used to navigate conversations.
Expert Tip:
DISC teaches a concept called the Platinum Rule: Treat others the way they want to be treated. This is different from the golden rule, which only asks you treat others as you want to be treated. The impact of this difference is felt immensely in customer support situations.
Nike, Inc.
Nike has sent many members of its human resources team through DISC Certification, where they learned to leverage DISC to support customer support and service teams. Leaders from these teams took the concepts and language and brought them to their own teams where they can have more impact with day-to-day servicesa nd customer support.
Sales
Sami Fine Jewlry
Sami Fine Jewelry offers a boutique specializing in luxury goods and jewelry. DISC supports salespeople in learning to relate better and better serve customers’ needs.
NJ Luxury Real Estate Group
To thrive in real estate, you need to understand how to work with others. DISC helps organizations like NJ Luxury Real Estate Group develop salespeople to communicate more effectively.
Onboarding
Wawanesa Insurnace
A strong organizational culture is built around a strong onboarding plan. DISC offers a unique strength to onboarding by demystifying how to work, communicate, and interact with others.
Wawanesa sends hundreds of employees through a DISC Certification training program each year and has a goal to bring the language of DISC to all employees.
Aurora Cooperative
Aurora Cooperative not only needs to ensure they work well internally, but also with their cooperative farmer partners. DISC ensures you know how to work with any regardless if they are an internal or external stakeholder.
Leadership and development
Carhartt
Carhartt is one company that uses DISC. Carhartt primarily uses DISC within their leadership development programs, but they use it across their organization as well.
Carhartt recognized that in order to stay competitive, it needed to refocus on its leadership skills. They had a goal for their organization to become more agile by improving how they communicate. DISC became a central pillar of their leadership development program and how their leaders communicate with their divisions and teams.
Each year, Leaders must complete a DISC workshop that focuses on learning the core DISC framework and applying it within their leadership responsibilities.
Expert Tip:
DISC is most often used within a leadership development training framework. Organizations often combine it with 360-degree feedback and coaching to help leaders navigate learning leadership skills.
Virginia Bankers Association
The Virginia Bankers Association brings together leaders from across the state to participate in an extensive leadership development program. DISC is a key part of their development, helping them learn how personality shows up at work. When leaders understand personality needs, they can become better managers and leaders.
How companies use DISC
Each company that uses DISC may approach the tool from a different perspective, but ultimately, they focus on a few key areas such as organizational development, leadership development, and team development.
To accomplish these objectives, organizations will primarily focus on offering DISC within a team training/workshop or through DISC-based coaching.
The goal is to have DISC become a common language.
Just as marketers talk about KPIs, CPC, and IMPs, or how doctors talk about PO, QID, or BID, organizations can teach all employees the lessons of DISC and allow the language to thrive.
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Use DISC on its own? Yes. DISC can be used on its own or paired with other programs like Emotional Intelligence, Company Values programming, or skill development programs. |
Use DISC on its own? Paired with other programs. In a leadership development context, DISC is often paired with 360 Degree Feedback coaching, DISC coaching, and leadership skill-based programming. |
Use DISC on its own? Yes. DISC can serve as the primary program content. |
Each company or organization rollout looks a little different, but they all share a singular goal: help people develop greater self-awareness and recognize personality differences.
Discover how DISC can work for your company
Our organization works with thousands of clients and facilitates the use of hundreds of thousands of assessments each year. We have supported the use of DISC in organizations for 40-years, and we want to learn more about your organization and what you hope to accomplish with DISC.
We will work with you to develop an implementation plan and ensure you have everything you need to use these tools.
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