Knowing Yourself-Disposition
As each of us grows up through childhood, we learn very quickly that despite our many similarities as humans, different people act and behave in very different and unique ways. We also learn that diversity is a good thing at work and in teams, however, that doesn’t mean that it’s always easier to work with people that are very different from ourselves. Have you ever wondered what it is about someone that makes them such a good fit to be around, or on the contrary, why a person might just drive you bonkers in certain situations? It might be because of similarities or differences in disposition.
A person’s actions and behaviors are a factor of their personality, and personality is made up of two distinct elements: a person’s disposition and a person’s values. In this article, we will focus on disposition which is the default, or unconscious, way that someone responds or behaves in situations. For example, in a stressful situation, a person may tend to avoid conflict or embrace conflict head-on, that’s called a fight or flight response. Research tells us that a person’s disposition is influenced by both our genetics and our life experiences; what we call wired and acquired. There are certain things in our DNA that drive us to act and react in certain ways, but over our lifetime our disposition will change based on our experiences and interactions with others.
To measure our disposition, there is a test that a person can take called the DISC assessment. This DISC assessment asks a series of questions to identify where a person falls on a spectrum of eight different modes of response. A person may fall anywhere on the spectrum from one extreme to the other for each of the eight modes of response. Additionally, these modes of responses combine to form our disposition which may be dominant, influencing, steady, or compliant (DISC). Knowing our disposition helps us understand how and why we think, act, and respond in certain ways. Here are the eight modes of response:
• Flight vs Fight: flight or withdraw is the outer behavioral preference to move away from conflict whereas fight or engage is the outer behavioral preference to compete, contest, or accelerate conflict.
• Accept vs Control: accepting means to accept things and situations as is and make do with what you have whereas controlling means to actively change or modify things or situations to meet your needs
• Extroversion vs Introversion: extroversion is the tendency to express thoughts and emotions outwardly with the desire to be around people whereas introversion is the tendency to express thoughts and emotions inwardly with the desire for privacy and seclusion
• Direct vs Indirect: direct is a preference for straightforward and succinct communication and behavior whereas indirect is a preference for more details, context, and comprehensive approach
• Perceive vs Judge: perceiving is the tendency to withhold judgment and take in observations and data from a wide variety of people, places, or things whereas judging is the tendency to think about ideas and situations based on gut feel or what is expected based on personal belief.
• Risk-taking vs Risk-assessing: risk-taking is a preference to be actively involved and learn through trial and error whereas risk-assessing is a preference to engage from a distance and make slow, data-informed decisions based on facts and alternatives.
• Optimist vs Pessimist: optimists view life events as generally friendly regardless of context whereas pessimists view life events as generally unfriendly regardless of the context.
• Change-oriented vs continuity-oriented: change-oriented people enjoy change, variety, and new experiences whereas continuity-oriented people prefer consistency and prefer stability in their environment.
People tend toward one or two dispositions as a sum of their preferred modes of responses or overall disposition. A dominant disposition favors fight, control, extrovert, direct, judge, risk-taking, pessimist, and change-oriented. A steady disposition is the opposite of dominant favoring flight, accept, introvert, indirect, perceive, risk-assessing, optimist, and continuity-oriented. An influencing disposition favors flight, accept, extrovert, direct, perceive, risk-taking, optimist, and change-oriented. A compliant disposition is the opposite of influencing favoring fight, control, introvert, indirect, judge, risk-assessing, pessimist, and continuity-oriented.
Knowing your default modes of response and overall disposition is very important in knowing yourself and knowing how to better work with others. No single disposition is good or bad, but in certain situations, a mode of response may be a strength or weakness. For example, if you are working in a team environment, extroversion may be helpful in promoting collaboration and idea-sharing. However, an extrovert may overpower introverts preventing idea sharing across everyone in the team. On the other hand, while an introvert may not be as open and collaborative in a team environment, they may thrive on individual tasks whereas an extrovert may become easily bored or restless. By knowing your disposition and preferred modes of response, you can more easily recognize the situation and know when your disposition is a strength, and when you may need to get out of your comfort zone to adjust your disposition.
Additionally, when working with other people, knowing a person’s disposition will help with communication and collaboration. For example, if you are an indirect person telling a story, you will tend to elaborate and embellish with many details and context. But if you’re making a sales pitch to a customer who is highly direct, they may get very frustrated with a long, detailed story. They don’t need the details; they just want you to get to the point. By knowing your disposition tendencies and the other person’s disposition tendencies, you can know when you may need to adjust your approach to better align with a person’s expectations.
Take some time to learn about your own disposition by completing a DISC assessment and receiving a consulting session debrief with Intrinsic First. Also take time to think about your coworker’s, friend’s, or family member’s dispositions. Consider the similarities or differences that may lead to compatibility or incompatibility. Maybe there are ways you can adjust your next interaction with a coworker to better align with their disposition and increase collaboration and trust.
References
Zigarmi, D., Edeburn, C., Blanchard, K., & O'Connor, M. (2004). The leader within: Learning enough about yourself to lead others. Pearson Professional Education.