Choosing the right employee assessment for your team or organization can be confusing. Many instruments overlap in what they measure and in how they’re used. So, we’re kicking off a new blog series to compare those different assessments and dive into how you might use them to achieve your business and talent development needs. This series is written by Anne Griswold, our Whole Brain ® Thinking Catalyst. Anne has been a facilitator, trainer and coach for over 20 years, working both inside companies and as an independent consultant. She is certified in many assessment tools and leadership trainings programs, including the HBDI, MBTI, DiSC, Hogan, Firo-B, EI 2.0 and Franklin-Covey Training Programs.
First up: Anne takes a closer look at the DiSC assessment and how it compares with Whole Brain Thinking and the HBDI.
DiSC is a popular employee assessment that is a good tool for understanding different styles, behaviors and perspectives of ourselves, of other people and how we respond in different situations. Like the HBDI, it’s a four-factor model, but in the case of DiSC, each color-coded letter represents a behavior trait: D for Dominance, i for Influence, S for Steadiness and C for Conscientiousness. Unlike the HBDI—which has a brain-based premise that considers, “How do I process information?”—DiSC is a behavior-based assessment that considers, “How do I behave in a specific situation and how do others perceive me?” DiSC, like most assessments, gives us insight. Those insights are focused on the impact of the individual’s behavior.