Building Your Business (and Life) with the DISC Model of Human Behavior

So what is your biggest priority in life? Have you ever thought about it? Well, today we're going to take a spin on the disc model of human behavior and share something with you that I think will be one of the greatest business tools or relationship tools that you've ever seen in your life.

Welcome to becoming wiser with Dr. Robert A. Rohm, author and world renowned public speaker, as he shares stories and involving his experiences and lessons learned in a good spirited, positive and fun way. Here's Dr. Robert A. Rome.

Hi, I'm Dr. Robert Rome and many of you know me as the president of Personality Insights. I started this company in June of 1991. We're over 30 years old. For those of you that are not familiar, the disc model of human behavior is a wellness model. It's how to understand yourself and others to build better teams and have better relationships. If you're driving or just listening to this on a podcast, it's as simple as thinking about a circle. Just think about a circle. Now draw a line across the middle horizontally. Now you have a circle with a line across the middle, the top half. On the very top of the circle, you'd write the word outgoing. At the very bottom of the circle, you'd write the word reserved. Some people are more outgoing, others are more reserved. Which are you? I know what I would say if someone asked me that. Well, w. I have some of both of those traits. And it's true you do. But it may be 51% and 49%. Which way do you think you lean? Okay, I'll let you keep that in your mind for now. Top half of the circle outgoing. Bottom half of the circle reserved. Now you draw a line vertically down the middle of that circle. And on the left side you write task. And on the right side you write people. Again, on the left side, outside of the circle, you, you write the word task. And on the side of the right side of the circle, you write the word people. So now we have four quadrants. Some people are more outgoing, others are more reserved. Some are more task oriented, some are more people oriented. On the second one, task or people, which are you, just ask yourself. It may be 51%, 49%. You're not locked in for life. You can change your mind later. But in general, is your focus is your priority on the day, and we'll come back to that in a little bit on getting things done, or is your priority of the day making sure that you interact well with people and that people feel loved and accepted and cared about? Both are Important, but both are somewhat different. So just ask yourself, am I more left sided, task oriented, More right sided, people oriented? Again, please understand you have some of both of those, but you gotta start somewhere. I think I'm a little more outgoing and a little more people oriented, but I am familiar and learn to visit all four of these quadrants. Now let's put in four letters. And again, this is just abbreviation. I do training on this. Someone can become a certified human behavior consultant through personality insights. It requires 16 hours of training. That's eight hours on day one and eight hours on day two in order to get certified to teach and train this to other people. So I'm just giving you a quick overview. In those four quadrants, in the outgoing and task oriented or the upper left, you would put the letter D, which stands for dominant. In the upper right, that represents a person who's outgoing and people oriented. You put the letter I, which is inspiring. That's more my style. I'm sure your style is clear as you think about this. But remember, as we go through it, you are able and you do have some of all four of these traits. The next we go to the bottom half of the circle. On the right side, we're going in clockwise order. On the right side, you would put the letter S. But this person is supportive. They are reserved and people oriented. Again, bottom right, the letter S. Supportive, reserved and people oriented. And then to complete our clockwise order circle, you're in the bottom left. For the person that's reserved and task oriented, you would put the letter C or cautious. So again, that's the D I s, C model. Ds are dominant. Eyes are inspiring. Ss are Cs are cautious. Ds and eyes are both outgoing. Ss and Cs are both reserved. Ds and Cs are both task oriented. Eyes and Ss are both people oriented. So that's the simple model. It's a wellness model. It's not meant to tell you what's wrong with you. It's meant to tell you what's right with you. So the outgoing D who is task oriented is all about get the job done, man. Come on, cut to the chase. Let's go. I got things to do, places to go, people to see. Move, Be a follower, be a leader. Get out of my way. Come on, get with the program. That's the dominant type. The one that's outgoing and people oriented is inspiring. Hey, good to see you, man. I have so wonderful. I love being with you. Hey, where have you been lately? What's been happening in your life? Give me five. Up high. Down low. Too slow. They're just happy, excited, full of enthusiasm, full of energy, full of excitement. Moving to the bottom half of the circle in clockwise order. The S supportive type. They are reserved and people oriented. Love everyone. How's your family? It's so good. I just feel better when I'm with you. I love security. I don't like conflict and being with you makes me feel secure and I know there's not going to be any surprises. We're going to get along with each other and I'm just so glad you're my friend. I just have a warm feeling when I'm with you. Of safety, security and we're going to have a great time together. That's the supportive type. Beautiful, wonderful kind of person. And then finally the cautious type. How do you, how do you know this is right? I mean you're, you can't just say everybody on the planet's outgoing reserve task or people and they're a D and I and S or C. What is the reliability and validity of this? Do you have confirmation number? What time does it start? How long does it last? You probably did really well in school because schools designed for you. You are studious. You tend to be very smart and very analytical. Now remember, everybody has some of both of those because this is not even what I want to talk about. I'm just giving you a quick five minute overview of the model. It should be clear in your mind and here's the best thing about works for you. And it works as you learn to read. Others say, what do you mean by that? I understand I'm outgoing and people oriented. I can figure that out. That means I would be primarily an I type, inspiring type. So I would need to work on my D dominant, S supportive, C cautious traits. Those would all be secondary areas that I could learn to visit. Personal growth and development. Okay, so ask yourself, what are you then? Second, if you're having lunch with someone or you're talking someone, they will never be offended by you saying, I'm learning the model of human behavior. Some people are more outgoing, others are more reserved. Which are you? Everybody loves talking about themselves. Don't ever think you're going to offend someone by communicating. I want to get to know you better. Are you more outgoing or reserved? They'll probably say I have some of both of those and it's true, you do. Then they might say you ask them are you more tasked? Or people I don't Know I've got some of both of those too. That's true. Just simply say where do you think you'd start in this? And then you will learn to read people. I'm going to give you a little bonus. Then I'm going to tell you what I wanted to talk to you about. These are called motivators. These are called I use the R words. These are motivated by results. Cut to the chase, get to the point. What do you need done here that motivates them? The eyes are motivated by recognition. Man, I love your shirt. Where'd you get that hat? Those are the wildest shoes anything. You know, I just excited when I see you come and I feel happy. Give them a little recognition and that causes them to want to be happier and to be a better person and have a better connect and relationship to you. Then the letter S, their R word is relationships. Let them know I care about you. You are an important person in my life. Means a lot to me to have you as a friend. I'm so glad I know you. It just seems to me that you're really a good hearted person and I really care about the way you care about others. You can read that, but you can communicate to them relationships and how you are glad they're your friend. And then the C word is the R word is the letter. This is the motivator. It's the word right. Are you doing this right? Are you do you making sure? Do you know what you're talking about? Did you double check this? Did you proofread this? Did you spell check this? That was a hard one for me to learn to connect to. Because if I'm not right about something, well, I'll fix it, I'll change. But see a C type, a cautious type thinks you should think in advance. Don't wait until you make a mistake to go, oh, I made a mistake. Learn to plan ahead and realize what's getting ready to take place. And how can I understand it better before things go wrong? Don't wait until you've got a problem to say, well, I should have thought about it better, I should have planned better. That's what being right's about. It's not I have to be right and everybody else has to be wrong. It's what motivates them is I just want to make sure I'm doing this correctly. I want to make sure I'm doing this in a manner that makes the most amount of sense. If you're thinking this right now, you're going, wow, how can he know all this stuff because it's the universal model of human behavior. Now onto my topic for the day. We try to give you one really, really, really important tip. If you're a business owner, if you're in a marriage, if you're in a relationship, I'm going to share something. Something that's going to shock you. Get ready. I'm going to go back to the left side. Right side. Left side's task, right side's people. The left side's all about thinking. The right side's all about feeling. The left side's getting things done. The right side's building relationships and caring with people. Now I'm going to say something extreme. So I want you to know up front, this is extreme. The success of your life is on the right side. It's on the relationship side. It's on the. And I'm going to explain this. It's on the side of life that has to do with caring and sharing about other people. Because unless you're going to live on an island all by yourself with a volleyball named Wilson, you're going to interact with your husband, your wife, your mom, your dad, your son, your daughter, your neighbors, your friends, your relatives, your cousins and other people at work. Now let me explain even further. Don't cut me off. Just listen. The left side is all about rules and regulations and I'm all for that. The left side is, what time does your job start? What is your job? How do you do your job? Now, let me give you an example. Okay? You're at work and you're on your way to take a break.

You, you have a 10 minute break. And you know, I have a break from 11 o' clock in the morning to 11:10. And you walk past someone who's having a hard day and you can tell something's wrong. And you stop and look at them and you say, hey, are you okay?

And they begin to weep or their voice breaks up and they share with you. Noah.

Had a family member to pass away recently or no, my dog, we're going to have to put our dog down. And instead of you thinking, don't, don't, don't miss this. Instead of you thinking, I've got a ten minute break, okay, and I got to go get me something to eat or drink and go to the restroom and get back to work, you forego that and you appropriately say, wow, I just want you to know I care about you and I'm sorry you're going through that. And if there's anything I can do please let me know. See, you just changed. Are you. Are you listening? You just changed the dynamic of everything because you moved it away from being a task to being a relationship. You moved it away from you thinking about things to you showing you are a person who has feelings. I'm 74 years old. I have. I have heard plenty of people say they hurt my feelings. I've never heard someone say they hurt my thinking. You see, it's feelings. Are you at work? Watch carefully. Are you on a job? Let me explain something to you. The best thing you can do on your job is communicate stories. Let me, let me give you an example. So someone comes in to your place of business and they want you to help them find something or learn how to do something or buy something. And you start talking to them and you find out as you're listening to them that they may be on some kind of medication or they may have a challenge with a child or if you'll just learn to listen. People are very open to sharing what's going on in their life. Well, I haven't been feeling well lately or, or business has not been great. And you go to. Don't. You don't want to go to. Well, here's what time our store opens and here's what time our store close. Or here's my college degrees or here's all I know about that topic. Listen to me. You go to, man. Let me share with you a story about something that happened to me along those lines. In a word, I have also had that experience. Think about how I have also had that experience. That's six words when you communicate. Listen, if you were to tell me about losing your mom, I've also had that experience. I can share with you what that meant to me. Losing your dad. I've lost my dad. Now I've level. Never lost a brother or sister because I don't have any brothers or sisters. So I couldn't empathize with you by saying, yeah, I know exactly what you're going through. That would not be true. But when you listen to someone's story and you have the opportunity to respond and you say, wow, you know, I've. I've been through something like that. And you share your own personal strength and experience your own personal journey, you make a huge difference in their life and that's what draws them to you. That's what increases business loyalty. That's what's increases personal relationships. You showing someone that you have a heart and that you care. I'm telling you, if I Ran a restaurant, if I ran a hotel, if I ran a car lot, I would have a meeting. This is going to make some of you a fortune. I would have a meeting with my staff in every time I'd meeting, I'd have a meeting. I'd get somebody to share a personal success story. You know why? Because stories shape our life. Tell me about your last sale. Tell me something that happened with your last customer that really turned out good. Tell me about something that encouraged you. Are you listening? Here's why. Because if it encouraged you, it'll encourage others. I have often said, at the end of life, whoever has the most stories wins. It's not who has the most money, it's not who has the most control. It's whoever has the most stories. Because our lives are made up of stories.

Have you ever heard of the story of David and Goliath? Almost everybody in the world? Have you ever heard the story of Noah's Ark? Have you ever heard the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace? Have you ever heard this story of Daniel in the lion's den? Are you catching on? It's stories that change our lives. I used to love to listen to Zig Ziglar because he told stories. I love to listen to Charlie Jones because he told stories. And the stories they told made me to want to be better. I aspired to greatness by listening to other stories. And the stories are on the right side. The stories are on the people side. Now hear me well. I don't want to be offensive in any way. I am all about getting the job done. That's the left side. As a matter of fact, in my 70s, I have learned what life is all about. If you were to say, what's the secret to life? I would simply say, be good to people and get things done. Did you notice how I did that? Be good to people. That's the right side. And get things done. That's the left side. You need to put the emphasis on the right syllaba. And the emphasis office, or the emphasis is on the right syllable. That's the right side. Create stories. Be good to people. Share. And think about it. When we get together and we have lunch or we get together with someone and they tell us a story that happened to them, or we tell them a story that happened to us. Magic occurs. Everything changes. Why? Because we heard a story. I've shared the story so many times. If you're remembering the model we looked at, my oldest daughter, Rachel, was in the D quadrant, outgoing and task oriented. I'm in the upper right hand quadrant. I'm outgoing and people oriented. Biggest challenge in my life was learning how to work with Rachel. But because I saw it and someone taught it to me and understood it. For the last 30 years, I've been traveling all over the world teaching this. I shared it with you today. I learned how to build stories with Rachel, changed our relationship and everything is great today. She's one of my best friends and I got my life calling from understanding how to work better with her. I hope I've said something today that's encouraged you or help you. There's a lot more to all of this, but we can't cover everything in one 20 minute or less podcast. But we can whet your appetites. Get on board with us. We're here to encourage you, to motivate you, to teach you about drives and needs and understanding other people to have the greatest life possible. Hope you have a great day. I look forward to our next time together. God bless you. Take care. Bye. Bye.

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