“There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self.”  Véronique Degbomont, HR Services Manager at SD Worx Luxembourg, used that quote from Benjamin Franklin to illustrate the difficulty many people have in assessing their own behaviour – especially when it comes to management and leadership. And behaviour, says Degbomont, is often key to success. She cited Judy Suiter of Competitive Edge, a partner of DISC assessment company Lilith Project. “To be successful in business today, it's not enough to be talented, to have great technical skills. You must master the art of interpersonal relationships.”

Strengths and weaknesses

DISC assessment is based on the pioneering work of William Moulton Marston and categorises behaviour into four patterns: Dominance; Influence; Steadiness; Compliance. In the modern DISC model, these types of behaviour are assigned different colours. Via means of a questionnaire, these patterns can be assessed in individuals as being either high or low when displaying conscious, or “masked”, as Degbomont puts it, behaviour and also when the individual is under pressure and has to react spontaneously – their more “natural” behaviour pattern. Degbomont insists that there are no right or wrong answers and that the results will be unique for each and every individual. “It is essential that we understand our own strengths and weaknesses,” she says.  The results can be used not only to judge suitability for different types of work but also whether an individual will fit in with other members of a particular team – there will be certain conflicts between different styles of behaviour, after all. And knowing another person’s style of behaviour can often be the key to communication. If a person interacts with another in a manner that is totally incompatible with their own style, they will often lock out that other person, and the reverse is also true.

Vicky Dentzer, head of Human Resources at Cargolux, says that her department has been using DISC as an analysis tool since 2001. Initially it was only used to measure behaviour patterns for new job candidates, but more recently Dentzer and her colleagues have been using the entire range of analytic tools offered by DISC to measure values and environmental comportment across the range of employees, which has helped them in promotions and internal transfers. Cargolux has undertaken some 800 DISC analyses, and the results have been viewed positively within the company. “Before we were seen as a purely administrative department, but now we have shown that HR can provide real added value,” said Dentzer. At the Ministry of Equal Opportunities, Maddy Mulheims also reported positive reaction to the DISC method. She is convinced the tools DISC offers are useful for creating a good team and managing a group of colleagues. It is now being used across all ministries and departments in the civil service.

See the full interview with Véronique Degbomont with here

See the full interview with Vicky Dentzer here

See the full interview with Mady Mülheims here