Appendix: Style Combinations
As our friends realized at the fable’s end, people can be a bit more complicated than birds when it comes to how they view and interact with the world. Our bird friends did not exhibit strong secondary styles, but most people do. In fact, you may have easily recognized yourself or others in two or more of the characters.
The secondary styles can play a decisive role in how we interpret and react to the people and situations around us. Perhaps you related most to Dorian’s D style directness, but have a little bit of Indy’s I playfulness. Or maybe you are most like Crystal’s analytical C style with a touch of Sarah’s empathetic S nature.
The following descriptions will help you to better understand the people in your life. Note that the primary style is denoted with a capital letter and secondary style is identified with a lowercase later. So, the examples above would be described as a Di and a Cs.
If you haven’t gone to www.TakeFlightLearning.com to take the free mini-assessment or upgrade to the comprehensive “Taking Flight with DISC” report by entering the code, tellmemore, you may want to do that now. These reports will help you to understand how the four styles combine to create your behavioral style. The following descriptions will help you to better understand others by considering both their primary and secondary styles.
The Di Style
Di’s combine the decisiveness of the Dominant style with the fun, social orientation of the Interactive style. Di’s demonstrate a strong desire to achieve results, but they do so by embracing collaboration with others. They are highly influential as they combine direct and clear communication with high energy and enthusiasm.
In the workplace, Di’s are visionary and drive organizational change. They take the lead and embrace risk-taking. Di’s become frustrated in settings in which they must be passive followers of what is happening around them. Di’s want to be engaged in creating the vision and executing big ideas, and often gravitate toward leadership roles. They thrive in settings where big ideas are embraced and don’t get bogged down in over-analysis.
Di’s tend to have a “ready-fire-aim” mentality and benefit a great deal from people who add structure to their world. Moreover, partnering with more detail-oriented people, such as C’s, enables Di’s to focus on their core strengths.
In overuse, Di’s tend to lack patience, which can lead to impulsive decision making. Under stress, Di’s become restless and externalize their stress, which can create anxiety in others.
The Id Style
As one might imagine, Id’s are similar in orientation to Di’s. The difference is that when I is stronger than D, the individual is first and foremost a motivator. The Id’s optimistic spirit drives people to action through boundless enthusiasm. They enjoy and even crave constant stimulation. Id’s thrive in unstructured, free-flowing settings that encourage innovative approaches to achieve results.
Id’s build morale in their work environment and generate excitement for goals and ideas. They intuitively sense people’s moods and are effective at influencing others to get what they want. Id’s enjoy forming strategic alliances that advance their ideas. However, their big-picture focus needs to be supported by others who are detail-oriented and think things through. Id’s abhor negativity and skepticism. They have difficulty working with people so rigid or buried in the details of a project that they fear taking risks and thus miss the bigger picture.
In overuse, Id’s externalize their stress, which can add frenzied energy to the environment. They can overuse their optimism, which can lead to unrealistic assessments of ideas and people. In a crisis, however, Id’s are adept at mobilizing the troops for action.
The Is Style
Is’s are warm, sociable, and friendly. Their compassion for others enables them to quickly and easily build strong, lasting relationships. They are eager to lend a helping hand and are natural teachers and counselors. Is’s display an interesting mix of self-confidence and modesty.
Is’s are the voice of the people. They are empathetic and will not hesitate to advocate for those in need. Is’s like to work in social environments in which they develop true friendships with their coworkers. They thrive in settings where people care about each other and enjoy personal connections beyond the work at hand.
Is’s are less comfortable making difficult decisions that will negatively impact others. They also dislike working with aggressive people who do not respect the feelings of others.
Is’s would be well-served to surround themselves with quality-focused people who provide structured processes. In addition, they may require others to take charge in high-pressure situations.
Under stress, Is’s can become overly accommodating and neglect their own needs. With a natural tendency to assume the best in people, they can misread the intentions of others and be overly trusting. Their dislike of conflict can cause them to downplay issues that grow only worse over time, leaving them feeling hurt or betrayed when relationships turn sour.
The Si Style
Like their close Is cousins, Si’s are easygoing and relaxed, and they go with the flow. The key distinction, however, is that Si’s focus on others first, then themselves. The Supportive style’s empathic nature combined with the Interactive style’s enthusiasm culminates in a “champion of the people” combination.
Si’s strive to maintain harmony in relationships. They love to work in team settings and are committed to treating people with respect. Si’s can be counted on to patiently lend an ear to someone in need. Their capacity for empathy without judgment easily attracts new friendships. While they typically avoid engaging in conflict, Si’s are more than willing to mediate between others to restore peace.
Si’s also add stability to professional environments by maintaining consistency through their methodical approach to completing tasks. Having built psychological safety around the status quo, Si’s appreciate stable settings that feature long-term relationships and processes that do not require frequent and dramatic change.
Si’s tend to overuse kindness, which can cause them to subjugate their own needs for the wants of others. Furthermore, given their sensitive nature, Si’s can become easily offended and can even hold grudges for long periods of time. Si’s internalize stress and can act passive-aggressively.
The Cs Style
Logic and the need for accuracy drive the Conscientious style. After all, if it’s not going to be done right, then why do it? The C’s need for precision combined with the S’s patience creates an individual with a strong quality focus. Essentially, Cs’s are perfectionists.
Cs’s think and plan ahead to avoid the unexpected. They make sure that ideas are carefully vetted by questioning assumptions, exploring alternatives, and considering worst-case scenarios. They thrive in settings in which they can receive and analyze tremendous amounts of information before reaching a conclusion or making a decision. Cs’s like to work within clearly defined boundaries and desired outcomes, but enjoy overcoming challenges through intense focus and persistence.
Cs’s need others who can see the big picture without getting bogged down in the details. Given their task-focused nature, Cs’s can also benefit from people who add positive energy to the environment, boosting morale and providing encouraging feedback.
Cs’s dislike working in settings that lack standard operating procedures. They are uncomfortable with sudden changes and loathe reckless risk-taking. The Cs’s fear of making a mistake can lead to time-consuming processes that strive for error-free outcomes.
In overuse, Cs’s can get so engrossed in their work that they may lose sight of the need to celebrate accomplishments and provide positive feedback to others. Under pressure, Cs’s can get caught up in “analysis paralysis” and create perfect plans, but remain fearful of taking action.
The Sc Style
Sc’s naturally construct patterns that govern their world. This manifests in intense loyalty to people, brands, and procedures that have been proven successful over time. Sc’s build psychological safety around the status quo by establishing consistency in everything they do. They prefer predictability over rapid innovation and calm environments over fast-paced ones. As a result, Sc’s can get trapped in existing methodologies when new approaches might better capitalize on emerging opportunities.
Sc’s are modest about their abilities. While this can be an endearing trait in personal relationships, such humbleness can come across as meekness to more assertive styles. Their aversion to candor and constructive conflict can lead to passive-aggressive behaviors that prolong and intensify issues instead of solving them.
Sc’s shine in roles that demand both empathy and a curiosity for understanding why or how things have occurred. This allows them to be excellent listeners who can help others to work through issues. They avoid drawing attention to themselves and prefer quiet, intimate settings to large group gatherings. Sc’s like people, but tend to have just a few very close friends. They lead rich inner lives and often have more ideas than they actually express.
Sc’s dislike fast-paced environments with rapid shifts in priorities. They are planners who don’t want to be surprised. Sc’s don’t like to say no—a trait that often leads to becoming overburdened with work, as they value both their commitment to the team and to quality results.
The Dc Style
Dc’s seek to get things done with both urgency and complete accuracy. They have high expectations of themselves and others. The Dominant style is driven to achieve big goals while the Conscientious style insists that every step be well planned and properly executed. While the D loves to visualize the big picture and set broad goals that advance the cause, the C side of the same person will delve into the details, slowing down the urge to take big leaps. This internal struggle creates the constant push and pull between the desire for results and the desire for quality. Dc’s often believe that others will not strike the correct balance, and thus overburden themselves with work that could otherwise be delegated.
Dc’s thrive in environments where they have great autonomy to both set the agenda and help ensure that processes are followed through accurately. Although Dc’s provide great contributions to projects large and small, they need people to help them appreciate the emotional or psychological impact that decisions might have on others. Dc’s are wired for task completion and goal acquisition, not nuanced communication skills or intuition about how people feel.
Dc’s are highly efficient and don’t like it when others lack a sense of urgency for accomplishing goals and maintaining accuracy. They view work as the place to make things happen, not to engage in social or emotional commitments.
In overuse, Dc’s can become too demanding of both themselves and those around them. Left unchecked, their combination of D-inspired bluntness and C-oriented pickiness can add significant stress to the workplace.
The Cd Style
Like the Dc, Cd’s focus on both accuracy and tangible outcomes. Their stronger C nature, however, brings diplomacy and patience to their D drive for accomplishment. Cd’s enjoy creating systems that will withstand rigorous quality standards while delivering significant results. They are talented planners but may overlook the human element that drives collaboration. Cd’s speak in specifics, preferring facts and examples over emotion and intuition to build their case. With their methodical nature and tendency to explore every option before arriving at a decision, Cd’s are often reluctant to make big, consequential decisions.
Cd’s tend to have a formal demeanor, display a limited range of facial expressions, and either avoid or minimize physical contact. In overuse, Cd’s can come across as cold, blunt, and detached in personal relationships. They are reluctant to discuss their feelings and tend to have a small, close circle of confidants.
The DS/SD Style in Which the D and S are Relatively Equal
The DS/SD is one of the least prevalent styles. While their D nature focuses on results, their S nature cares about fairness and respect. This makes the DS/SD perfectly suited to fight for justice and equality. With tenacity and compassion, the DS/SD speaks up for those who are unwilling or unable. They are motivated by deeply held commitments and pursue their goals with persistence and devotion.
With the willpower of the D and the patience of the S, this style combination displays unwavering determination for their cause and have a strong sense of personal accountability.
While DS/SD’s can sometimes appear to be detached from others, they are actually deeply emotional people. They are sensitive and can be easily offended, though they may camouflage it well.
It can be difficult to predict the reactions of DS/SD people, as sometimes they’re in D mode—direct and results-oriented—and at other times, they’re in S mode—caring and accommodating. They can be highly independent or may want to be a part of team striving to achieve their objectives. Regardless, DS/SD’s are fiercely loyal to the people in their lives.
The IC/CI Style in Which the I and C are Relatively Equal
IC/CI is also a rare combination of styles within an individual. These combinations are superb at perceiving both the big picture and the details of complex projects. By recognizing interconnected systems, IC/CI’s can link insights from one area to another and can predict the likelihood of success of a new endeavor very quickly.
Often it seems as though IC/CI’s are painstakingly gathering tremendous amounts of data, while in other situations they seem to make snap judgments in rapid succession. This is because their voluminous C data is first stored and then accessed subconsciously through pattern recognition, culminating in what appears to be a flash moment of insight. However, because they quickly intuit solutions, IC/CI’s can appear to be impulsive.
C’s understand conventional wisdom. I’s are willing to buck it. When you combine these traits, you get someone who has a thorough understanding of the past and a visionary picture of the future. This yields a resourceful innovator.
They tend to be strong communicators, as C’s measure their words carefully and I’s are naturally skilled at influencing others. IC/CI’s have to balance their social needs with their solitary needs. They love to be in groups, but must recharge their batteries alone. Their solitary “downtime” is often when they are most creative.
All Four Styles are Relatively Equal
Your style is characterized by equal strengths from all four styles. This means that no one style stands out as the predominant style. Typically there are two main drivers of this result: Either you display a significant amount of flexibility and adaptability, or you are experiencing a major, often difficult, change in your life.
If your life is fairly stable, you likely have the capacity to adapt to situations as needed. For example, if you need to be a direct, results-driven eagle or a high-energy, optimistic parrot, you can ramp up your energy. When you need to tone it down a bit and listen with dove-like empathy or the moment calls for focused attention with an owl’s eye for detail, you can adjust accordingly.
The strength of this style, therefore, lies in its flexibility. However, there are two main challenges. First, others cannot predict how you will respond to a given stimulus. Will you be excited or calm, outgoing or soft-spoken, task-focused or people-oriented? Your unpredictability can leave others uncertain about how best to communicate with you. Second, because you can relate to every dimension of a situation, you may struggle with indecisiveness.
The other possible driver of this style pattern is that you are experiencing transitional change or upheaval in your life. Perhaps it’s a new job or a change in your relationship status. Maybe you just moved or had a child. These major life events can cause us to rethink how we need to act. These changes bring out new behaviors or suppress long-established patterns. In turn, no single style dominates the others. When this occurs, usually after the changes settle down, your style will return to its previous state and one or two of the styles will take precedence over the others.