Get some "D" in you baby
?? Christiane Anderson
Organisational Capability | Leadership Coaching | The Leadership Circle 360 | Transition & Career Coaching | eDISC Assessments | Facilitation
Let’s talk about the D word. The one that a lot of the population when pressured, take a big step back from.
Decisions.
Yes, decisions! What were you thinking?
Over the last years I have come to learn that the worst thing I can do is sit on the fence. And oh, I do that so well. Waiting, contemplating, overanalysing, researching til the opportunity that presented itself has passed me by.
I wonder how many of you experience that?
Nature v Nurture
My natural behavioural type is to make fast, criteria less decisions based on how I feel or if I feel insecure or the decision feels like too much impact in my life, I will bunker down and wait for time to pass, until I feel “ready”.
I join about 60% of the population who choose one or the other naturally.
Can you see how terrible of a strategy that is?
You may have noticed I mention the world feel. There are no facts and logic involved. The Vulcans are decisively absent.
Can we flip that? What’s the behaviour we need to adopt to make fast, criteria and fact based, risk assessed decisions that move us in our desired direction?
When I got my extended DISC report in 2014 I had no D energy in my profile. I thought, that’s gotta change, cause if I want things in my life to change, I need to change how I think and behave.
Enter the Dominant style
D means Dominant and is the most full on and direct of all the extended DISC styles. Only about 1% of the population are pure D (as in 100%) and about 9-13% of the population have D in their profile. So this style is rare AF and us in the other quadrants have to stretch and hustle to get some of that.
Why does this matter you ask?
Well, one of my best friends and mentors is a strong D. She is extremely successful and has a global client base.
Whenever I dither and hesitate, I call her up to get a good talking to. She has the ability to cut through the crap (my excuses), help me define my outcomes and criteria for success and once they are established, asks me to move forward, to make the decision and take action. Internally I usually go "Eeek" and outwardly "I'm on it."
She is extremely fast in her thinking and very direct and if I didn’t know her well, I would feel railroaded, my feelings weren’t taken into consideration and to just get the f%^k on with it.
That’s what D’s are like. They can feel overwhelming, too fast, moving ahead when everyone else is still thinking. They get very frustrated with the rest of us, as they see us slow coaches deliberating choices.
It's not a style that fosters patience and gentleness, so choose your conversations with a D style wisely.
D’s have certainty in spades and a need to win, that’s why they can move forward so quickly.
The "D" Quest
Five years ago I decided “I need to get me some of that.”
I started to become more fact based, made decisions faster and developed more certainty in myself to handle whatever the fall out may be. Most of the time it worked out. It was good. I moved forward. I made mistakes and learnt from them. In fact, I made a lot more mistakes as my decision making increased and my learning accelerated.
Slowly I build up my D muscle. It wasn't easy, as I was going against my natural style and a lot of decisions felt "wrong" or "too rushed" or "I didn't feel it". Again excuses!
In my most recent extended DISC report, I can proudly say I have gained 5 points of D energy in my profile and I am proud as punch. This is a sustained effort over a number of years and having a coach, being a coach and constantly reminding myself why this matters was key to the progress.
This is behavioural flexibility in action. We can change, we can measure it and we can reap those rewards. It’s what I call conscious living and design of who you are.
With this comes a change of values, attitudes, beliefs to support my new way of being and it is ever evolving and reassessed at regular times.
What is not working gets discarded or changed, what is working is being kept based on the desired outcomes. Simples.
In the words of Fat Boy Slim “You’ve come a long way baby.”
Get in touch with me for a complimentary conversation on how I can help you and start the quest to discovering yourself.
About
Christiane is a certified coach, extended DISC consultant, facilitator, trainer and all round fun person sprinkled with directness and empathy.
She lives in Melbourne with her two daughters and her cat Lotte. She believes in creating a sustainable world and is currently building a global carbon neutral company where remote collaboration, coaching and training is the way of the future.