Welcome to the DISC series
This video is part of a series. See the other videos in the series here:
- Introverts and Extroverts
- Introduction to DISC
- D-type (the red one)
- I-type (the yellow one)
- S-type (the green one)
- C-type (the blue one) - this video
Videos
For the last couple of episodes, we've been focusing on Dominating Dennis and Influential Iben
And the introduction to the DISC model can be found here
We continue the series with better feedback for the different DISC types and today we focus on the blue type, Analytical Anna - the C in the DISC model.
The blue one is on the introverted side, focusing more on the task at hand than on relationships and people.
They are reflective, careful, thorough and quality-conscious.
Feedback for the C-type: First tip
Be precise!
Thorough is exactly what we want to be when giving feedback to the blue, otherwise we risk them not recognizing the behavior we are giving feedback on.
When didit happen? What did they do and what did they say?
Somewould say that the blue one can be downright difficult because everything has to be correct. They ask clarifying questions about "things that are minor in the big picture", some might say.
But just like the other types "seek" and "fear" something, the blue just seeks to be correct and fears making mistakes due to sloppiness.
And to avoid sloppiness, you can resort to systems. Many blues love systems!
C-type feedback in DISC - example
"Hi Anna."
"Hi."
"Anna, can I give you some feedback on the meeting yesterday?"
"What meeting? We had two."
"Ah, yes. That at 10 o'clock."
"Okay."
"I know you said at one point that the meetings should be shorter, but part of the purpose of that meeting is to develop new ideas, and I would like us to have room for more ideas, even if the ideas are not realistic. I noticed yesterday that a lot of the ideas were rejected quite quickly by you, and you said that they were not possible."
Timeout.
I try to tell Anna why I have my opinion and what it is specifically that I'm taking issue with. Let's see how it's received.
"What do you think about that?"
"I haven't said that the meetings should be shorter. I just said that they can be more efficient."
Oops. Anna had never said anything about the length of the meetings. She had said we could be more efficient.
Two very different things.
"Oh yeah - more efficient."
"Can you agree to be more open to other people's ideas when we brainstorm?"
"So when we brainstorm, I'm not allowed to criticize the ideas? But sometimes they are bad ideas, right? For example, 4 weeks ago we went ahead with a bad idea. We were 3 people wasting 5 hours each."
Anna challenges me and at the same time is putting what I say into a system.
Feedback for the C-type: Second tip
Allow time for reflection and make room along the way for the blue to contribute. (read: Be quiet some of the time!)
If you have a non-stop stream of speech, they may start to consider something you've said at some point, and if you don't know if you're on the right track together, your feedback may go off the rails.
If you manage to get Anna to listen, she'll no doubt think about what you've said over the next few days and you can discuss it further.
For example, Anna might have come up with several arguments for why it's inefficient to continue working on bad ideas and ask you to come up with sources for why brainstorming is actually a good method at all. Again, focus on quality and logic. What we do must make sense - including your feedback.
Summarizing
The blue only takes feedback into consideration if it's detailed and accurate enough and if it makes sense to the blue.
On the other hand, they have no problem giving feedback to everyone else. Not even the critical feedback - because they are task-oriented. "It was just a mistake they saw. It would be strange not to address it."
What are your experiences with giving analytical Anna feedback? And how would you have handled a situation like this?
I certainly didn't do it perfectly.
Share with the rest of us in the comments on LinkedIn and let's learn from each other.
Thanks for stopping by - and see you soon!
Every Friday a new short episode of #Fridayfeedback is published. Short videos with tips for better performance and well-being through feedback.
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