Bonnie Burn (BB): Why did NU select DISC?
Mark: Our AVP of HR, David Blake and our HR Director, Jane Sawyer were already big believers in DISC. I had first heard about the DISC from my professional network. So, two years ago when I became the OD Manager, the 3 of us seriously looked at using DISC for many uses, particularly for early stage career pathing, professional - development and teambuilding. We all played a role in bringing DISC to NU, but it was Dr. Blake and Jane, our HR Director, who made the buy-in from theSr.
Management Team happen.
BB: Why did you and Jane become DISCcertified?
Mark: We thought becoming certifiedin the DISC would help us know from the start which ways arebest to use the DISC. We believe it is important from the begriming to regard using the DISC as part of an overall change process and not as a one or two time - training event. Definitely, implementing DISC as part of a process will help an organization use it to their best advantage.
BB: Any implementation concerns?
Mark: Yes, 2 stand out; First, Jane and I are the only ones that do training for the 1300 at NU. And secondly, we needed to minimize how much time the training would take people away from their jobs. So we thought we would assess the interest and create awareness, by offering a one hour mini-DISCWebinar.
BB: Mini-DISC Webinar? How did that work out?
Mark: First we customized this in-house promotion, by focusing on how the DISC applies to our organization and demonstrated how the DISC could be easily used for team building. We even included the "Email Decoding" Learning Activity. As a result, the webinars helped spread the good news about the DISC like wildfire. Soon, we had a lot of managers calling to send them the DISC assessments. (Clickhere to see NU's DISC Marketing Webinar.)
BB: The response to the marketing mini-DISC webinar?
Mark: Quickly we had more buy-in for the DISC than we ever imagined we would. We had 50 people immediately sign up for the first one. So we scheduled a second one. Again, 50 people immediately signed-up. We even did a third session and another 50 signed-up. It was the largest training registration
we have ever had. We initially thought we would have more time to develop a "big picture" type of DISC training plan to manage the use of the DISC here.
BB: So now, what became your biggest challenges?
Mark: Managing the "how" and the actual scheduling of DISC trainings. Remember, there is just my HR Director, Jane & myself to do the DISC trainings. We realized we would not be able to provide the one- on-one debriefing sessions for each person, as hoped. If we didn't conduct those prior to the session we
were concerned people would not receive a clear explanation of their DISC assessment reportor maybe they would just read the report or worse, only read parts of it.
BB: Solutions?
Mark: Yes, we realized our DISC Training has to be larger scale with 40-50 people in a training group. We incorporated the debrief into the actual training. We ask participants to complete page 12in advance and then we go over the basics in the group setting. We spend about 2 1/2 - 3 hours.
BB: What Groups did you start with & why?
Mark: We began with a small pilot group in HR. That way, Jane and I could practice our new DISCTraining Skillsas well as use it as a teambuilderfor HR. And in San Diego, at the main university system location, our largest group of employees are our Admissions Advisors. They are the main group we selected. They are like service representatives in other organizations. They are on the front line, helping students from the start of their application process all the way through to completing the graduation qualification process. In the past 3-4 months, I've trained about 40-50 people of their staff.
BB: Which DISC learning activities do you use?
Mark: The exercises we like using most from your DISCcert manual - "Divide and Conquer", "TV Trivia", "Pair and Share" and "Going on Vacation". I like using a multi-media approach, especially because the groups are large and can be mixed with people with all sorts of different learning styles too. My DISC styles are "I and S". I find the video you showed us helps show the pure DISC styles in the group meeting scenarios. If I have time, I'll show some of the one-on-one scenes. I like using the video because it is a visual demonstration of flexing and getting better results. It's fun to use and helps reinforce how to apply the DISC. (Click to hear DISCcert'sWebinar)
BB: What about DISC follow-up?
Mark: We provide managers with a "DISC
Toolkit." Two key DISC Tools are emphasized: the Online DISC Tipsand the new compiled DISC TipsHandoutyou created. They serve as a great tool for the managers to use during their 10-15 minutes max monthly staff. Managers may not be able to do a 1 or 2 hour training but they can handle a few minutes of reinforcement if given the right tools. I think having all these
BB: Lessons Learned? Advice?
Mark: Get trained in DISC& plan ahead for the DISCsuccess...it's a given! This is one of the biggest lessons I've learned... Success Will Happen, Plan on How You Will Deal With It!
BB: Mark, this was terrific! I know your candor, insights & recommendations will be greatly appreciated by your fellow DISCcert Grads. And the HR/Training Team at National University is an excellent
model for using DISCto help their organization in a practical, powerful way.
Special Thank You to our Contributing Editor and
Sr. HR Consultant, Mona Melanson
DISCcert855.459.6648