I Swear I Have a Personality

We're doing DISC assessments at work, which is a personality test that shows your working style.  It's supposed to help us all become better at working together as a team.

D stands for Dominant, I stands for Influential, S stands for Steady and C stands for Conscientious.

To take the test, you look at groups of four words and pick the word that most describes you and the word that least describes you.

My scores were basically the same for all four traits.  I was highest in Influential with Dominant close behind.  Steady was third and Conscientious was fourth (oops).

As an Influential person, I'm supposed to be people oriented.  I thrive on social interaction and recognition and am verbally adept and fairly assertive.  I'm also not so much into the details.  I'm not a super high 'I', which makes sense.  I usually score pretty evenly between Extrovert and Introvert, with a slight edge to Extrovert.

The Sad Part 


When you're finished taking the test, you're asked to pick the pattern that most looks like your results.  There are 28 patterns and they are named things like 'The Persuader,' 'The Director,' and 'The Pioneer.'  The test is supposed to show you the pattern that is most like yours and the one that is second most like yours.  When I took the test, I got an error message on this page, so I had to pick my own pattern.

All of my scores were close together (in the 35 - 65 midrange), so  selected 'Level Patterns'.

There's a special note at the bottom of my "personality":

People who demonstrate level patterns may be going through major life changes and/or transition.  As a result, the profile reveals a lack of clear definition of behavioral characteristics.  We recommend that those whose scores create a level pattern retake this instrument when the situation has been resolved.


There's nothing like having a personality test tell you that you're having "issues."  One of the managers told me that I should ask to take it again, which I've done.  Hopefully, my personality will show up this time.

The Sadder Part


I was telling my husband all about the test and said that when I took it again, I would probably be a stronger 'I' because I definitely wasn't a 'D' (dominant).  He gave me a look.

I immediately pounced on that look.  "What are you saying?  Are you saying that I'm bossy?"

He gave me a smirk and said, "Well, you're definitely a take charge lady."

I huffed for a few minutes and then he backpedaled, "You know, there are no bad personality traits. No matter what you score - it isn't bad."

I beg to differ.  One of the personality types says "You can be cold, blunt and critical."  That doesn't sound so hot.