Stress Management Techniques For Each DISC Personality Type

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Stress is inevitable in work environments; understanding the four DiSC personality types and how they deal with stress can help you and your team manage it more effectively. | SUCCESS

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Every workplace team is like a melting pot of various backgrounds, experiences, strengths, weaknesses and personalities. It’s these differences that help you to become a well-rounded and successful cohort. But, these same dissimilarities can also cause friction among the group.

If you’re having trouble understanding why Ryan from marketing never speaks up in meetings or why Sarah in accounting is easily overwhelmed, the DISC Model can help. Created by Psychologist William Moulton Marston, DISC is a personality assessment that gives valuable and actionable insights into a person’s unique behaviors and priorities. Based on answers to about 80 personality-focused questions, people are grouped into a distinct style bucket through an assessment.

These classifications can help us to better understand ourselves and those around us, giving us further insight into the pace we prefer to work, how we engage with coworkers, and how we respond to challenges or rules. The analysis can even facilitate improved stress management, as we can identify the specific triggers and coping mechanisms that best align with each personality.

Based on the DISC assessment, there are four core personality types: (D)ominance, (I)nfluence, (S)teadiness and (C)onscientiousness. Each has its own set of characteristics, working styles, preferences and stressors. The assessment also breaks down each style’s preferred pace and agreeableness.

People under the Dominance umbrella thrive on confidence and directness. They are action-oriented, motivated by fast results and capable of solving problems to reach their desired outcomes. Dominance personalities also tend to be more questioning and skeptical.

Meanwhile, Influence personality types are open, optimistic, lively and warm. They place a higher value on relationships and their ability to impact others.

Those in the Steadiness class are defined by their dependable and cooperative nature. Their even temper, reflectiveness and sincerity toward those around them help them assume the role of peacemakers.

Lastly, Conscientiousness types have analytical minds, always approaching situations with caution and skepticism. They highly value competency, expertise and a stable environment.

It’s also important to note that while these are the four major personalities, three quadrants exist within each type, showing that people may also exhibit behaviors that lean toward other personalities.

Personality type plays a monumental role in how people function, including how we feel and manage our stress. This is shown through a 2022 analysis conducted by Bo Zhang and a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign experts. The research looks into what is known as the Big Five personality traits, including neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, and agreeableness. It found that while all five traits are linked to perceived stress, neuroticism had the strongest link.

In addition, agreeableness or conscientiousness traits were also related to stressor exposure. However, Zhang explained that “agreeable people are less likely to encounter stressful situations such as interpersonal conflict because of the tendency to be caring, understanding and forgiving. Similarly, conscientious people are less likely to experience stress because their good self-regulation abilities can protect them from the encounters of stressful experiences, as well as the negative psychological impacts of stressors.”

Research published by the Journal of Research in Personality dives deeper into stress and personality types by examining how people with different personality traits cope with stress. It found that people higher in neuroticism were generally more avoidant and used emotion-focused strategies. Those higher in conscientiousness, extraversion and openness looked to problem-solving, and people higher in agreeableness instead resorted to social support.

The Big Five and DISC are two different models. However, this research helps to prove that different personality traits do, in fact, see and react to stress differently. As such, each one needs personalized coping techniques rather than cookie-cutter advice.

With their strong will and drive, Dominant personalities can become stressed by a lack of control, vagueness, strict rules, interruptions or the fear of being perceived as weak. When these scenarios rear their ugly head, this group may resort to impulsivity and aggression, exhibiting a lack of patience. Due to this type’s correlation to extraversion, they may also be focused heavily on solving the problem at hand by any means necessary.

For Influence personalities, stress may manifest as a fit of anger, anxiety or sadness, resulting in a lack of follow-through or productivity. This may happen if people belonging to this group have been devoid of collaboration and social activities, feel stuck in a rut without the chance to be creative or have been influenced by negative energy around them.

With their poised and level-headed demeanor, it’s difficult to imagine Steadiness personalities under pressure. But they, too, can become distressed by things like working too independently, multitasking or changes in routine–understandable, as research shows repetitive routines can help reduce anxiety.

This group’s heightened empathy makes it difficult for them to deliver poor or controversial news and see other people upset. In circumstances like these, S types often withdraw to avoid conflict and become passive or even passive-aggressive, leading to later resentment.

In stressful moments, Conscientiousness types will lean even further into data and facts. But, simultaneously, they pull away from others, becoming avoidant, disagreeable or even hostile. These actions might be spurred on by unpreparedness or a lack of pertinent information, working under time pressure, being thrown into disorganized social events or not knowing how to respond to the emotions or needs of others.

Stress is inevitable in work environments, but understanding DISC personality types can help you and your team manage it more effectively. Each personality type—Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness—responds to stress differently, with unique triggers and coping strategies. By recognizing these differences, teams can address challenges with tailored approaches that foster resilience and mutual support.

Knowing that a lack of control for Dominance personalities or a lack of socialization for Influence personalities increases their stress levels can be critical in finding balance within your coworkers. Similarly, it’s important to know that people in the Steadiness bucket need a reliable routine, and Conscientiousness types sometimes struggle with perfectionism. Leveraging these insights helps individuals to identify the things they work on while also improving communication, reducing friction and building stronger connections across the team.

Explore the DISC model further to uncover its full potential for stress management and workplace growth. Investing in this understanding not only improves individual well-being, but also enhances team productivity and cohesion.

Photo by: PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock.com

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