Wake Up Eager Workforce 
Episode 131 Transcript

Episode Preview:

In this episode of the Wake Up Eager Workforce podcast, host Suzie Price unpacks one of the most misunderstood leadership tools: the DISC assessment. Joined by expert guests Kayla DeVault and Karla Brandau, Suzie explores how DISC goes beyond labels to become a powerful lens for self-awareness, communication, and connection.

Through vivid metaphors (like a four-way stop sign!) and real-life workplace stories, they reveal how understanding your DISC style—and learning to adapt—can transform how you lead and relate to others. You’ll hear how DISC helped teams resolve conflict, boost productivity, and even close more sales. But that’s just the beginning.

Suzie also dives into the broader TriMetrix framework, showing how Motivators (what fuels you) and Acumen (how you think) complete the picture of who you are and how you perform.

If you're ready to lead with more clarity, connect more authentically, and grow beyond self-awareness, this episode offers practical tools and fresh perspective to drive results—without losing your humanity.

Read the transcript for Episode 131 below and discover how knowing how you drive (and why) can help you become a more Wake Up Eager leader.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Suzie Price : I'm excited to share today's episode with you we're talking about disc and communication styles you may or may not know your disc style but you will know more about what your disc style is and how to really use communication styles in your work and life after today's episode I'm going to unpack for you how the discommunications tool is not a box to live in but a powerful lens for understanding behavior so you can learn more about yourself and understand others and be more effective in your interactions we're gonna talk about real stories we're gonna have some other trainers share some of their work that they do with others around this practical powerful tool you're gonna get communication tips a fun four way stop sign metaphor that brings disc to life you're going to hear why disc is only the beginning and you're going to understand more about what that means and how other tools like the motivators and acumen complete the bigger picture when you use the entire Trimetrix assessment so whether you're brand new to this you've never even seen a disc communication style assessment you'll understand it by the time we end if you already know that you're a d above the energy line and or an I who loves a crowd a d who loves a deadline a s who loves peace or a C who double checks everything this episode is gonna give you insights to connect better lead smarter and live more wake up eager days so as you listen in you'll get some free disc tools that you'll be able to download that will help you and all kinds of interesting insights that I hope will be very helpful we'll talk about the car analogy that'll help you better understand disc and make it unforgettable understand what it is and how to use it to the fullest I can't wait to share it with you Michael hit it

[00:01:50] intro : welcome to the wake up Eager Workforce podcast a show designed for leaders trainers and consultants who are responsible for employee selection and professional development each episode is packed full with insider tips best practices expert interviews and inspiration please welcome the host who is helping leaders trainers and consultants everywhere Susie Price

[00:02:18] Suzie Price : welcome to the wake up Eager Workforce podcast where we help leaders build a wake up eager life and a high commitment low drama wake up eager workforce this episode is sponsored by my company Priceless Professional Development and I'm your host Susie Price the title for today's episode it's episode No. 1 31 how you drive is not who you are why self awareness is just the start the tracker link for today we've got show notes with some uh free links to some resources that you might be interested in and links to the speakers and all that we cover today is at priceless professional.com forward slash self awareness with disc that's all one word lowercase priceless professional dot com forward slash self awareness with disc and as you heard from the opening and with the with the title of today's episode we're diving into this but not in the way you've heard it before if you've ever been frustrated by someone who talks too much or someone who never seems to decide this episode is for you and even if you think you already know this as I talked about at the beginning I promise there's something new here for you today we'll have stories practical tools a fun twist and more and we're always thinking about the whole person and we're not focused on putting anyone in a box so we'll talk a little bit about that about how disc can be misused sometimes so the top three takeaways for today is one what I just touched on disc is a powerful lens not a label so we'll dive into that you're gonna get the real life stories that bring disc to life and then also that disc is just the beginning again the show notes are gonna be at priceless professional dot com forward slash self awareness with disc d I s C all lower case in one word alright let's start with the basics for anybody new disc d I s C is a behavioral assessment that helps us understand how we act and how we want to interact five days a week while we're almost always a mix of styles it helps to understand each of the four primary styles and so if you are a d style the d stands for dominance and remember you're gonna be a mix but some of the behaviors that you would see that identify this style cause it's a style it's something you can see so you'll see that they're very direct assertive urgent and love to solve problems the I in the disce is for influence and the typical behaviors that you'll see is someone who expresses optimism is is enthusiastic and expressive and is sharing focused and really casual and comfortable with people the s for in the disc is for steadiness and typical behaviors to identify this style is someone who's very warm initially pretty quiet calm moves at a steady pace and may come across as somewhat cautious and then the last in the d I s C is for the C and that's the compliance typical behaviors for this style they may come across as a bit reserved they're very detail focused analytical and precise when you look at if you have a disc assessment and you're looking at your graph you'll see want you to look at the natural graph and you'll see that you score is anywhere from zero to 100 so if you are above 50 in any of the letters d I s C we say that you are above the energy line and you have some of the above communication styles things that I just mentioned and how visible your communication style is to others is going to depend on the intensity of the score for example if you had a C compliance style and somebody was at 60 and somebody was at 100 they're both gonna come across as reserved and detail oriented analytical and precise in their interactions but the higher the score the more easily you can select and say oh yeah she or he is definitely a high C because they do these interactions it's not as visible if somebody's at a 60 but it does play a part in how they like to communicate how they like to interact and what you're going to see so think about that you know know that the intensity has something to do with it 2:00am I I have two styles above the energy line most everybody does very rarely do you have somebody who's just one style but uh like for example mine are d and I and they're both 100 so very strong tendencies everything that it says that describes that is very true for me um if they were at 60 they would still be somewhat true but not as visible and maybe something else is higher so it's not good or bad there is never a wrong style and we are never trying to say one is better than the other typically people feel like their style is better than the other styles cause that's what they like and are good at and and what comes natural to them but with this language and understanding this you can begin to understand and appreciate differences and different ways that people interact and still be yourself but lean into others so just be aware of that if you are we call it above the energy line because we don't want to say you're high like you're good if you're this and you're bad if you're low because it isn't about that nobody scores uh high on Dissi nobody should score above the energy line if you do then something's going wrong in your world just kind of want to make that comment that all styles matter and and if you have anything above the energy line you're going to carry some of the characteristics and how many of those characteristics are true for you will change based on how the strength of where you are on that scale of zero to 150 is the energy line you might be familiar with our car analogy we use it in everything we do and what we just do is we use it to describe the three sciences in Trimetrix so that we can understand what's being measured and not having to be an expert in the science so in trimetrix it's a trimodal tool that measures three things and one of the things they measure is the disc but let me just explain two of the others real quick gas in tank when you think about your beautiful vehicle sitting down there in your garage or out on the street you either have gas in your tank if you don't that is motivator so if I get to do what I'm motivated by something totally different than disc than I have gas in tank so that's what gas in tank is in the car analogy the other thing trimetrix measures is 25 personal thinking achieving and people skills and we call that is under the hood so you can't see it it's something that you get to know about someone you know how you have your technical skills you can't see technical skills you can just know that they have the experience and then see if they actually do it same thing with these 25 personal thinking achieving and people skills it's under the hood it's not visible they can be tweaked they can be made better they are not measured in the disc assessment and it's giving you something different gas tank is giving you drivers what someone gets wants to do five days a week and then the personal skills is where they're talented in the human skills of the world just like you'd say where they're talented in their technical skills and so what is in the car analogy for the disc we say it's how we like to drive around five days a week and I like to use that because I want to keep disc in context because disc is very easy to see when you start to when you just after this episode you're gonna see disc styles everywhere you go and you we tend to because it's so easy to read behavior assume that is everything about that person if someone's really lots of fun and they make quick changes we might assume that they don't have some other skills and it's not the case it's not enough they have certain strengths in their style but that's just one aspect of who they are so let me give you an example of how they like to drive around if we imagine all four styles are sitting at a four way stop OK so you've got four way stop what might each style want to do how might they based on their distyle strengths and the ways that they like to work and interact and to here's our car analogy drive around what will they do at the four way stop sign so if it's above the energy line that 50 the d dominance is gonna probably run the stop sign they'll be the first one to go they're not gonna sit around and wait on other people and that's because the D's greatest strength is urgency we use another car analogy we call it the bulldozer they they get things done they have places to go and people to see so they're gonna go through the stop sign very quickly and they may or may not but it gives it's a good example of some high these are sitting there above the energy line these are saying I don't run stop signs but they're gonna be the first one to go okay so the high I which is the above the energy line of 50 I influence they wave everyone through before deciding'cause they're just having fun and they like seeing people and it's fun to wave and it's fun to be helpful and they might be talking and not paying attention that could be the other thing if they have somebody in the car they're talking on their phone they're having a lot of fun telling a story they might not pay attention that's another thing that that energy line above 50 with the I influence might do if somebody's above the energy line of US s that's a steadiness they may patiently wait their turn because one of their greatest strengths is being very considerate they tend to work at a steady pace so they're there while they might feel a sense of urgency they don't feel that urgency enough to run through the stop sign and because they're so people oriented they just they're just considerate they want to make sure everybody's okay um and then the fourth with the compliance the C they're gonna be thinking about what are the rules and they're gonna check the traffic flow before moving and in the compliance style if it's above the energy line likes to be accurate they want to pay attention to the procedures and they really want to get it right so they're going to be a lot more deliberate and they're not going to blow through the stop sign it's a funny way to think about the styles but it's also revealing this doesn't tell you who's right or wrong it's just who does what and why it might clash with others the compliance person who does not have d above the energy line they have the C where they want to follow the rules may be very very upset with the d who who runs the stop sign or the I who's not paying attention and isn't getting a move on so get a lot of great insights it's about this is about observable behavior so it's what we can see and again to my point about we can see it so we sometimes make some assumptions but it does not measure intelligence it does not measure values what drives me experience it's not telling you experience somebody who has a lot of experience in a certain thing they they can manage their distaste because they know whatever their knowledge base is to get into the details even if they're a dominant style the d urgency moving fast and it also doesn't measure human relating skills what I talked about earlier the personal skills it doesn't measure technical expertise it's just how we tend to show up and typically we've come into this world with these relating tendencies as they were developed at an early age our natural style tends to stay the same over time and as I said earlier the goal is not to judge our style see what's wrong with it or judge somebody else's style we're not trying to change your style there are no right or wrong styles the goal in this whole thing is to learn about our strengths become more self aware see potential blind spots because we all have them there are things that we can overdo that we can get much better at managing those overdoes and be more effective and we want to use it to learn how to see and appreciate others and even when they're completely different from our own we're gonna hear now from Kayla DeVault Devault she is going to share three examples of how knowing this styles helped the leader and his team how an employee improved her work product with better understanding of her boss's work style and how two colleagues created a work plan that reduced stress and conflict and increased productivity and effectiveness let's listen to Kayla DeVault now

[00:14:48] Kayla DeVault : my name is Kayla DeVault Devault and I work for TTI as a professional services consultant I have been using disc with individuals for over 10 years and I'm incredibly passionate about helping people see what makes them amazing and unique I had a team member come to me a couple years ago and he said that his team was having a lot of conflict he actually admitted that he thought he was part of the problem he felt like people were walking on eggshells when they were working with him everyone took a disc assessment and we had a team workshop and looked at some team graphs together and on one of the slides it became clear to all of them that they were all SC behavioral styles and he was a di he was actually the outlier of the team they were frustrated because they felt he was too direct and he was frustrated that he didn't think work was being done fast enough everyone in the group actually started laughing it was like the elephant in the room that had been discovered after that day he was able to adapt his style to meet the needs of his team he understood that they preferred deadlines to understand his sense of urgency and that he needed to give them time to think through challenges before moving forward it was really incredible to see the shifts he made once he had that awareness in another case I was working with someone who took the assessment and she discovered that she had a very high C behavioral style this gave her an awareness of why she was having some trouble with her boss at work she really valued having the details needed to complete a project correctly and when her boss gave her work it was a short email with a lot of gaps in what the expectations were for the finished project understanding this difference she was able to create a form for her boss to fill out when she had a request and communicate what she needed to be successful she was also able to adapt for the moments that all the expectations were not totally shared because she understood that was not something that came naturally to her boss it has really created the opportunity for more collaboration and an increase in productivity for both of them in another case I was working with a team member that was using disc to resolve a long standing conflict between two employees they were both very direct behavioral styles but one of them was more outgoing with a high I and the other person was focused more on the task at hand with a high C so the accuracy of what they were doing was really important to them this created a dynamic of differences and how they worked on projects together once we went through the report and created a safe space to walk through these differences we really spent some time focused on creating appreciation for the other person we really wanted them to understand how to lean on the strengths of the other person in the projects that they were working on when we checked in with them a few weeks later we found that they had actually come up with a format for how to best work together on projects they would review the project needs ahead of time and assign the best person to work on the different tasks research would be one individual reaching out to other team members to collaborate would be the other it was really amazing to see how they took the information they were given and applied it to their individual roles so that they could work better together and have more success as a team

[00:18:12] Suzie Price : I've known Kayla DeVault for many many years and I'm so glad I got to share some of her with you I loved her examples they're perfect examples of self how you build self awareness can take charge of conflict a lot of times when we have conflict the No. 1 reason is a misunderstanding of communication and so have understanding the distyles and that people need different things from you to be effective they are great examples I really appreciate Kayla DeVault how she believes that every person has a purpose and she that shows up in her training you know she sees that we are all beautiful amazing and unique it has dedicated many many years to help others discover and embrace it she is part of TTI Success Insight which is my business partner for 20 years she facilitates workshops team sessions trainings and coaching for other consultants and she's always creating space for growth clarity and connection and she is a woman of faith and gratitude and optimism and she brings that energy into every interaction and I'm so thankful that she is part of the TTI team and that I get to be a a colleague with her and for her sharing here today so want to talk a little bit about the danger of labels as wonderful as disc is sometimes people get disc wrong and that saying is sometimes they take their assessment say well I'm a high D that's just how I am I'm just a d and that's it take it or leave it but the goal is not to wear your style like a badge disc isn't a label it's a lens it gives you awareness not an excuse it's been interesting to me over the years while I'll be with colleagues who I adore who do this work who do what I do we all do it differently that's why we all have our own businesses but we all care about these sciences and feel like they're great tools but they will be the first ones who say well that's just me they use it as a crutch as opposed to it's not just you it's just one part of who you are and I get it they're just kind of being fun it's missing out on the intention of this assessment you know one of my favorite quotes is awareness without action is trivia so this is all a trivia game if we don't do something with this if you understand that your style I can be very direct and so my job is to be less direct when it's not necessary to use the strength when it's good and to pull back when it causes problems and and causes friction and we all have that and so awareness without action is just a bunch of trivia data it's very true here if you learn your style but don't adjust your approach you're missing the point and so I talk about always that there are three layers of learning when it comes to applying this assessment the first is the beginner layer so if you're first hearing about this you know you can learn your own style by paying attention to which ones are above the energy line then notice how you feel when you're using your strengths in that style and when you overdo it and then learn to manage that so that's a real big takeaway pay attention it feels good to use your style and then then start tuning into now what are the overdo's and when am I doing that so that I can manage it the second is an intermediate layer where you start to notice and appreciate others natural behaviors even when they are different from your own so you look for their style strengths and their potential Overdo's this was super helpful when I first Learned about disc I had been married got married in 97 I Learned about disc in 6 years later I guess 2003 2004 and I remember thinking oh my husband is a very high dominance so very assertive but he's also a very over the energy line C and he probably leads with the C in making things accurate and he would often you know point out when things were wrong or things were missing and probably had a lot of things that were wrong and that were missing it helped me a lot to start to understand okay no wonder he's so good he's an executive he runs a big construction firm and you know he notices when things aren't right because a big part of what he does is running these millions of dollars of projects is where are the numbers off where is the building code off where is this where is that you know so I began to understand he wasn't critiquing me all the time he's just a critiquer and it's something that he's really good at so it's his strength and his potential overdue so we can up personal sometimes is the best way to apply this so I always when our certification programs that we do we give it's we have a certified professional disc analyst program and we give each of our students uh complimentary assessments because we want them to assess people they know really well when you're learning the material both for the motivators for all the assessments in our certifications and and the disc have have people take it that you know really well and then you know understand it through the lens of what you know about them that will help you grow your understanding so the intermediate layer layer is to watch others and look for their strengths and overdoses and then the really the advance when you become advanced this is when you're not Downing other styles or playing up your style you know it's just who I am take it or leave it kind of thing you begin to in this advanced third step appreciate all of the different energy above the line this behaviors and strengths and you learn to adapt your style to their needs and wants as opposed to just being you all the time your still you what you're doing is being a good leader being a good listener being someone who tunes into the person in front of you as opposed to being so caught up in you and what you have to say so you listen and you pay attention and and as this becomes part of who you are you start to realize okay she needs me to slow down and ask more questions this is what's gonna help her be more effective because she's a steadiness or he is steadiness so it gives you the opportunity to tune in directly to what others need and to give them what they want not just what comes naturally to you sometimes what I see my most often is we want to give people what we want so if we want urgency we give them an urgency if we want steady and calm we want to give steady and calm and that is us being stuck in our style and not adapting we want to go through those layers the first layer beginner intermediate and then advanced to really put these tools to use so I have two memory jogger cards for you that are gonna provide more detail you'll see famous examples adapting tips very specific to help you kind of go through these three steps it's stuff we give to our certification clients and I'm also got a document with a PDF that has tips if you're facilitating a meeting or a training program things that you can do to keep each style engaged and I'll touch on that a little bit here but to get those two cards go to our show notes at priceless professional dot com forward slash self awareness with disc and that's all lowercase and all one word now if you are facilitating a group session it might be a team training or leadership workshop or something like that tailor your approach to each this style in the room I'm gonna give you a quick guide it might make it interesting to you if they're a dominant style they they like to see results and they can blind spot can be they can alienate by being forceful or making snap decisions so as a trainer or as a team leader or a meeting leader keep it moving stay focused on results let them lead where it makes sense if you have people with the influence style they bring energy they're creative and enthusiastic the blind spot could be they derailed discussions by talking too much or avoiding details so invite their input and set a gentle structure to keep the session on track so there's some really good facilitation tools that we've talked about on this podcast about setting guidelines that will help with that if they're the steadiness above the energy line one of their strengths or many of their strengths are supporting the group and they're great listeners the blind spot might be they're gonna stay silent if they disagree so you're not gonna get their input you know or if they feel uncomfortable they are not gonna share so when you're meeting with them make sure during the meeting that there's a safe steady pace and make space for reflection invite contributions thoughtfully and then maybe after the meeting go one on one with that person and say tell me what you really thought they're gonna hold back unless they feel comfortable and lastly the high C the compliance basically some of their strengths is the detail the analytical discussions they're gonna have it they're gonna be interested they're really gonna think about it the blind spot be can be you know our strengths just things we overuse can overanalyze our focus too much on it's gotta be perfect so for them you would offer structure logic and details and then follow up with data or next step so they can review and think about it you don't push a decision so those are some tips a lot of insight about disc let's hear from Carla Brando now she shares interesting sales leaders model of using the strengths of each style during sales calls to create a very high sales close rate it's pretty interesting because what that model is showing is that we can adapt our style and be to be more effective with others in all situations personally and professionally so the it's a four letters and the letters tie to the different communication style so this is when you get to be more advanced when you understand I'm gonna adapt my style I'm gonna do a little bit of I I'm gonna do a little bit of C I'm gonna do a little bit of D to move my style to meet the needs of a sales process and to connect with customers she also shares Carla also shares some feedback from a leader who was changed by his results and gives us a bird's eye view of individuals in a meeting describing themselves and their styles let's go there now

[00:28:32] Karla Brandau : hello my name is Carla Brando my company is Brando Power Institute and I focus on professional development leadership and team building using the disc model I've been using the disc assessments for over 20 years and they have been a phenomenal tool to help people understand themselves work with opposite personalities and enter an elite circle of leaders my workshops debriefs and conversations on the DIS model are always rich with people who understand and for the assessment's content for instance one sales executive I interfaced with is Joshua Britt Josh has founded his own company called wisdom with Josh that's WWW wisdom with Josh dot com what fascinated me in our discussions about disc was how Josh used the disc model to achieve a 52% close rate as he generates over $100,000 in monthly sales yes $100,000 in monthly sales he achieves this while competing with larger well known companies in his business how does he do this well he used his deep understanding of the disc personalities and insights plus his personal skills at creating rapport and made a unique lead or L E a d sales framework Josh says that the first thing you must do is L which stands for likable you must initiate every sales interaction by building connection and rapport like the high I in the disc model the E in lead stands for empathetic or tuning into the client's emotions and motivations and needs reflecting the supportive steady s a stands for analytical diagnosing the client's true problem and presenting tailored solutions modeled after after the precise and thoughtful C d stands for do it now confidently leading the client to take action embodying the decisive nature of the d in disc he actively teaches other sales professionals to replicate his success using his lead methodology his training empowers sales people to not just pitch but to connect relate and convert the result enhance trust increase confidence and a higher rate of closed deals we'd all like that right another example I'd like to share with you was when I was working with an excellent marketer in the conversation on today's marketing processes and concepts we built rapport and trust with each other and our conversation turned into our personal lives and challenges he knew marketing like the back of his hand but he was struggling with relationships particularly with one girl he was I should say maybe wooing to help him understand himself and his girlfriend I gave them both a disc model his comments were I Learned a lot about myself it changed me I'm learning it's the best thing I've ever done in my life it proved I'm not the person I thought I was it proved I have some growth to do I wouldn't have become the man I'm going to become if I hadn't taken that assessment what an honest person he was willing to admit fallibility to be vulnerable and work hard to character's personality when I say character I mean that most people are a mix of traits and when your dominant trait is not working in his case the dominant d you work hard to bring characteristics of your secondary or even your third of characteristics into your interactions with others you will find great relationship success if you follow his example work from your dominant personality trait but bring the secondary ones into your interactions you'll be pleased with the results true teamwork starts by being authentic in a group discussion I facilitated I asked the participants to tell the group something about themselves that they didn't think anyone in the group knew one person and I d said in a strong voice don't dismiss me I'm not the hard d decision maker but I want to be included in the decision the next person was an opposite this person was a di she said I'm high energy but I respect the team process I'm an Energizer bunny and I want to go go go but I'm capable of listening to others for those personalities who are a little more quiet my energy can come across as intimidating but but I'm not trying to be intimidating I'm just trying to get all the ideas out before I lose them I smiled at this honesty and I think I've been guilty of this as well another person whose assessment said cannot is not in her vocabulary read the statement to us and then said I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but I can outwork a lot of people hyper focus is one of my strengths I will stay with the problem for 24 hours if needed I will not sleep I will not eat I will stay at it until the problem is solved and this can drain others so I try to manage this and I get bored with routine work when in a job interview I let them know I get bored I am dangerous when I'm bored I related to that another great truth was spoken by a very high C he said I gather data before making decisions a lot of data when I tell others about the decision I came to realize that I have to slow down clearly spell it out and lay it out my mind is going so fast that I assume they get it or know what I'm talking about and they don't in the program was a confident person who said he was always in a leadership role he said the confidence and dominance comes with the position but he said peel away the mask and some people complain that I take too much time to make a decision but they know I'm saving the organization he had a large amount of s in him he admitted that his employees listened to him because he had a depth of information and they respected him for that he said I do the thought process so they don't make a mistake Phil the name has been changed to protect the innocent said coworkers know my projects will always be done correctly quality is job number one I'll proofread a presentation 10 times it has to be grammatically correct with no misspelling you probably guessed he was a high C he continued in God we Trust everybody else better bring data Sarah again a name change said she was a good mixer and could get the crowd going however being a C I she admitted a C truth I don't like the public side of achievement I like recognition and praise but not in public in one module of my disc workshop I give teams different scenarios and let them discuss how they would change their words or statements to influence and impact the behaviors of a d employee an I employee an s employee or a C employee after they talk through how they would flex their comments I ask them to turn their discoveries into skits one person is a manager and has to change the approach to each employee one of course who is a d another an I another an s and another a C one man was high in dominance he watched a skit and observed how they portrayed the dominant person he leaned forward in his chair and blurted out I never knew I came across that way such wonderful learning takes place when you take the disc assessment and share insights with the others on your team

[00:36:27] Suzie Price : I have known Carla for 20 years she has written so many books she creates amazing leadership models and has spoken to and worked with thousands and thousands of leaders all over the world I have always appreciated her professionalism her kindness she's very appreciative she has such a passion for learning and I'm thankful that I have had her as a trusted colleague and friend all these years and I appreciate her sharing on all the podcast today all of these stories what Carla shared um what Kayla DeVault shared what I'm sharing are stories that show the real power of disk isn't in the report it's what you do with it and as wonderful as disc is it is only the tip of the iceberg under the surface there's more I alluded to that talked a little bit about that from the beginning when I talked about the car analogy you know when we work with clients we typically don't don't do just disc I have one client that they like to use just this so they're trained in it they're certified in it and that's all they use but pretty much everybody that I work with we use the Trimetrix when possible but we're definitely always gonna do what you want to do what our clients want but in our car analogy when you see somebody driving around all you see are their actions and you don't know how much gas they have in their tank or what's under the hood the roads they've traveled and where they've been and where they're parked now you don't know how their environment's impacting them so all of these factors create a more holistic picture of who we are and how we work and live a better picture of our strengths and our blind spots so motivators what puts gas in your tank and Trimetrix is what you do why you do what you do it's what causes you to take action the acumen is the personal skills that's what we call under the hood it's that your horsepower that's how clearly you're thinking and making decisions and it comes out in those 25 personal skills and then we've got the disc which is how you like to drive around and that is your behaviors what you're gonna do with that four way stop sign and this trio makes up the triametric assessment that tri modal tool and when you understand all three you start to get a bigger picture a better picture of yourself and others and then we also add in I mean Trimetrix is just one piece of the puzzle there is also that roads traveled where have I been all our work experience all our technical skills and where do we want to go roads traveled where we've been and where we're going what are our future destinations that we want and then the other piece is where we're parked and that is what team am I on what company am I in do I match the culture do I match the work so all of those things we like to use that as a model to understand the whole person and it's more than Trimetrix um but Trimetrix gives you some keen insider ways to describe what people sometimes already know about themselves and to to grow that self awareness and other awareness so using this model the three with Trimetrix plus the other two work experience and where we're parked it's a game changer it really does help us be more effective helps people be more effective go to a close now I want to say here's some rapid fire this tips so listen close if you're above the energy line d dominance slow down and invite others in if you're above the energy line I pause and ask questions before sharing tune into others if you're above the energy line steadiness speak up and share your needs if you're the above energy line C don't let perfect be the enemy of good sometimes you just gotta do say it's good enough and let it go a quick story from me early in my career when I first took the disc assessment I Learned that I was a 100D dominance and 100 influence above the energy line and I have Learned from others around me who have opposite styles that I can slow down and let others in I don't have to do it all by myself I used to think I did early on I thought I had to do it all because of that I think it was that dominance I had no idea that that was my communication style it totally surprised me but it did cause me to be very urgent and impatient and not allowing others in because maybe they weren't gonna be fast enough or I had to do it myself a lot of reasons I guess but and then with the influence I can remember my high school friends which I'm still friends with used to say how much I talked I had no idea no wonder I have a podcast I'm using my strengths but I have to say all these years later I now enjoy listening to others I know when I don't need to talk I love hearing others perspectives before sharing my own and life is so much more fun from me learning about the strengths and the blind spots for my style so life is so much more fun when we flex and learn to enjoy others and so while I love this and I don't ever want to over apply it I just have gotten so much value out of it and I would love for it to become a part of your world too this helps us self evaluate we can evaluate ourselves and not judge ourselves I know at first I was judging myself but it's really not about judging yourself it's about evaluating and seeing where where there's greatness and where there's some opportunity and then understanding then use it for a tool what do others need from us how can I give my husband the high compliance style with the d give him what he wants as opposed to me ignoring his need for structure and accuracy and detail I've Learned so much from having our differences and they've become our strengths it's so important I wanna say it again we wanna give people what they need not what we need and without this tool I don't know how you get to that just such a simple tool that gives so much value so I hope you enjoyed our discussion today I hope you got a lot from what Kayla DeVault and Carla shared and I want to now go to Douglas White we've been doing this segment since the first of the year a well being 2.0 aligning with your excellence with Douglas who's the CEO of Soul Integrated Athletics he's been a recurring guest here he participated in the high pressure world of sports in professional baseball with a 17 year career in Major League Baseball including the Houston Astros and a four time minor league champion as part of two World Series winning teams so he and I are connected we have some common interest and he's been sharing this well being tips so you can listen to all the tips at Priceless professional.com forward slash well being and this is our next section this this segment ties in beautifully what we've talking about today if you want to be a better leader and let's listen to Douglas now

[00:43:40] Douglas : hello out there wake up eager workforce my name is Douglas White this is emotional well being 2.0 aligning with your excellence not gonna lie to you it's been a minute since I've done one of these it's in real time with you because you just keep getting the segments fed to you but I haven't done this in a little while so this is lovely I'm glad to be back and I'm glad to share this with you OK so segment 7 was becoming versus being being versus becoming what is that about what's the essence of that what's the background of that how do you even go about doing that so Susie Price the boss the one who pays the bills she thought it'd be nice for me to give an example and I agree and again she's the boss she pays the Bill so I listen to her okay so becoming and being the example I'm gonna use is a professional pitcher right'cause that's my background so you want to become a professional pitcher but right now you're a senior in high school your whole goal your whole dream I'm becoming a major league professional pitcher but I'm a high school senior so how the heck am I supposed to become a major league pitcher the being part of that is what are you doing on the daily what are you doing day in and day out to be a professional pitcher so yes you're becoming one that's what you want to do that's the end goal that's the the dream right but what are you doing right now to be that and so be the professional pitcher right now so on the physical side of that seems kind of easy right I don't need to run run down the whole deal right but you're gonna have to do some sort of arm care you're gonna have to do some sort of mobility work some strength training some power training your delivery is gonna wanna be tight and on time so on and so forth right but the B part is what are you doing mentally and emotionally to prep yourself to prepare yourself to actually be in this moment that major league professional picture and that's a feeling place those are visceral things that you now could do on a daily basis if you want to to become and so that's that marriage that's that relationship I'm becoming something I'm not it yet but I'm gonna be it I'm gonna be it anyways I'm gonna know what that feels like I'm gonna know what that training is like I'm gonna know in every bone in my body viscerally inside my soul what is becoming a major league pitcher and so there's your example I hope that works out for you guys to clear up this being versus becoming because with anything that's going on in your life if you are wanting to change into something that's a becoming but you gotta learn how to be to become and that's an interesting art inside of our lives okay hope everything's going well for you guys love you so much bye

[00:47:01] Suzie Price : so Douglas is a great coach he talks about a well being and he talks about emotional well being in a podcast episode that I did with him so it's a full episode of our discussion and he is just a delightful person so I would I invite you to listen to his episode at Priceless professional.com forward slash emotional well being and then go listen to all the clips he's having us tune into this thing that sometimes we like to ignore which is our emotions and how we're feeling and how we can use that to help us become who we want to become and we can't act like it's not there cause it's gonna creep up and be in there in the mix anyway haha so different perspective powerful he uses a lot of great analogy spin in the thick of things with you know big crowds and big stakes and he's just a delightful so if you are interested in learning more go to Priceless professional.com forward slash well being and you'll see all of Douglas's information so to wrap it up today top 3 takeaways for today disc is a powerful lens not a label understanding your disc style is not about boxing yourself in it's about increasing awareness so that you can communicate more effectively and build stronger relationships the true power lies in adapting your style to meet others where they are cannot emphasize that enough and that is a journey and if you apply it use some of the tools that we have for you consider maybe getting certified if you really like this get certified come over to visit with us at our certification I'll have a link to it in the show notes and and check it out we've got three different certification programs you could become a certified professional disc analyst in the midst of it you would get access to assessments but biggest pieces you'd learn so much about deepening your understanding of yourself and others the second takeaway today was the real life stories bringing this to life so we had the team conflict resolution to sales success and personal growth stories shared by Kayla DeVault and Carla to show that disc isn't just theory it's a practical tool for everyday effectiveness and human connection so I hope that you saw that and felt that with some of the things that they shared and things that I shared and that and just a reminder the disc is just the beginning as valuable as it is it's only one part of what makes us who we are and that if we want to really understand ourselves we can do the full tri metrix if that interests you reach out to me and we'll get you a tri metrix assessment I've got a debrief tools and we can hop on a coaching call to go through it like the car analogy disc is how we drive but we also need to know what fuels us and what's under the hood so thank you for joining in on this episode of how You drive is not who you are why self awareness is just the start get the show notes at Self awareness with disc go to priceless professional.com forward slash self awareness with disc that's d I s c all lowercase I'll say it one more time priceless professional. com forward slash self awareness with disc spark some deeper insight reach out go to the show notes for the tools think about certification if you have a story about disconnection I'd love to I'd love to hear from you we'll feature you on a future podcast episode send a message here or on LinkedIn we're very active on LinkedIn we do this month actually it's this is may of 2025 we have a bunch of disc posts with disc resources in the post that you could use to understand the different styles I've got many episode podcast episodes also about this so I'll put links to those in the show notes but connect with us on LinkedIn if we're not already connected reach out to me Susie Price we'll have future episodes where we'll explore more about motivators and acumen and more real life tools that help you create a wake up eager workforce and a wake up eager life it is my joy to create this I'm so honored that you tuned in thank you for doing that and remember to keep growing stay curious and lead with awareness we'll see you on the next round

[00:51:07] Outro : this episode of the Wake Up Eager Workforce podcast was brought to you by Priceless Professional Development thank you for tuning in if you enjoyed today's show head over to Priceless professional.com to gain access to more professional development resources