Earlier in December I was fortunate enough to complete three inventories as part of professional development for our administrative team.  The three inventories were the DISC, the workplace, and the Myers Briggs.  The DISC is used to examine the behavior of individuals in their environment or within a specific situation. DISC looks at behavioral styles and behavioral preferences.  The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.  The workplace inventory (WPI) can predict effectiveness in jobs that require application of interpersonal and work style attributes. The WPI is based on a comprehensive taxonomy of 16 important personality-based work styles that are required, in various combinations, for most jobs within organizations today. The WPI can also be useful in coaching and developing individuals with regard to strengthening the work style attributes that can enhance their career success and effectively managing those interpersonal attributes that can hinder or derail career progress.  Our six-member team completed the inventories and has had one meeting as a team with a consultant to view our inventories together.

The following are some highlights of my inventory results:

DISC:

How he would choose to do the job?

He likes to know what is expected of him in a working relationship and have the duties and responsibilities of others who will be involved explained. Communication is accomplished best by well-defined avenues. He may guard some information unless he is asked specific questions. He will not willingly share unless he is comfortable with the knowledge he possesses about the topic.

Chet is somewhat reserved with those he doesn’t trust or know. After trust has been established, he may be open and candid. He usually is considerate, compassionate and accepting of others; however, on some occasions can become stubborn. Stubbornness surfaces when his ideals and beliefs are confronted. Rarely does he display his emotions; that is, he projects a good poker face. Others may get the feeling that he is unfriendly, when in reality he is not.

Value to the organization:

Dependable manager. Builds good relationships. Self-starter. Places high value on time. Innovative. Challenge-oriented. Service-oriented.

Areas of Improvement:

Become resistive and indecisive when forced to act quickly. Without proper information he will resist in a passive-aggressive manner.

Not let others know where he stands on an issue.

MBTI:

Descriptor: ISFJ

Introverted (30 of 30); Sensing (8 of 30); Feeling (2 of 30); Judging  (25 of 30)

  • Quiet, friendly, responsible, and conscientious
  • Committed and steady in meeting their obligations
  • Thorough, painstaking, and accurate
  • Loyal, considerate, notice and remember specifics about people who are important to them, concerned with 
how others feel
  • Strive to create an orderly, harmonious environment at work and at home

People with ISFJ preferences are dependable and considerate, committed to the people and groups with which they are associated, and faithful in carrying out responsibilities. They work with steady energy
to complete jobs fully and on time. They will go to great trouble to do something they see as necessary but dislike being required to do anything that doesn’t make sense to them. ISFJs focus on what people need and want, and they establish orderly procedures to meet people’s needs. They take roles and responsibilities seriously and want others to do the same.

WPI:

This inventory I had never seen or heard of before.  It gave some very interesting data about myself.

I scored very high in achievement/effort, leadership orientation, cooperation, self-control, stress tolerance, adaptability/flexibility, and dependability.

I scored very low in social orientation (I prefer working alone or in small groups), independence (I do not deal effectively with ambiguity), integrity/rule following (unlikely to demonstrate strict adherence to rules and regulations in all situations), innovation (is likely to be more conventional than creative in addressing work-related issues or problems), and analytical thinking.

I was acknowledged for not being concerned about making a positive impression on the inventory and acknowledging self-limitations.

I enjoyed completing the inventories and meeting as a team with the hope of improving as an individual and as a team.  I know our superintendent had asked our principal to go through these inventories with us.  Our principal had shown excitement about going through the process with us after she had done an exercise with the district administrative team and the consultant.  I’m not exactly clear on what her goal is in completing this process or what our next step is.  I did leave the first meeting with some knowledge of areas I need to concentrate on based on my responses to the inventories.  I also found it a useful teambuilding exercise.  I enjoy reflecting on my practice and it did provide us a forum for reflection.  A difficult part about viewing the inventories of others is that you may not necessarily agree with what another member of the team answered about them.   We just scratched the surface on identifying what the inventories tell us about ourselves.  I hope we are able to dig a little deeper into how it relates to our work.  How can we help improve as a team so that we are maximizing our efforts towards our roles and responsibilities? Are our roles and responsibilities clear within the team?  Can we be more focused and organized to allow our strengths to shine?  The initial meeting left me with several questions that I hope we get to at some point.  The professional development opportunity should allow us to progress into a higher functioning team.  I plan on going through the inventories and adding some action items to my smart goals based on some areas that I think I can improve.