Submitted by kurtsteinkraus on
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Hi all,
Do you have any suggestions of books or other reading material that would help a High SC to understand how to behave differently so as to address some of their characteristic weaknesses?
I'm looking to help a direct report address roughly the MTDISC's first two paragraphs of likely weaknesses:
High S/High C’s sometimes get bogged down in the details. If you need to know something that isn’t known, that may delay your work, to the irritation of others. You may want to spend more time discussing details, when a project leader or teammate believes it’s relatively unimportant. This can strain your relationships.
Others may see you as distant or unfriendly. When you are particularly concerned, others may hear your comments as blunt, or tactless. You see it as stating the facts, but when others disagree, this can lead to tension.
I'm looking for a book that has actionable recommendations along the lines "ask yourself whether you think you can resolve the detail yourself, and if so, plan to do that, rather than not starting your work until it's resolved by someone else". I'm comfortable asking for the behaviors; I'd like the descriptions of behaviors.
I'm not looking to convince my direct with the book. I don't think that simply reading a book will change their mind. I'm looking for a list of suggested behaviors that they can follow even if they don't (yet) believe me that it will help. I can try to write such a list myself, but I'd ideally like to use something that's already well thought through and tested, rather than something that I'd need to iterate on.
Any pointers would be much appreciated!
(Also, if there's a Manager Tools podcast episode that suggests behavior changes for high SCs—rather than how to interact with a high SC as the other person—please point me at it! I've looked through the Map of the Universe and searched "high C" but didn't turn up anything promising.)
--Kurt
Try walking the MotU outline?
"START HERE | MTDISC | MTDISC High S" and "START HERE | MTDISC | MTDISC Groups / Combination Profiles" sections seem like they'd contain relevant podcasts. eg "Task Management and the High S" under the first, and "DISC - I'm A Combination" under the second.
MT DISC Magic Variable
Hi Kurt,
While this is not a book recommendation, this is a good listen when discussing making our behaviors more adaptable. I would also encourage him to read through his MTDISC assessment pages that are past the strengths and weaknesses. It will give some insight on different behaviors that he can engage in depending on who he is communicating. Remember communication is what the listener does, so your direct would first have to be able to identify the behaviors of others in order to adapt his behaviors to better communicate.
https://manager-tools.com/2023/03/mtdisc-magic-variable-part-1
self-generated list of suggested behavior changes
Thanks, both, for the suggestions! I read through those podcasts, and while I agree that they're on topic, AFAICT they still contain relatively few concrete scenarios in which they suggest behavior changes. At least, not what I was looking for, unfortunately.
I wrote the below list of example behavior changes after watching this person get themselves into situations and thinking how I might respond or how I might advise others to respond. Being somewhat of a high C myself helped! I'm adding this list to the forum post (after months of delay, sorry) in case it can help out someone else in the future.
--Kurt
Try to say something affirming before objecting or asking questions. This tells the listener that your objections/questions should be interpreted as trying to help.
Try to phrase concerns as questions instead of statements. This both comes across as less confrontational and is also more likely to produce a useful outcome of the conversation. The more specific you can make your question, the more likely the respondent is to be able to give you an answer that you find helpful.
If you have questions or concerns that you might reasonably be able to deal with yourself, try to do that. You can always ask them later.
Focus on high value or high risk questions/concerns. We make lots of compromises and sub-optimal decisions for the sake of pragmatism and forward progress. It isn't worth the time and effort spent to get everything exactly right.
Overall, focus on the intent and bigger picture behind your interactions with other people and their requests and suggestions. Other people probably don't care solely about the answer to exactly this question or doing the design in exactly this way. Rather, people have some end goal in mind, and they're trying to get there one step at a time. Focus on helping them modify their steps to achieve the overall goal, rather than addressing each step in isolation.