Submitted by dbobke on
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My name is Dan Bobke and I am an IT Director from Southern California. I have a challenging set of DRs to manage - 12 of them to be precise. Some are with me locally and others are spread out geographically around the country/world. In addition, I have a manager below me that has 12 DRs. All of these people are techies - from server systems guys to developers. We have a mix of cultures and some dynamic personalities.
I just started One-on-One meetings with my DRs about a month ago and to a person it has been a positive thing. The feedback framework is more of a challenge for me, but I am working on that as the One-on-One's become more fluid.
My DISC score is in my signature - I am about as High D as you get. I had to laugh after I printed the report and gave it to my wife to read. She was smiling by the middle of page 1 and open-mouthed by the end. She said it was like they crawled inside my head - very accurate. I am in the process of having a couple of my key people take the DISC profile so that I can tune my behaviors and management style to work with them better.
I got turned on to Manager-Tools after seeing Mark speak at a CIO conference in Carlsbad. He was engaging, entertaining, but most of all - he was right! He made me think about what my responsibilities are to the people that work for me and I decided to take that more seriously.
I am glad to be here and I look forward to some engaging and productive posting!
Hello from Orange County, CA
Welcome to the board, Dan!
My wife said the same thing when I showed her my DISC profile. It's a little freaky how accurate it is.
Cheers,
CC
Hello from Orange County, CA
My wife's reply was the same "Really...you...no! (loaded with sarcasm)". I need to buy her a DISC profile for a birthday (my birthday I think :wink: )
Hello from Orange County, CA
Daniel - Welcome aboard. That's a terrific introduction; very powerful. I look forward to hearing more from you on the boards.
Hello from Orange County, CA
Welcome Dan!
I love the DISC system just because it is such an amazing predictor of behaviour. Once you become more familiar and comfortable with it (i.e. identifying the key behaviours in others), you'll be amazed at how predictable people become when they respond to a situation.
When you know a little more about your team, try this exercise: Before introducing some new information or initiative to them, take a moment to think about how their different styles will react. See if you can pick the high D's who'll want the act on it (or debunk it) immediately, the high I's who'll be vocal about how it affects them, the high S's who'll be concerned (probably in private) about how it'll affect the team and the high C's who'll want to see the full costings....
Then see how right you are....
Have fun and welcome.
Hello from Orange County, CA
Welcome to the forums, Dan. It took me quite some time before I had my DR's take the DISC assessment (and get a copy of mine), and even longer before I shared with my wife. I, like Jim, heard of, "really... not you..." as she read through mine.
Again, welcome!
Hello from Orange County, CA
Dan-
Glad to see you here! I remember meeting at La Costa, and glad I made some headway. That speech seems to have struck a chord - Cisco has asked me to be one of 3 traveling speakers in their CXO series. I go to Cooperstown next month.
Look forward to helping further - it's a privilege to serve you.
Mark