by John Vilianiotis, DISC ADVANCED® Accredited Consultant & Registered Psychologist
The Importance of Behavioural Style Alignment in the workplace: A view from the psychologist’s couch.
The incidence of work-related stress leading to the development of mental health disorders is increasing in Australia. A recent Australian Psychological Society survey indicates that 2 in 5 people (45%) identify their job or workplace as a source of stress which has “…strong links to anxiety, psychological distress and poor mental health..” (APS, 2014, Stress and Wellbeing In Australia Survey)
As a psychologist who works across both the organisational and mental health psychology sectors I quite often get a detailed view of how the consequences of workplace stress impact the individual at a personal level with regards to their mental health and overall wellbeing. Over twenty years I have observed the number of private referrals coming from GP’s under mental health plans rise to the point where these issues now account for roughly 60-70% of my appointments.
In working with individuals to understand the sources of workplace stress and the subsequent development of mental health conditions, such as heightened anxiety, panic attacks and depression, it is also quite often the case that changes in role and workplace relationships can unhinge even the strongest performers. For many employees who are happy with their job and the organisation they are working for, a change in role, team or leadership becomes the source of conflict, uncertainty and sustained stress, predominantly because of poor fit in accordance with the individuals preferred work style and orientation.
In these instances, I will quite often use the DISC model and framework as part of the counselling process to illustrate how the new role, team or relationship can be the source of their stress and anxiety resulting in a lack of confidence and, uncertainty in performance and approach to dealing with their changed workplace. Understanding the different work and communication styles can ultimately help to ‘reassure’ the person and provide a direction forward for them to make decisions and deal with the situation effectively.
Two examples will help illustrate this. In one situation a senior IT architect was referred to me for counselling regarding work stress and subsequent anxiety and depression. He had been transferred into a new team that was tasked with making improvements to existing software and applications. He had come from a team that had far more latitude in being innovative and thinking outside the square, and the organisation felt that he could provide some new ideas and perspectives to the new team.
From the first meetings and discussions things were problematic and a state of conflict ensued with his fellow team members. In simple terms his style was big picture, move quickly and we’ll work out the details later (lots of D). I ran through the DISC model and type descriptors with him and asked him to consider what behaviours and style he saw predominantly amongst his new colleagues. I could see the great ‘light bulb’ moment as he pointed out the strong C behaviours (slow, risk averse, detail minded etc.).
With further exploration of the model he could also see a fair few S behaviours as well (avoidance) which indicated why the conflict had not been addressed. Immediately he could feel a sense of relief and a new way of looking at his situation at work. Future sessions would be spent focussing on whether he felt he could apply some of the communication strategies based on the model to improve the situation at work or whether he felt he needed to request a move to another role and team more suited to his style. He chose the latter in the end even though he made some breakthroughs in his relationships because he knew that the teams focus would still remain on process improvement rather than true innovation.
In the second case I was dealing with the Asia director of an architecture firm who was finding himself in some serious conflict with a recently replaced major projects team following a client re-structure. He was stressed and very worried about losing his job as the conflict between himself and one of the client’s project managers was escalating and drawing the attention of the executive on both sides. He came to counselling low on confidence and uncertain about why he could not deal with the situation and the individual at hand, as he had over 20 years’ experience and had never found himself at such a dead end on how to overcome the issue.
I suggested we conduct a DISC ADVANCED® assessment to provide him with some insight into his own work style and use the model as a framework to determine the observed behaviours and style of his client. His profile produced an SC combination and when he read the report he was quite impressed at how accurately it represented him – including his tendency to dwell on things, not communicate effectively or with a sense of urgency, and generally avoid conflict. In describing his client’s style, we determined he was dealing with CD style who had perfectionist tendencies but would also get very frustrated and volatile in his reactions when his request for details and updates were not immediately met. Once again, the realisation of what was at the centre of the conflict and what he needed to do to respond more effectively produced an enormous sense of relief, reassurance and confidence that he could finally tackle this as a problem with some clarity and understanding.
References:
Feature: Psychological Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace., InPsych, December 2014, Vol 36, Issue 6
Lynne Casey, Rachel Pui-Tak Liang 2014, Stress and Wellbeing In Australia Survey 2014., APS
John Vilianiotis is a DISC ADVANCED® Accredited Consultant and a registered psychologist in Victoria and has been working in private practice and in organisational settings for over 25 years providing a broad range of psychological and consulting services including: counselling, career management & transition, assessment and development, training, coaching services and EAP programs. John believes choosing a career or determining job fit and alignment should involve a process of determining a good match between personal characteristics and work environment. This will lead to higher levels of performance, motivation and satisfaction. John can be contacted at john@synolosconsulting.com.au or T: 0412 551 208
