NICHE FEATURE
What your left and right says about you Identifying which parts of your personality are dominant can help you adapt to different situations. Kerry Smith finds out how
“I
f I was Mrs Potts all the time I’d be invisible,” coach and owner of The Turnaround CEO, Amanda Daly, told me. In her home life, she thinks of herself as Mrs Potts from Disney’s 1991 classic Beauty and the Beast; nurturing, softly-spoken, and selfless. But in the business world, she’s more of a Fifi (a name she’s given to her alter ego), a no-nonsense, problemsolving conversationalist. “Within everyone there’s a left and a right personality; you cannot have one without the other,” according to Amanda. “Sometimes you need to switch from one to the other – in my case, from Mrs Potts to Fifi! It’s about knowing which parts of your personality you need to pull on more and adap,t depending on who you’re dealing with. “One colleague might make you react in a different way to someone else, but if you were able to understand how they work, think, and respond, you
can adjust, and avoid getting wound up by their behaviour, and therefore, communicating better.” Amanda is associated to use the well-known DiSC personal development tool, which is used by more than one million people each year to improve teamwork, communication, and productivity in the workplace. She’s using it as part of her coaching packages to assess what type of personality and behaviour someone is bringing into a business, whether they’re missing out on a promotion because they’re lacking some ‘Fifi’ about them, or they’re encountering conflict because they’re not enough ‘Mrs Potts’. DiSC – which stands for dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness – will identify how many of each type of person you have in the business, if you have too many of one type, where you’re underperforming, any improvements required, and
WITHIN EVERYONE THERE’S A LEFT AND A RIGHT PERSONALITY; YOU CANNOT HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER
areas you’re strong in. “Often, you have traits in all four areas. Identifying which one is more dominant helps you adapt to different circumstances.” A specialist platform ‘Catalyst’ is also available to view everyone in the business (if security and access permits), which Amanda analyses, interprets and diagnoses from. You can then look at a colleague’s behaviour profile to understand their actions and reactions. “If someone was snappy with you, it might be because of the particular way you spoke to them, or if there’s a negative culture in the business, you can also identify where it’s being established. You might have too many D personalities and not enough Cs, for example.” And you yourself might be a little too ‘Mrs Potts’ where you could be more ‘Fifi’. What are the names of your left and right? Find out more at theturnaroundceo.co.uk.
Who do you think you are? The main traits of the four DiSC personality types. discprofile.com D – DOMINANCE Direct Firm Strong willed Forceful Results-orientated
i – INFLUENCE Outgoing Enthusiastic Optimistic High spirited Lively
C – CONSCIENTIOUSNESS Analytical Reserved Precise Private Systematic
S – STEADINESS Even tempered Accommodating Patient Humble Tactful NICHE | 31
