Personality training can improve work with clients, internal communication and efficiency

In mid-June, the We R Food Safety! staff traveled to our Menomonie, Wis., headquarters for a week of meetings that included individual and team growth, software and food safety meetings — and some very good food. One training session that the entire team experienced was a presentation and analysis of our personalities in the workplace setting, following the DiSC model. Weeks before our team meetings, we each took the personality quiz, and were then presented our own personality profiles. At the team meetings, we learned more about how those profiles can coexist. From the DiSC Web site (https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc), here is a brief explanation of the personality profiles:

DiSC is an acronym that stands for the four main personality profiles described in the DiSC model: (D)ominance, (i)nfluence, (S)teadiness and (C)onscientiousness.

People with D personalities tend to be confident and place an emphasis on accomplishing bottom-line results. 

People with i personalities tend to be more open and place an emphasis on relationships and influencing or persuading others.

People with S personalities tend to be dependable and place the emphasis on cooperation and sincerity.

People with C personalities tend to place the emphasis on quality, accuracy, expertise, and competency.

I found this training to be a valuable course in understanding more about each individual, as well as how they function within the larger ecosystem of a team. For example, in working with clients, it is fun to guess which category each client may fall into. Stereotyping is a faux pas, so that is not the goal or intention here. However, being able to identify the personality profiles of people and adjust to them has aided in further understanding of client needs and helping get tasks completed more effectively. 

I have a very strong “D” personality. This means I do not focus as much on emotion or the journey of a task, but rather focus on achieving a goal or task at hand, no matter the path. 

Having gone through the session and discussing the personality profiles of our team members — and how we all might better communicate based on them — I recommend this type of training to anyone that either has an issue with team cohesiveness, or very heavily focuses on the health of each team member within their facility!

— Abbey Davidson, food safety consultant, abbey@werfoodsafety.com