Increasing competition and rising consumer demands call for flexible and adaptive organisations equipped with the right people with the super skills to compete.

In their latest CEO survey, PWC discovered that ‘reducing the skills gap’ is a key concern for CEO’s. “75% of Australia’s CEOs (and 79% Globally) are concerned about the availability of key skills.” Furthermore, in their 2019 Global Talent Trends report, Linked In identified that Soft Skills are becoming increasingly important in determining hiring success. In their survey of 5,000 talent professionals across 35 countries, they found that “80% of respondents said Soft Skills are increasingly important to company success”.

So, to remain competitive and build a culture that is resilient to future change, organisations will not only have to hire and develop the right people but also focus on the so-called ‘soft skills’ such as communication, collaboration, creativity and adaptability.

Developing Self Awareness. To develop the type of culture that promotes growth and development you need a starting point, a baseline if you like. Assessment tools such as Everything DiSC Workplace® profiles are a valuable resource when developing your employees because they give insights into their natural tendencies and preferences when it comes to communication and workplace behaviours. Armed with such insights it allows individuals to identify their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to working with others. And from an organisational point of view, it helps to identify any gaps in alignment with organisational culture where future hiring and development efforts may be focused e.g. teamwork and collaboration.

Building Relationships. Using DiSC® can also improve the quality of your workplace by building more effective relationships. Learning about other people’s preferred communication styles and workplace priorities can help team members understand each other’s priorities and how they may differ from their own, thus promoting greater collaboration and teamwork. By increasing understanding and acceptance, and through a greater appreciation of their own unique style, people can learn to adapt their behaviours to the needs of others, providing for greater communication and productivity within the team. When people are more comfortable with each other and willing to communicate more openly, opportunities for creativity and adaptability flourish.

Playing to Strengths. From a leadership perspective developing a successful culture requires harnessing the strengths of your resources in support of the vision and mission. Peter Drucker wrote in his 1967 classic, The Effective Executive: “To make strength productive is the unique purpose of an organisation. It can’t of course, overcome the weaknesses with which each of us is abundantly endowed. But it can make them irrelevant.” Since the most valuable asset an organisation can have is the human resource, DiSC® can also assist the leader’s understanding of employees’ strengths. Armed with this insight, targeted Development Plans can be implemented whereby people thrive, by playing to their strengths, thus adding value to the team in support of the company’s goals.

Here at Howardco, we’re accredited DiSC® facilitators. This means we can help you tackle workplace issues like culture, employee relationships and communication through the range of trusted and proven DiSC® Profiles and Workshops. Like to know more about how DiSC® can help your business? Download the case study “Powering Employee Development with Everything DiSC” from here.