The DISC personality assessment is most accurate when the individual answering the questions does so by going with their gut. On average it takes people about 8-10 minutes. If someone overthinks their answers or attempts to manipulate their results, an effective DISC assessment can throw up some red flags that should prompt some questions.
Today we’ll look at the Overshift. In the graph below, note that all of the scores are over 50.
disc assessment pattern overshift
This is an unusual pattern since most people’s DISC results are relative: as 1 or 2 scores are high, the remaining scores are low.
It’s quite possible this is an accurate picture of someone’s preferred behavioral style. This pattern in the natural scores is common for someone who is a chronic overachiever. They feel they have to be many things to many different people.
This pattern in the adaptive scores could indicate a person who has a lack of clarity in their role leading to them attempting to do everything.
We recommend you ask some questions of the assessment taker when you see this overshift pattern. Make sure they understood all of the directions and ask if they were focused while they took the assessment. Being interrupted in the middle of taking an assessment like DISC could skew the results. A retake may be necessary.
If they say they understood the instructions and weren’t interrupted, ask some questions to find out how they feel about their role. Are they comfortable being Decisive, Interactive, Stabilizing, and Cautious all at the same time. For some people this is their natural state. For others this could be stress-inducing.
The DISC report is a valuable tool for indicating role confusion or potential areas of stress. It provides managers with an excellent springboard for conversations during 1 on 1’s.
