Profiling the Four Quadrants of Highly Effective Toltecs

As is our habit, VanDamme Associates introduced its latest bundle of newbies to a team building workshop provided by Unlmited Coaching Solutions. In preparation for the training, we were asked to answer a long (and annoying) series of questions in an online survey, which all took the format.

Select the one phase that best describes you at work.

• I like challenges.
• I like interacting with people.
• I tend to be relaxed and easy going.

• I tend to have high standards.
  When training day came around, the delightful woman leading the session presented us with the result of our surveys. The training had headlined a self-actualization model called “The Four Agreements“, but, as it turns out, the training also covered our Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness, or DiSC, behaviorial dimensions. The notion is that each of us have the four DiSC qualities in varying degrees. Team communication goes awry when someone with a high Dominance dimension interacts with someone with a high Conscientiousness dimension. One person is focussed on function, and another is focussed on form. Reasoning that would convince one person, fails to convince the other, and people end up taking past one another.

• Dominance - relating to control, power and assertiveness

• Influence - relating to social situations and communication
• Steadiness - relating to patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness
• Conscientiousness - relating to structure and organization
  The DiSC behavioral model was pioneered by William Moulton Marston in 1928 (who also created the polygraph and the Wonder Woman comic book), and refined by other researchers over the years. The Unlimited Coaching package includes a bar chart showing each of our four DiSC qualities in relation to one another, and pages of predictive advice based on the how those qualities interact. I can’t speak for anyone else, but the result of my own DiSC assessment is just plain spooky. I’d love to have a set of these for the wife and kids :)

Meanwhile, to keep things even more interesting, the training included a run down of the Four Agreements, as promised. Coined by a Mexican surgeon, Miguel Ruiz, who returned to his family’s Toltec roots after a near-death experience, the Four Agreements are designed to help us live happier, more productive lives.

1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don’t take it personally.
3. Don’t make assumptions.
4. Always do your best.

As principles go, the 4As are quite nice, and even strangely complementary to the DISC assessment.

As a longtime dabbler in self-improvement texts, I’m a huge fan of Stephen Covey’s the Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. Covey mentions that many behavioral models have four key focal points, such as the biblical qualities of Heart, Mind, Soul and Strength. Since we have four DiSC dimension and four habits, let’s try mapping the two together.

Marston

Ruiz

Dominance

Don’t take it personally,

Influence

Be impeccable with your word.

Steadiness

Always do your best.

Conscientiousness

Don’t make assumptions.



Hmmm. Covey recently added an 8th habit (“Teach the habits.”). Each of the habits is considered to be either a public habit or a private habit. If we combine the public and private habits into one, we are left with, waddyaknow, Four Habits. Let’s map all four systems together.

Bible

Marston

Covey

Ruiz

Heart

Influence

Be Proactive. Think win/win.

Be impeccable with your word.

Mind

Conscientiousness

Begin with the end in mind. Seek first to understand and then to be understood.

Don’t make assumptions.

Strength

Dominance

Put first things first. Synergize!

Don’t take it personally.

Soul

Steadiness

Sharpen the saw. Teach the habits.

Always do your best.



Going back to my DiSC assessment, from a Biblical perspective, I now see that I’m a high Strength, with nearly equal measures of Heart and Mind, followed by a healthy dose of Soul. Somehow, that’s comforting.

PS: For extra credit, try adding your own mappings for the four physical dimensions: Width, Height, Length, and Time :)