Using the DiSCw model to improve
communication effectiveness
Jeffrey Sugerman
Jeffrey Sugerman is CEO of
Inscape Publishing,
Minneapolis, Minnesota,
USA.
DOI 10.1108/00197850910950952
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an explanation of the DiSC personality model along
with a real-world example of its effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach – The DiSC personality model explores people’s communication
priorities and how those priorities influence behavior. Kudu Industries is one company that has
successfully implemented DiSC throughout the company, and this paper serves as an example of the
model’s use within an organization.
Findings – Every individual within an organization has unique priorities and work styles, therefore they
prefer to be addressed in unique ways. When a company dedicates the necessary resources to learning
about the various work styles of its employees, productivity increases.
Originality/value – Companies that are not paying serious attention to employee communication
behaviors should take a second look. This paper shows that organizations that take behavioral training
seriously stand to benefit greatly.
Keywords Lean production, Communication, Personality, Employee relations, Training
Paper type Case study
esearch on ‘‘the real work’’ of middle managers in both large and small organizations
R consistently identifies a cluster of important capabilities associated with leveraging
informal networks of people inside a company that make substantive, lasting change
possible. According to Quy Nguyen Huy, author of ‘‘In praise of middle managers’’ (2001):
Effective middle managers stay attuned to employees’ moods and emotional needs, thereby
ensuring the change initiative’s momentum is maintained.
In short, organizations demonstrating high effectiveness in initiating change employ
successful managers who exhibit well-practiced behaviors related to effective conflict
management and communication.
Initiating change was exactly what Kudu Industries, Inc., a Canada-based leading
manufacturer of oil field equipment, had in mind when it implemented a company-wide
training initiative to increase understanding of the importance of individual behavioral styles
and the impact they have on corporate culture.
Founded in 1989 by Robert Mills and his son, Ray, Kudu started out in the Mills’ garage.
Today, Kudu has grown into a large organization with offices across the globe. Robert and
Ray co-directed the growth of the company. This growth includes a head office and
manufacturing facilities in Calgary, 12 field locations across Alberta and Saskatchewan,
locations in Kazakhstan and Australia, and distributors in the USA, Colombia, Russia,
Venezuela, Japan and the Middle East with installations around the world.
In 1999, the global collapse of oil prices led to a sales crash. Kudu responded by introducing
‘‘lean thinking’’ to their corporate culture, with the goal of becoming a world-class company.
VOL. 41 NO. 3 2009, pp. 151-154, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 0019-7858 j INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING j PAGE 151
 The new approach meant maintaining a much smaller volume of ready materials and
products in order to reduce overall operating costs. Lean thinking focuses on streamlining
processes. The other challenge that Robert and Ray Mills saw was the need to focus on
people. The Mills understood that clear communication to and between company managers
and employees would be vital to promoting a cohesive, successful work environment. With
this challenge in mind, Kudu Industries began to invest in communication and leadership
training.
Kudu hired consultant Murray Janewski to help them through their transition. Janewski
recommended using a single personality model throughout the organization. They selected
DiSCw, a research-based assessment that emphasizes relationships to give them a
common language. DiSC research shows that every individual has a set of priorities that
influence their behavior. By better understanding the priorities and motivations of their own
colleagues, Kudu felt its employees would better communicate to one another.

What is DiSC?
The DiSC personality model explores people’s priorities and how those priorities influence
behavior. DiSC is an acronym for Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness.
The model can be seen in Figure 1.
Every individual has a unique blend of DiSC-based characteristics. The key to a successful
relationship lies with a person’s ability to identify what interpersonal style he or she prefers,
and how to engage others whose own DiSC styles may be quite different. In the case of a
manager-employee relationship, a truly great manager has to connect by reading and
adapting to the style of each worker. The DiSC model provides a better sense of when and
why adapting is crucial to both the manager’s and the employee’s success.

Implementing DiSC
To better understand its own employees – from entry-level to managers, to even the most
senior-level supervisors – all 200 of Kudu’s employees took part in DiSC-based training.

Figure 1

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What they found out was that everyone had different DiSC styles and that their priorities and
how they liked to be approached differed.
Like most organizations, some people in the company lean toward the ‘‘D’’ (Dominance)
style. They are direct and not afraid to be forceful. People with this style are results oriented
and push to keep things moving.
Others tend toward ‘‘i’’ (Influence). People with the ‘‘i’’ style are outgoing and lively. They love
to be around people, and their enthusiasm is obvious. They are talkative and appreciate
opportunities to work with others.
People with the ‘‘S’’ (Steadiness) style show their concern for others and prefer to let others
be in the limelight. They also prefer a stable, predictable environment where everyone gets
along.
Finally, those in the ‘‘C’’ (Conscientiousness) style are analytical and care about accuracy.
They like having the time to do a quality job and prefer a businesslike environment where
people concentrate on logic rather than emotions (see Figure 2).
During the training process, Kudu employees discovered it was easier to engage with some
styles more than others. This is in part because of the employee’s own DiSC style. For
example, a D manager working with an S employee, the manager learned that to be effective
they needed to be more diplomatic and spend more time connecting on a personal level. In
turn, the S employee found out that in order to effectively communicate with their D manager,
they needed to pick up the pace and focus more on the results.
Consultant Murray Janewski believes the power of DiSC is its ability to level the playing field.
‘‘Whenever you set out to change a process or seek ideas from someone above or below
you, it requires communication that is non-judgmental. DiSC has allowed Kudu to do just
that,’’ states Janewski.
DiSC training gave the employees at Kudu Industries an easy-to-use yet powerful way to
understand each other better. This understanding helped them recognize the value of each
style and their unique contributions. DiSC has allowed employees at Kudu Industries to
embrace the process-heavy Lean Thinking while never losing sight of the people who make

Figure 2

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 it happen. In 2003, four years after implementing Lean Thinking, Kudu achieved their goal:
Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters and Canada’s National Research Council
recognized Kudu as a World Class Manufacturer.

At Kudu Industries, annual sales now top $70 million – up from $40 million prior to
implementing DiSC – and the firm has made three acquisitions. Ray Mills attributes the
growth to lean thinking and improved communications. Mills explains: ‘‘Kudu truly believes
in ‘managing from the middle.’ DiSC is a tool that allows the necessary communication to
take place and remove the fear.’’ DiSC is now a common language throughout the company,
and DiSC-based programs continue to be used to ensure new employees are exposed to
the more recently established corporate culture.

About the author

Jeffrey Sugerman, PhD, is president and CEO of Inscape Publishing, which supplies
Everything DiSC training materials for the corporate market. He can be contacted at:
763.765.2222 or via www.everythingdisc.com

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com

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