Ep 168 - DISC Personality Types: Building Confidence When Working with Different Styles

Ever felt like a colleague or your boss was speaking a completely different language, even though you're both talking about the same thing? This week we're joined by Gayle Tong, confidence coach and DISC practitioner, to unpack why working with different personality types can quietly chip away at your confidence at work, and what to actually do about it.

We get into what DISC really measures (it's not personality, whatever the name suggests), why the value isn't in the report itself but in the conversation that follows it, and how understanding your own style, and other people's, can turn "why don't they just get it?" into genuinely better working relationships.

Key points from this episode

• Why psychometric tools like DISC measure behaviour, not personality, and why that distinction matters more than you'd think
• The DISC styles explained in plain English, plus what each one looks like on a good day versus a bad one
• Why some of the most common workplace friction comes down to two particular styles clashing, and what to do about it
• The real cost of being told to "just be more confident" without specifics
• A simple team exercise that surfaces things colleagues have never known about each other, even after years of working together

00:00 Introduction: welcoming guest Gayle Tong

01:00 Gayle's background in confidence coaching and DISC

02:00 Why working with different personality types affects confidence

03:00 How this shows up with Gayle's coaching clients

04:00 DISC explained: behaviour, not personality

06:00 The four DISC styles: D, I, S and C

09:00 Why report feedback works best through discussion

10:00 What happens when you don't recognise yourself in your profile

13:00 Starting with self-awareness before anything else

14:00 The strengths and challenges of each style, good day versus bad day

18:00 Which styles clash, and which connect naturally

21:00 A real example: adapting communication style by email

26:00 Team exercise: the 'My DISC Profile' activity

33:00 When you feel pressure to be more like a 'D' style

35:00 Having the honest conversation about how you work best

37:00 Why "just be more confident" isn't useful feedback from managers

40:00 How to find and work with Gayle

Useful Links

Connect with Pam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamelalangan/

Connect with Jacqui on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqui-jagger/

Connect with Gayle

Website: https://www.enrichmentcoaching.co.uk/

LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/gayletong

Interested in working with us?

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