YES! I’m Listening… It Just Sounds Like I’m Doing All the Talking

It is easy to spot a High D-Style person. Their take-charge approach, along with their strong decisive drive and energy get a lot accomplished. But similar to the I-Style folks, listening well may not be their strong suit. In fact, listening is often one of their biggest challenges.

We’ve looked at how the C-Styles, S-Styles and I-Styles tend to listen. In keeping with “working backwards” through the DISC Styles, this week we’ll review the D-Style’s listening tendencies.

My special thanks to Extended DISC for their Listening Webinar. Since this is their business, it is not surprising how accurate they are. And I thank them for sharing these important insights.

Remember – the D-Style person:

• Takes charge
• Is authoritative
• Gets things done
• Is decisive
• Sees the big picture

It would logically follow, then, that the strengths of their listening style would include:

• Can focus on the essentials
• Be logical as they listen
• Hear the big picture
• Generate new ideas from what they hear

In keeping with these tendencies, items to improve a D-Style’s listening skills might include:

• Take time to stop, sit and actually listen
• Make an effort not to interrupt, even if a bright idea is “beaming”
• Choose not to challenge what the other person is saying
• Pay attention to the details – they may be important
• Be patient if the other person doesn’t get right to the point
• Remember that a conversation is like a tennis game – it is important to let the other person hit the ball, too (for more insight on this Tennis Game analogy, see my blogpost, “How a Conversation Needs to Be More Like a Tennis Game”)

A D-Style person can definitely add direction and new ideas to a conversation, but it is a critical skill to learn to be a patient listener as well.

QUESTION: If you have some D-Style in you, do you find your drive to take charge makes it harder to “listen long”, but you are tempted to interrupt with your ideas or response? I’d love to hear your thoughts and observations. Please share in the comment section below.