3 Discussion Questions, 3 Student Reponses, One Assessment

JGR100: Finding Your Leadership Purpose

Week 5 Discussion Question

Part 1: Understanding Your Personality

Understanding your personality and how you work best can open doors in your life and career and improve your communication with those around you. Now that you have your own DiSC results (D, i, S, and/or C) describe a situation at home, school, or work where you had difficulty seeing eye-to-eye with someone else due to personality differences. How would understanding your DiSC profile have helped you communicate with them more effectively?

For example, let's say you scored high on i (influential and optimistic) while your boss shows many of the strengths of a D (focused on the task, strong drive, direct, assertive). In the past, you may have had a hard time communicating with your boss because of her assertiveness. You might realize that you would be more effective communicating with your boss if you present your ideas in a "no-nonsense," direct way. She may not take you seriously if you go off-topic.

Note: To receive full credit, remember also to write 2 posts in the discussion: one original and a response to another student

Part 2: Student Response (Respond to the Student below)

STUDENT: Theresa Thompson

RE: Understanding Your Personality

Good afternoon Professor,

There was a time when I had my first job as a debt collector, my supervisor and I clashed all the time mainly because she wanted me to be more assertive when speaking to people with whom I was trying to collect money from regarding past-due medical bills. She did not want me to make payment arrangements with the people but instead insisted on full payment. I heard her out and tried to collect it according to her terms. However, that did not work out. It is my belief that if you try understanding a person's situation then you can move forward in trying to reach a common ground. Some of those bills were extremely high and I thought making arrangements would accomplish the same goal of having the bill being paid. I did not stay at this company long because it went against my core values and I just did not feel right as a person demanding something from them that I know I myself could not afford had the shoe been on the other foot so to speak. I took my experience from that company to another company and my techniques turned out to work in my favor.