Podcast

Using DISC to Improve Employee Engagement

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Are you sitting comfortably? I’m Nicola from The People Mentor, and today I want to talk about how you can use DISC to improve employee engagement.


Employee engagement is one of the main predictors of business success. Engaged employees are happier in their jobs, more productive, and more motivated, yet according to a Gallup report, only 15% of employees across the globe feel engaged in their jobs.
Disengaged employees are bad news for your business. A lack of engagement translates into lower morale, lower productivity, and ultimately, lower profits.


So what should you do as a small business owner to improve employee engagement?

The most important thing you can do is to show your employees that they matter. Employees are more likely to want to do well in their job, go the extra mile, and want to continue working for you if they feel valued.


To make people feel more valued and increase motivation, you could try things like giving them financial incentives or organising more social events outside of work, but the truth is that most people are motivated to do well for other reasons like they find their work interesting and challenging, or because they like to feel they’re a part of something that’s bigger than them.


Trying to find ways to increase employee engagement might seem bewildering, but there’s one useful tool you can use which can help you work out how to create a workplace where each and every employee is engaged and motivated to do their best.

The tool is DISC.


DISC theory is the study of personality traits that can give you an insight into what makes people tick, what motivates them, what their fears are, and how they are likely to behave in a conflict situation or under stress.


The theory suggests that there are four personality styles:

  • Dominance
  • Influence
  • Steadiness
  • Compliance.


Dominance personality styles are competitive and assertive. They make decisions quickly and like to be in control.


Influence personality styles like recognition and are talkative, enthusiastic, and optimistic.


Steadiness personality styles don’t like change. They are friendly, supportive, and patient people.


Compliance personality styles have very high standards and tend to be very precise.


You can imagine that being able to understand your employees in such a way will help you work out how to communicate with them better and motivate them in a way that they’ll respond positively to.

When employees feel understood on that kind of level, it makes for a much more harmonious and productive workplace, and a thriving business.


So let’s look at how you might improve employee engagement using DISC.

Your first step is that you need to know the unique personality styles of your team members. Then, follow these quick tips to improve engagement for each personality style.

With dominant personalities, you should:

  • Always be direct
  • Give them autonomy
  • Focus on results
  • Allow them to experiment with different ways of working

With an influence personality try:

  • Giving them opportunities to lead
  • Allow them to innovate and collaborate
  • Giving them a range of different tasks

With Steadiness people:

  • Give clear direction
  • Give them plenty of time to complete tasks
  • Give them a sense of security
  • Allow collaboration
  • Ask for their opinions

When working with compliance personalities:

  • Explain the purpose of the tasks
  • Listen to their opinions
  • Give them lots of facts and figures
  • Give them plenty of time to weigh up information and make decisions
  • Allow them to have some independence

As a small business owner who wants to achieve success, creating a motivating environment where employees can flourish is a great place to start.


DISC can help you understand your employees and how to help them work better, both individually and collectively, for the good of the business.

How to Stop Micromanaging Your Small Business

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What to Do When There are Divisions in Your Team

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How to Deal With A Disorganised Colleague or Manager

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How to deal with Employee Attendance Issues as a Small Business

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Are you sitting comfortably? Welcome to my series of podcasts that will help you to navigate those inevitable difficult events at work that are part of being a small business owner

Today I want to talk about employee attendance.

When you run your own business, you might feel like you spend a lot of type firefighting and solving workplace issues as they arise. Whether it’s dealing with an underperforming employee or interpersonal conflict, the buck stops with you, and like many workplace issues, some have a more significant effect on a small business.

Absenteeism is no exception.  While it’s true that people get sick, emergencies happen and you should make allowances for this, if absenteeism becomes a habit, it has to be dealt with. Once it becomes a habit, or it’s seen as an accepted behaviour, it can be more difficult to deal with.

So what are the effects of absenteeism on business performance?

Firstly, employees who are frequently absent become a financial burden, whether it’s because of reduced productivity or the cost of bringing in someone to replace them temporarily. Their absence also affects morale when other employees are burdened with extra work.

Absenteeism also affects continuity. It can be hard to continue business as usual if you have to hire temporary staff and you’re unsure of their exact skill set and how quickly they will adapt to your ways of working.

I spoke about how absenteeism affects the morale of other employees; it actually does more than this. It can reduce the performance of other employees who might resent the fact that the absent employee is ‘getting away’ with being absent so frequently, and they might even try to play the system themselves.

But the absent employee can actually harm their career by being absent. An employee is hired because of their qualifications and experience, which in most cases, they are expected to develop in their time with the business. How much can a frequently absent employ be expected to develop in a way that will help your business grow?

Finally, absenteeism is a common cause of workplace conflict. If some employees are disgruntled at having to cover for others all of the time, this can cause open conflict and resentment. This can make for a tense and much less productive working environment.

How can you deal with attendance issues?

The first step is to make sure you have an attendance policy. You might not have a big HR department to deal with these issues for you, but you can put down in writing exactly what you expect in terms of attendance at work, the procedure for reporting an absence, and the procedure for dealing with frequent or chronic absence.

In the policy, deal with different types of absences like sickness absence, scheduled absence (for an operation for example), unauthorised absence, and absence in special circumstances such as bereavement or a family emergency. Mention procedures for requesting or reporting an absence and also disciplinary measures that will be taken if appropriate. Make sure the policy is written clearly, it doesn’t need to be complicated. Your attendance policy should be readily available for employees to read, and they should sign it to say they have read and understood it. Make sure they know that attendance is a shared responsibility.

But it’s not enough to just have a policy filed away in a ring binder somewhere, make sure that you enforce it. Enforcement doesn’t mean that you can’t show some empathy when someone’s child falls ill, but make provision in the policy for situations where ‘emergencies’ become a regular occurrence. For example, you could state in your policy that you’ll have a review meeting with an employee who is absent for an emergency twice in a short space of time.

The next important thing is to keep track of absences. It’s a good idea to use a time-keeping system, an employee performance tool, or a spreadsheet which allows you to see absences at a glance. This will help you to see if one-off absences are becoming a pattern. Make sure you record the reasons for absence too as this will help if you have to resort to disciplinary action.

Emergencies can happen and employees can need time off at short notice, but if an employee simply doesn’t turn up for work, address the issue as soon as possible. Try to establish communication with them and when they return to work, meet with them to talk about what happened and what is expected of them if they need time off in the future. If necessary, decide on an action plan with them which will help reinforce that you have noticed their absence or absences and that it impacts negatively upon the business.

If you do notice patterns of absence like if an employee calls in sick frequently on a Monday or a Friday, confront them with your documented evidence and try to find out why their absences fall on certain days. Don’t be accusatory. Go in with an open mind; there might be a valid reason why an employee calls in sick on certain days. Do they have trouble getting childcare on certain days, or do they have caring responsibilities for a relative? Work with them to get to the bottom of it. Could you do anything to make their working hours more flexible? It can be more difficult to accommodate needs when you’re a small business, but it can be worth the effort if it helps a valued employee.

Remember too that it’s not just about punishing poor attendance, rewarding good attendance and performance is important. When employees feel appreciated, they tend to work harder for the business and stay loyal. Why not start a quarterly attendance reward scheme, where those with the best attendance get some kind of token to show they are recognised and appreciated?

Dealing with attendance issues is never easy and you might not be able to prepared for every potential attendance scenario, but if you have a clear and fair attendance policy, track attendance patterns, address absenteeism promptly, have a plan of action for excessive absence, and reward good attendance, hopefully you’ll see a marked reduction in absence which affects your bottom line.

I hope that you got some good tips from today’s podcast, and I’ll see you next time for the next one in the series.

This is The People Mentor, signing off.