Group Activities

Here is an idea that is not included included in your QuikDiSC deck:

• Hand out 3 cards to each participant
• Ask them to circulate, trading cards with others until they have one card that explains them well and another card that they want to work on today
• Heave each person share (perhaps during introductions)

Relating the common sense foundation and approaches of DiSC often generates personal insight and valuable learning. It is also relatable and offers a way to variety, diversity and humanity.

DiSC simple-to-understand theory of behavior can apply to famous people.  

Ask participants to identify a famous person and their style; e.g.,
D style: Michael Jordon  

i style: Oprah Winfrey  

S style:Jimmy Stewart 

C style: Meryl Streep  

Have participants guess the styles of classic TV shows; e.g., I Love Lucy: 

Ricky (D) 

Lucy (I)

Ethel (S) 

Fred (C) 

How about Seinfeld (Guess before you look at the Famous People Style Guessing 2)

A good follow up to this people guessing would be to use comparison reports to find out how styles can interact more effectively 1:1. Ask respondents what they'd include on the Comparison Reports for Lucy and Ricky, or Phil and Jay from Modern Family.

Wiley also has People Guessing videos on their facilitation kits, for purchase here.

Ask participants to guess the styles of famous people, sitcom stars.  Use youtube clips, scenario cards, news clippings.  You can also use the guessing prompts below (without the answers).

• Seinfeld: Jerry (D), Elaine (I), Kramer (S), George(C) 
• Modern Family:  Jay (D), Gloria (I), Phil (S), Claire (C) 
• Star Trek:  Captain Kirk (D), Scotty (I), McCoy (S), Spock (C) 
• Friends:  Monica (CD), Joey (ID), Chandler (I), Pheobe (IS), Rachel (S), Ross (C)
• Soccer/Football stars:  Cristano Ronaldo (D), Herculez Gomes (I), Sergio Ramos (S), Lionel Messi (C) 
• TV Dads:  Jay Pritchett, Modern Family (D), Tim Taylor, Home Improvement (I), Michael Bluth, Arrested Development (S), Hank Hill, King of the Hill (C) 
• TV Moms:  Claire Huxtable, Cosby Show (D), Lorelai Gilmore, Gilmore Girls (I), Charlotte York, Sex in the City (S), Claire Dunphy, Modern Family (C) 

Instructions:Have people guess the style of someone who might said the quotes below. Each is attributed, though guess the quote, not the person.

•  "Better to light a candle than to curse the dark" Ancient Chinese Proverb 
• "It's never too late to be who you might have been." ~ George Eliott 
• "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." 
- Antoine de Saint Exupéry. 
• "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less." C.S. Lewis 
• Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself. –Rumi “
• Between stimulus and response there is a space. 
In that space is our power to choose our response. 
In out response lies our growth and our freedom.“ — Viktor E. Frankl 
• Tell me 
what is it you plan to do with 
your one wild and precious life." --Mary Oliver "Circumstances do not make the man; they reveal him." – James Allen 
• "If you want something you have never had, you will have to do something you have never done"
• “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson 
• When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves - Viktor Frankli
• “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean 
• “All is flux, nothing stays still.” – Heraclitus 
• “For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson 
• “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. 
• “I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.” – James Joyce 

Instructions:

1. Group by dominant style
2. Tell them they are setting off to buy a TV
3. Ask them to identify the natural steps they would take (5 minutes to discuss and flip chart)
4. Have them present (3 minutes each) 

This is what you might see:

• D's – have shortlist, straightforward list/picture, name of store they are going to.
• Is– A colorful page that might identify friends they can ask for advise, search for the latest, greatest and funnest tech (does karaoke come with it?),  with a picture of the party they will have to introduce the TV to friends.
• S – typically create an orderly numbered list of features they need to have, and get input from family members or roommates.
• Cs – Will take them the longest time, as they talk about what they have to research and find out, comparing brands, specs. Might not have decided when they were going to get the TV yet.

Instructions: 

1. Separate into 4 groups, according to dominant DiSC styles
2. Ask someone from a group to volunteer to go first
3. Volunteer picks scenario from bowl, reads silently
4. Volunteer picks anyone from another dominant group style to address
5. The two, visible to the rest of the groups, work at the scenario, with Volunteer 1 opening the dialogue and trying to effectively influence, adapting to the other person’s style.
6. Have as many people participate.
7. Debrief (after each or after all scenarios are played out):

Sample scenarios:

Scenario #1

Your CEO  asks you why your group should get the extra staff person you requested.

Scenario #2

You address a colleague who prepared a report that was full of errors.

Scenario #3

A member of the team you manage (Pat) is not providing key information to a fellow member (Alex) on the team.  You have sensed some uncooperative behavior from Pat to Alex.  You want to communicate to Pat that the team did not complete the project on schedule and the role this missing information had on the schedule.

Scenario #4

A co-worker is late (again) on a deliverable.  You need this material to complete your work.  How will you address this colleague to express the impact of these missed deadlines?

Scenario #5

You approach you boss to ask for a raise.

Scenario #6

You are at a cocktail party and a potential new client asks why they should hire your company.  What is your response?

Scenario #7

You are asking someone to take on organizing the company picnic.

  Scenario #8   

Someone is considering joining your team. What would you say to encourage them to do so?

  Scenario #9 

Your leadership asks you why your group should get the extra staff person you requested. What will your request sound like?