Running head: BLAKE SPORTS APPAREL AND SWITCH ACTIVEWEAR
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Students,
As with the assignment 2 part 1 template, this template reflects what you need to address
for Assignment 2 Part 2 regarding the Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear case study.
This is an example of a paper formatted to align to JWMI Writing Standards. It is offered as one
approach to formatting professional papers. Please note: Green text includes instructions and
clarifications that will be deleted before submitting your final paper while the blue text indicates
areas where you need to replace the writing with your own information. You may keep the
headings and subheadings that are in black, bold type as these headings and subheadings align
to the content areas of the assignment. However, you may choose to change your headings and
subheading titles as long as they still reflect the content of the sections. Note: Your final product
should only include black text. Be sure all green and blue text has been removed before
submitting your paper. Also, be sure to delete all sidebar comments in the document prior to
submission. You may right click on each comment and select “Delete Comment.” You may also
delete all comments at once by going to the “Review” tab in Word and clicking on the “Delete”
drop down arrow. Once at the “Delete” drop down, select “Delete All Comments in Document.”
Note: This paper should include support from weeks 1-10 of the course. Total length (not
including cover page and references) is 8-10 pages.
Title
Author
Jack Welch Management Institute
JWI 510: Leadership in the 21st Century
Professor’s Name
Date
BLAKE SPORTS APPAREL AND SWITCH ACTIVEWEAR
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Executive Summary
For Part 2 of Assignment 2, you will include your Executive Summary on page 2—so you will
need to add a page to your part 1 response. Your executive summary (or abstract) should be one
paragraph and should not exceed 120 words. To count the number of words in this paragraph,
select the paragraph, and on the Tools menu click Word Count. It is a concise summary of the
most important elements of your paper. All numbers in the executive summary, except those
beginning a sentence, should be typed as digits rather than words. In your Executive Summary,
you will concisely summarize the key points of your paper by addressing the following: What
are the problems (dysfunctions and risks to the business)? What are the possible causes? What
solutions do you recommend?
BLAKE SPORTS APPAREL AND SWITCH ACTIVEWEAR
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Introduction
Part 1 of your paper began with the introductory paragraph. Your introduction began with
a brief and general observation about the paper’s topic. Then, it should have included a thesis
statement in which you drilled down to specific areas you wrote about in the order in which you
addressed them. For Part 2, make any changes to your introduction based on the feedback you
received from your professor in part 1. Also, be sure to update your thesis statement to include
the Recommendations section.
The Case: Problems and Successes
In this section, under “The Case: Problems and Successes” main heading, you should
have provided a brief summary of the case (in your own words). Make any revisions as
necessary from Part 1 grading. Then, you should have used the following sub-sections to discuss
the problems and successes.
Dysfunctions and Risks to the Business
In this sub-section, you should have identified the executive team’s dysfunctions that are
impacting the business. Then, you should have explained what you think are the biggest risks
this business is currently facing. As you explained your position, you should have cited specific
examples to illustrate the potential impact of these risks. Make any revisions as necessary from
Part 1 grading.
Successes and Strengths
As a contrast to the dysfunctions discussed above, in this sub-section you should have
summarized the key successes and positive characteristics of this organization. Also, you should
have identified and explained the strengths of the Executive Team. Make any revisions as
necessary from Part 1 grading.
BLAKE SPORTS APPAREL AND SWITCH ACTIVEWEAR
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Analysis
In part 1 under Analysis, you examined the possible causes of the team’s dysfunctions
using the sub-sections below as a guide. Throughout your analysis, you should have cited
specific examples from the case study and integrated course material for support. Under this
main “Analysis” heading, you may have provided a short paragraph introducing what you were
going to be covering in your analysis. Make any revisions as required from Part 1 grading.
Impact of Early Entrepreneurial Success
In this sub-section, you wrote a paragraph explaining how the company’s early
entrepreneurial success might have sown the seeds for dysfunction as the business grew. Make
any revisions here as required from Part 1 grading.
Trust, Communication and Information Sharing
In this sub-section, you explained how you would characterize the level of trust,
communication and information sharing among the Executive Team. You should have cited
specific examples and connected to course material for support. Make any revisions as required
from Part 1 grading.
Impacts on Team Performance and Cohesion
Here, you explained the ways that alignment (or lack of alignment) around goals and
incentives impacted team performance and cohesion. You should have cited specific examples
from the case and connected to course material for support. Make any revisions as required from
part 1 grading.
Team Structures and Decision-Making Processes
You should have written a paragraph here about the ways the current team structures
and decision-making processes are impacting the business. You should have cited specific
BLAKE SPORTS APPAREL AND SWITCH ACTIVEWEAR
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examples from the case and connected to course material for support. Make any revisions as
required from Part 1 grading.
CEO’s Leadership Style
Here, you explained the ways that CEO Cameron Barker’s leadership style and
history with the company contributed to the team’s dysfunctions. You should have cited specific
examples from the case and connected to course material for support. Make any revisions as
required from Part 1 grading.
Recommendations
For Part 2, you will add the Recommendations section.
In this section, you will be acting as a leadership consultant to Cameron Barker and will be
applying the principles and practices from this course as you make recommendations. Using the
following sub-sections for guidance, you will provide recommendations for improving teamwork
and resolving conflicts more effectively. If you choose, you may include a paragraph here under
the main heading “Recommendations” that provides some brief context for the recommendations
that will follow. Alternatively, you may choose to just begin with the sub-sections. However,
keep the main Analysis heading in place.
Increasing Trust and Improving Communication
Recommend what Barker can do to increase trust and to improve communication. Cite
specific examples and integrate course material to support your recommendations.
Incentivizing Team to Improve Alignment and Meet Goals
Recommend how Barker might incentivize the teams to improve alignment and to meet
their collective goals. Cite specific examples and integrate course material to support your
recommendations.
BLAKE SPORTS APPAREL AND SWITCH ACTIVEWEAR
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Improving Team Meetings
Explain what can be done to make team meetings more effective. Be specific and
substantiate and support your recommendations.
Making Team Changes
Make recommendations as to whether Barker should change the teams either in terms of
team leadership and members and/or overall structure. Explain and support your
recommendations.
Identifying CEO’s Need to Change
What, if anything, does Barker need to change about his own leadership style and his
behaviors in order to make his Executive Team more effective? Explain and support your
recommendation.
Taking Additional Actions
Recommend additional action that Barker should take to improve team dynamics and
performance and to ensure that both Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear improve
collaboration and thrive in their market segment.
Conclusion
Write a summary paragraph that brings the essential elements of the case, your insights,
and recommendations together in a clear and concise way. This conclusion ties your paper
together—reminding the reader the essential points of your analysis. This is the last section of
your paper. Do not introduce new information in your conclusion.
Be sure to include your References list on the page following your conclusion. See
the end of this document for a sample. The suggested length of your paper (including part
1 and 2) is 8 to 10 pages excluding your cover page and your reference list. Also note, you
BLAKE SPORTS APPAREL AND SWITCH ACTIVEWEAR
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must integrate some of the course material from weeks 1-10 to support your paper such as course
readings, videos, lecture notes along with DiSC, the TKI, the Vroom-Yetton decision-making
model, Goleman’s model of EI, Goleman’s leadership styles, Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions
of a Team, Jack Welch’s Winning, etc. Outside resources are also welcome. In the body of the
paper make sure you properly format the in-text citations. See the JWMI Writing Standards
Guide for more information about citing.
In-Text Citations
Within the body of the paper, when concepts from specific sources are used, a citation
containing the author’s last name, and the number of the citation in your reference/source list is
included. The number corresponds with the entry on the References page, allowing readers to
look up the source of the citation. We do not recommend the use of footnotes. Following are
two examples of using in-text citations. The first example includes a citation in which the
author’s name is already mentioned in the text of the sentence, so only the source number is
needed in parentheses. The second example includes a citation in which the author is not
mentioned in the sentence, so the last name needs to be included in the parentheses with the
source number:
Example 1: Jack Welch noted that when you become a leader, the focus is on growing
others (1).
Since Jack’s name was mentioned in the sentence, we only need the source number in
parentheses. In this example, Jack’s Winning is going to be the first citation listed in your
References or Sources list; hence, the number 1.
Alternatively, if you don't reference the author’s name in the sentence, you must include the
last name within the in-text citation as shown below:
BLAKE SPORTS APPAREL AND SWITCH ACTIVEWEAR
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Example 2: As a leader develops, the focus becomes more about developing the skills and
talents of others (Welch, 1).
Say the next source you used in your paper is Goleman, then your citation is (Goleman, 2) or
simply (2), if you have referred to Goleman earlier in the sentence. If you were then to use Jack
again later in the paper, he remains (Welch, 1) when he is cited, and so on. If you use two sources
in the same sentence they can be cited at the end of your sentence, like this (Welch, 1; Goleman,
2). They are separated with a semicolon.
References or Sources Page
Every source that you cited within your paper will need to be listed on your Reference
page or Sources Page. Your Reference page is at the end of your paper and is not included in the
page count.
The format of the references varies by the type of entry. For examples, please see the
sample References page at the end of this document. References are numbered according to the
first time you use them in your paper. Sources are only listed once on your References page
even if the same source is used/referenced again in different parts of your paper. You continue to
use the same original source number for your citations throughout the paper. Your References
page should only include sources that were applied in your paper. You may also refer to the
JWMI Writing Standards document and/or work with a Communication Coach for further
guidance.
Course Lectures and Media
For Assignments, use formal citations and references for course lectures and videos:
BLAKE SPORTS APPAREL AND SWITCH ACTIVEWEAR
•
9
If the material is from the current course: (JWI510, 3). The three at the end indicates the
number of this source on your reference list. Then, we know we can go to the third source
on your reference list for more information about that source.
•
If the material is from another course: (JWI505, 4). We can then look at the fourth entry
on your reference page for more information on locating that source.
For the reference section in a paper, simply list:
JWI510. Week 3. Lecture 1. Lecture Title
See the References list at the end of this template to view examples.
Quotations
Originality is an important aspect of graduate writing. To ensure original thinking, “quoting
should be done only sparingly; be sure that you have a good reason to include a direct quotation
when you decide to do so” (Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing, 5). Notice the placement
of the quotation marks, citation, and final punctuation after the citation. Keep your quotes to
approximately 25 words or less, and no more than 1-2 sentences. Paraphrasing, putting the
information in your own words, is much preferred as it shows your application and knowledge of
the material. You must cite when you paraphrase, but quotation marks are not required.
BLAKE SPORTS APPAREL AND SWITCH ACTIVEWEAR
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References
1. Jack Welch. 2005. Winning
2. Daniel Goleman. 1998. What Makes a Leader. Harvard Business Review
3. JWI510. Week 3. Lecture 1. Your Leadership Style
4. JWI505. Week 3. Video. Lorenzo Simonelli. Improving Communication
5. Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing. n.d.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/01/
6. Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly Baden. 2017. Blake Sports Apparel and Switch
Activewear: Bringing the Executive Team Together. Harvard Business Review
7. Everything DiSC Workplace. 2012. http://blackboard.strayer.edu
8. Jon R. Katzenbach. 1993. The Discipline of Teams. Harvard Business Review
9. Patrick Lencioni. 2002. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
10. Michael Smith. 2001. Writing a Successful Paper. The Trey Research Monthly
11. Name of a Website. n.d. website address
12. JWI510. Week 3. Video. Jim McNerney. Characteristics of Successful Leaders
13. JWMI Policy & Procedures Guide. This is the policy at my office.
9 -4 1 7 -0 4 8
REV: DECEMBER 11, 2017
BORIS GROYSBERG
KATHERINE CONNOLLY BADEN
Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear:
Bringing the Executive Team Together
Cameron (Cam) Barker, founder and CEO of Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear, cut
across the parking lot to his car after a long day at company headquarters in Birmingham, England. He
was preoccupied by a phone call earlier that day from a member of his executive team: two members
of the team had failed to cooperate to resolve a simple issue, and the caller had asked him to intervene.
Lately such incidents were all too frequent. Individually, the executives were competent—most had
been at the company for several years and contributed substantially to its growth—but the team’s
dynamics were dysfunctional. Mistrust, lack of communication, and refusal to collaborate were
rampant. Barker was ready to act, but what action should he take? Were the right people in the right
roles? Were the right people even on the team? Was the team appropriately structured and managed?
What changes should Barker make to strengthen the company’s leadership and position it for
continued growth? (See Exhibit 1 for an organizational chart; see Exhibit 2 for profiles of executiveteam members.)
Blake Sports Apparel
Blake Sports Apparel, founded by Barker’s father, paid licensing fees to leagues and brands in order
to manufacture sports apparel and accessories using their logos, which they in turn sold to retailers in
the marketplace. A decade after its founding, Barker formally took over the family business as CEO.
At the time, Blake Sports Apparel's manufacturing licenses were with several small brands; shortly
after Barker began his tenure as CEO, he met the founder of the mid-size brand Cartlock and began
manufacturing goods for that company as well. “At the time Cartlock was at $25 million. Then Cartlock
went from basically zero to a billion,” Barker recalled. “We rode the wave through them going public.
Ninety percent of our business was definitely Cartlock; we were 15–20 percent of their business.”
Ten years later, despite the partnership’s success, Barker started to feel uneasy about Cartlock’s
long-term direction. After contemplating his options, he decided to approach Howell, a large global
brand. The initial meeting went well; shortly, Barker found that he had to negotiate his way out of his
deal with Cartlock to take on a deal with Howell. He also had to quickly upgrade infrastructure to
Professor Boris Groysberg and Research Associate Katherine Connolly Baden prepared this case. This case was part of the YPO/OPM research
project. It was reviewed and approved before publication by a company designate. Funding for the development of this case was provided by
Harvard Business School and not by the company. Professor Groysberg has conducted paid consulting work for this company. Certain details
have been disguised. HBS cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of
primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.
Copyright © 2016, 2017 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-5457685, write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to www.hbsp.harvard.edu. This publication may not be digitized,
photocopied, or otherwise reproduced, posted, or transmitted, without the permission of Harvard Business School.
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Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear: Bringing the Executive Team Together
handle the Howell business. He described how the executive team had functioned during that
pressured period:
We had one year when we were exiting the Cartlock business and introducing the
Howell business. This management team was drinking from a firehose. We were dealing
with a lot of external and internal challenges that were very complex. Cartlock was a very
dynamic, thought-provoking company. Howell was a very mature, well-established
company. And then internally, as an entrepreneurial company in growth mode, we never
had enough resources to get everything done, not enough hours in a day. But we were
performing. We were doing something that would never likely happen in sporting goods,
and that was literally shipping Howell and Cartlock in the same year. People were
wearing multiple hats, meaning one morning they were selling Howell products and then
in the afternoon they were dealing with Cartlock products.
Once the transition to Howell was complete, new challenges arose. Howell was pricing its products
so low that it had essentially eliminated the typical margin that a company in Blake Sports Apparel’s
industry would expect. Blake Sports Apparel was also shipping Howell products globally, which was
extremely expensive given the relatively small quantities involved. The executive team spent five
months trying to solve these problems: they traveled the world, surveyed the marketplace, examined
pricing, and familiarized themselves with customers. When these efforts largely failed, Barker
approached Howell to renegotiate the terms of their deal. “Needless to say, the six months of
renegotiation with Howell was another stress point for the executive team,” Barker said. “I had already
given up the Cartlock business; I had signed the Howell deal, and I couldn’t execute it the way I initially
signed it. The executive team was loyal as anything during a very, very difficult time." Barker
ultimately renegotiated terms with Howell that were mutually beneficial.
The following year, Blake Sports Apparel built a global infrastructure and by five years later it had
tripled its Howell business. The company worked with more categories in the Howell portfolio than its
competitors and was on track to become Howell’s largest-volume partner. It was also fully integrated
with all of Howell’s business units. “This company is still young, and it's grown every year except one
[the year it transitioned from Cartlock to Howell],” Barker pointed out. “If you look at the aggregate
growth, it’s about 28 percent a year." Growth continued: Howell awarded Blake Sports Apparel a license
that included new product categories and rights to use trademarks endorsed by popular professional
athletes and professional sports leagues. Blake Sports Apparel was about to sign what Barker called
“one of the strongest licensed-sporting-goods contract in the history of licensed sports.”
The Culture of the Executive Team
As a young entrepreneurial company, Blake Sports Apparel had pursued its goals with unusual
flexibility; initially, very few policies and procedures were in place to impose structure. As the
company developed a stronger relationship with Howell, that profile began to change. The executive
team had to be more methodical and detail-oriented to sustain the growth the company was
experiencing. Andrew Cook, Chief Financial Officer, explained:
Up until three years ago, this company was run by revenue; revenue was the king. So
as long as we could get revenue, we were fine. Then Cam said we were going to come up
with what we call a landed margin equation [the cost of goods, FOB, 1 freight, and duty,
1 FOB (free on board) is a trade term signifying that the seller has fulfilled its delivery obligations when the goods are on board
a vessel designated by the buyer.
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compared to the net selling price]. And we won't necessarily just look at the revenue; we'll
also look at margin. By doing that, we saw that some of our biggest-selling items that we
were high-fiving each other across the company for, as our number-one selling items,
were either low from a profitability perspective or we margined at a loss.
Another challenge that needed to be addressed was that individual departments built their own
reporting mechanisms. Sometimes a given department’s metrics looked favorable, but did not work in
the company’s favor when viewed in terms of the big picture. For example, Operations authorized
manufacturing a particular product in large quantities during an off-peak season to create inventory
and reduce the product’s cost. The Sales department agreed to the plan and put the product on autoreplenishment status; thus, a customer could request the product from inventory at any time, which
would hopefully create or increase sales. But the quantities were not always accurate. Sometimes the
product did not turn over at the expected rate and ended up sitting in warehouses for months,
consuming cash. At other times, due to auto-replenishment, the company sometimes lacked the
appropriate quantity on hand to meet a customer’s needs and had to pull the product from other
customers to fill an order. Thus, though Operations was producing the product for a lower price and
Sales had inventory for its customers (pulling either from the warehouse or from other customers), the
situation was unfavorable overall. Zachary Fried, GM of North America Sales, described the impact of
a close look at the metrics:
We went from a very lucrative company, where you couldn’t find any errors because of
its fast-paced growth, to a company that all of a sudden had to start looking at itself differently.
We were still growing very fast, but we also had to worry about different areas within the
business model that required our concentration, like FOBs, margin, and discounts. Then, all
of a sudden, the finger-pointing started: everyone wanted to blame someone else for any
performance gaps we uncovered when we started to drill down into the numbers.
Barker described the role he had played in imposing more structure on the business, particularly
after renegotiating the Howell deal:
We were in survival mode, and then we had to refocus. We put a ton more processes and
procedures in place. We went to a global bank; we upgraded our systems. We spent time
looking at our supply chains, our KPIs [key performance indicators], our FOBs. We spent a lot
of time looking at growth and revenue and really understanding what was really happening.
We eliminated discounts and shut down customers that didn't make sense. Imagine what this
was doing to the executive team: they had made it, and they had all this freedom because they
were entrepreneurs in their own worlds. Then I, as the CEO, put a lot of red tape around them
and didn't let them have as much flexibility as they used to have. People had been operating
incredibly flexibly. For example, it was nauseating to look at expense reports and see what
people thought was OK. It was not as structured as it needed to be.
Members of the executive team also found themselves running bigger departments than ever before
and working closely with the company’s growing number of accountants. Overall, Barker was pleased
with the team’s performance; general counsel Lance Templast concurred, commending them as “an
overall good team that knows the business.” But persistent roadblocks prevented the executive team
from performing at the top of its game.
Examples of Excellence
Executive-team members described their colleagues variously as passionate, entrepreneurial,
knowledgeable, competent, self-motivated, and dedicated. They also praised the team’s energetic
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Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear: Bringing the Executive Team Together
conversations and good debates. “We’re a super-talented group of individuals that are extremely
knowledgeable about our industry in sporting goods," said Christopher Hennessy, Head of Global
Product and Merchandising. “We’re passionate and loyal, and collectively all of us want to achieve the
goals that we set as a company. I think those are the common threads and the bonds that pull us together."
The previous year, Blake Sports Apparel had reached its aggressive international and domestic
margin and revenue goals. Despite frustrations along the way, the executive team got the job done,
resulting in a 5-percent bonus for every employee at the company. Thanks to collaboration between
the Sales and Product departments, the company reached number-one in the world for sales of certain
products, in some cases overtaking its biggest competitor: Cartlock. The company also secured
financing from a global bank, which obliged everyone to adhere to strict policies and procedures to
obtain strong audit results. But these successes obscured the challenges facing the executive team.
Challenges & Opportunities
Despite the executive team's skills and successes, failures of communication and collaboration
plagued its internal workings. One year, for example, Blake Sports Apparel received numerous inquiries
from retailers interested in selling its products. But the team failed to cooperate in a timely manner to
enter these new customers into its system. Procedures outlined in the customer compliance manual, such
as how goods would be shipped to a customer, were not systematically and speedily signed off on. Some
customers’ “test orders,” a routine part of the set-up procedure, went unprocessed. And the executive
team failed to make timely business decisions, such as how much credit to extend to a customer. As a
result, customers were still waiting six months later to be set up in Blake Sports Apparel’s systems. This
inaction resulted in months of lost revenue; meanwhile products sat in distribution centers instead of
reaching store shelves. Customers were frustrated; Barker speculated that they might ultimately take
their business elsewhere or place smaller orders than they had initially planned.
Another problem pertained to "gap plans," or lists of action items generated annually by reviews of
the previous year’s revenue data. These plans identified opportunities for the company to reach its
goals, and included such items as developing new products and revamping existing ones. Every
department played a role in generating and executing a gap plan—a plan started in Sales, moved on to
Product, and required the involvement of Finance and Operations to assess its viability. Six months
after the most recent gap plan had been finalized, the executive team was failing to develop new
products outlined in the plan, resulting in lost time and revenue and creating urgency for employees
in their departments: such new products had to be designed, developed, sourced, set up, and shipped
within the calendar year. Meanwhile, demand for new products that had been launched was sometimes
miscommunicated between the Sales and Product departments. For instance, the company hustled to
produce a product under the misapprehension of high demand at one of its largest customers; once the
product was ready, the order never materialized.
Pricing was also problematic. New products and those that were revamped or revived after being
discontinued were referred to Finance to assess margins and determine pricing. This process often took
longer than necessary, delaying release of the products. The Finance department in turn claimed that
people had been slow to submit such necessary information as packing and shipping costs and
expected discounts. Others claimed that Finance had been vague about the information it needed.
Barker offered this analogy to describe the executive team:
Like in sports, sometimes a team wins that shouldn't win—meaning there's five
seconds left on the clock, the team plays lousy, but somehow, some way, the ball gets over
the line and the team wins. We win. I don't know how we do it, but every year, year after
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year, you cannot look back at this company and see what we’ve done and not wonder
how we did it. But how we played the game is insane. We make it so hard. We drop fiveyard passes over and over again; it’s like we didn't just talk and get on the same page
about how we're going to run the play. The other thing is we're not dealing with the minor
leagues. We're dealing with Howell. The bar is set so high there's truly no finish line—so
even if you think you've done a good job, even if you think you left it all on the field, you
have to do more. I'm trying to manage an executive team at a very high level, and I'm not
saying I have an executive team that's not performing—they are performing. They're just
not coming together as a team. Sometimes I think the approach they take to their
colleagues is: ‘I'm going to get this guy off the field. I'm going to crush him. I'm going to
hit him in the knees and prove that he can't run that play.’ That's where it gets frustrating.
Goals & Priorities
Though convinced that misalignment of goals was resulting in competing priorities, Barker had not
yet pinpointed its exact location. Company-wide goals, established by the executive team during an
offsite with Barker, focused on margin and revenue; a 5-percent company-wide bonus was tied to
achieving those goals. Barker also collaborated with each team member to establish weighted KPIs
specific to his or her department. At individual performance reviews, Barker scored executives on each
objective (25/50/75/100 percent of a KPI); the executives scored themselves as well. If the two scores
differed, Barker explained his score and the executive did the same. Then they jointly determined each
final score. These scores were then weighted to determine the bonus the executive would receive. This
process was identical for all members of the team. Barker also earmarked discretionary funds to further
compensate someone who had had an exceptional year. He reported that this process was well received
and that executives viewed their goals and KPIs as clear, but some team members asserted that
misalignment persisted. According to Hennessy:
The opportunities exist around making sure we're not trying to achieve company goals
in silos. In our business, when we are setting goals ourselves around revenue targets and
margin targets, sometimes those goals get pulled in several different directions by all of
the socioeconomic issues that can occur outside of what we can control. I think there's
always that struggle between Sales, Product, Operations, and Finance to figure out our
individual goals, and how we prioritize those individual goals so that collectively we can
achieve the goals we set as an organization. Sometimes they don't align.
CFO Andrew Cook concurred:
I think sometimes there are areas of frustration, because the goals set for the executive
team aren't aligned. Maybe one is chasing sales, and then the other one is more concerned
about margin, and a third one is concerned about making a cool product, and the fourth
one is concerned about getting the product manufactured, and none of the goals for those
objectives are tied together. As a result, what might be good for one person may not
necessarily be good for their colleagues. It creates conflict and trust issues. I think that's
one really big opportunity for us to improve.
Goals that appeared to be aligned in theory were not always aligned in practice: sometimes team
members pursued self-interest before company goals. Olivia Hermida, Division President at Switch
Activewear, a subcompany of Blake Sports Apparel, observed, "The executive team consists of
competitors that want to win. Overall that is a great thing, but it does create challenges at times.”
Several members described the team as consisting of Type-A personalities: self-motivated, aggressive,
and driven to perfection.
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Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear: Bringing the Executive Team Together
Communication
Inadequate communication among members of the executive team was a multi-faceted issue. One
aspect was withholding of information. Carl Herman, Senior Director of Planning and Procurement,
described barriers he faced as a direct report to a member of the executive team:
We provide inventory reports to the Sales team. We tried to improve by providing not
only the inventory we have but also the associated sales data for the inventory we sold
previously. We tried to provide more integrated information to our Sales team so they are
better equipped to sell. But when we provided those reports, the Sales director felt
insulted. He thought, ‘Oh, you think my team is not doing their job; you need to give them
this information.’ That's not my original intent. I don't care whether you look at this
information or not. I just want to provide you with better data to support the process.
The other thing is how secretive we are with information. For example, we cannot put
information for key accounts in the same spreadsheet. Their point is, ‘No, we don't want
the sales reps to look at all of our customer data so they can compare. They should only
focus on their accounts.’ The Sales portion sits only in their own silos and focuses only on
what their accounts are doing, not really caring or learning about what the other accounts
are selling. I don't think that is optimal.
Barker responded to the criticism that team members withheld information by pointing out that the
information-sharing process was designed to protect proprietary ideas. In the past, departing
employees had absconded with pricing models; to prevent more such transgressions, Barker had
empowered the executive team to determine who should have access to what information (as opposed
to allowing open access for all). But even when information was shared, it was sometimes presented in
a format that managers found inaccessible or difficult to leverage. The combination of apparent secrecy
and the company’s privately held status led employees to question the company’s financial standing
and the degree of its profitability.
Another instance of withholding information was the Finance department’s failure to inform the
executive team when bonuses would be paid out; thus, this information could not be communicated to
employees. One executive characterized this situation as “playing a game of Keep Away” with
information that others needed. This propensity to withhold information led team members to “make
decisions in a vacuum,” as one executive put it.
Even when information was forthcoming, open communication was hindered by lack of trust. For
example, when Finance informed Sales that the company was losing money on a given product, the
Sales department’s reaction was to question the pricing analysis. Similarly, the Finance and Product
departments sometimes second-guessed the Sales department’s decisions to discount prices on
particular products for its customers. The information that had fed into these decisions was available
to all involved, but the executive team did not collaborate in order to build a cohesive sales strategy
because individuals did not trust one another to prioritize the good of the company over their own
respective priorities.
Another issue was lack of responsiveness. “I think if people would communicate and answer their emails and be respectful and responsive to their colleagues, we would be fine,” observed Amber
McKinnon, Barker’s executive assistant. “Cam will set up calls and meetings and people just won't show
up. It seems if you have something that's pressing and you go to another team member and ask for five
minutes of their time, it just doesn't happen." Another example pertained to the 99-week company
calendar that was posted for all members of the executive team and contained all key company deadlines.
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The deadlines were habitually ignored, which led to otherwise avoidable issues, such as missing shipping
dates to customers. Barker was often the one who had to step in to address issues as they arose. “I would
assume things were getting done and my team was working together," said Barker, "But then there would
be the fire, and the next fire, and the next, and that's what it would take to get things to the finish line. I'd
have to wait for the explosion, and then I'd have to go in and clean up the mess."
An important part of facilitating communication among the executive team was to leverage efficient
and effective team meetings, an objective of which the executive team often fell short. The executive team
met twice weekly: once in a revenue meeting attended by multiple functions at the executive team level
and the level below, and once in a check-in meeting attended by the executive team via phone. Although
team members did make the effort to attend the check-in meetings, no one set an agenda, so the meetings
often ran for an inadequate length of time. For example, some meetings that needed to be two hours were
scheduled for one. Important topics were often shortchanged and not given the time necessary to be
addressed. As a result, many meetings ended with unresolved issues, but the team did not schedule
follow-up meetings to continue the necessary conversations. Therefore, issues remained unresolved until
problems or disputes emerged. The executive team also met with Barker twice monthly: once in a
business update meeting, and once in an S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning) meeting. Barker noted
how participation in team meetings was often unbalanced. As Barker described, “I think at a certain point
people just give up the fight. Even if someone has a healthy argument to give in regard to a topic, they
anticipate the letdown of the group not being able to come together to solve the problem, so they don’t
want to bring it up or engage in the type of active discussion we would want to encourage.” Team
members were “scarred” from their past experiences with the team, according to Barker, and they made
it clear in their behaviors that there was little trust in the team’s ability to work together. As Barker
summarized, "The meeting structure was in place, but communication in those meetings was a joke.”
Finally, conflict resolution was poor. The executive team was adept at debating but inept at
resolving conflict and building consensus. Much communication was defensive: executive-team
members sometimes brought subordinates to meetings to witness what was said, or copied the general
counsel on email communications. Team members also leaned on Barker to step in and mediate
disputes. For example, Barker recalled two team members who met with him about a dispute, and each
brought with him to the meeting a binder of emails detailing their electronic communications with one
another. Barker noted, “God knows how long it took to get those binders put together. They spent more
time doing that than actually working on the issue.” The team members' lack of ability to work together
to resolve conflicts amongst themselves ultimately cost both the team members and Barker time that
could have been spent in more productive ways.
Focus on Management and Leadership
Some perceived the executive team as strategic in its thinking, but several people described its
members as overly focused on day-to-day tactical matters, which should have been the province of
middle managers. Hennessy shared his perspective:
A challenge that we have is that we tend to be a very tactical group—and probably not
as strategic as we need to be, as the leadership team of an organization that has been
growing as fast as we've been growing. Sometimes, being tactical and being on the
ground, we lose sight of what the bigger picture should be and could be. What has hurt
us is not empowering our mid-management team to be fully responsible for what's going
on with the day-to-day of the business, and reporting up to us what that looks like—so
that we, as an executive team, can really focus on the next 24 to 36 months and drive the
company forward. One of our biggest opportunities as an executive team is to become
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Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear: Bringing the Executive Team Together
more strategic. If we try to attack our challenges from a completely tactical perspective,
we'll never succeed.
Failure to develop middle managers had other ramifications as well. “Some executive-team
members are slow to evolve their departments, as far as upgrading the talent pool of people. I’ve also
been pushing them on their lack of succession planning,” observed Steve Myers, an external advisor.
“I don’t feel that any one of the departments has someone that could step in and take over, and that’s
leaving Cam and the company very vulnerable.” Barker elaborated: “They are all producers. But they
lower overall productivity by not letting the people they hired produce for them. Their
micromanagement leads to loss of productivity and loss of growth of people in the organization.” He
added, “They struggle to utilize the leadership tools they have available in the organization to motivate
their teams to reach high-achieving results.”
Power Dynamics
At times the executive team’s structure and distribution of power prevented it from performing as a
cohesive group. A manager compared it to other executive teams he had worked with at other firms: “I
think that the overall executive team's power structures in other companies are much more balanced. Here,
Finance controls the majority of the company, and also the products.” One executive asserted that the
Finance department should be better integrated with the rest of the business, citing specific shortcomings:
“The Finance department provides a lot of feedback on what's wrong but no solutions. Feedback is given
to others prior to the people directly responsible for the issue. There are many more questions or steps to
something that should be simple to execute. There's a belief that people are not qualified or smart enough
or trustworthy." Although Cook was a technically competent CFO and seemingly invested in doing right
by Barker, his peers reportedly found him to be difficult and manipulative.
The degree of control wielded by Finance, and lack of trust between it and other departments, often
caused processes to stall when they reached the Finance team. “Finance focuses too often on their needs,
without consideration and support for the entire team,” one executive said. “They need to think, ‘What
can we do to simplify processes, allowing the other departments to work more efficiently and
effectively?’ Again, it’s the silo approach. Due to Finance’s control, bottlenecks often occur.” In fact,
some departments felt so unsupported by Finance that they created new positions and hired their own
“shadow finance teams" to meet their needs.
At the other end of the power spectrum, the executive team focused so intently on the Howell business
that it sometimes failed to adequately support Switch Activewear, a subcompany that Barker had recently
founded in the past year. Switch Activewear, whose business was manufacturing accessories under
license to relatively small brands and customization services (applying names, logos, and numbers to
apparel), was built to leverage Blake Sports Apparel’s infrastructure, including sourcing, sales, billing,
and shipping. By design, it was highly dependent on Blake Sports Apparel’s support. Switch
Activewear’s offices, located in Edinburgh, Scotland, employed about ten people; another couple of
employees worked in Birmingham at Blake Sports Apparel’s headquarters. Because it had little to do with
the Howell business, it was routinely perceived as a lesser priority. “Cam has a vision that includes Switch
Activewear,” Hermida explained. “With the Blake Sports Apparel team [pursuing] a proven Howell
model, it is understandable that Switch Activewear is confusing and disruptive. The Switch Activewear
team objective is to create an infrastructure that will be successful in this [Blake Sports Apparel’s]
environment." In a company-wide survey, a Blake Sports Apparel employee commented:
There’s a lot going on in Edinburgh. The Switch Activewear team is trying to learn our
process, get up to speed, grow the business, and it seems to be overwhelming for them.
The Switch Activewear team is having a hard time planning and executing on their own.
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Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear: Bringing the Executive Team Together
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It would be more beneficial to focus only on sales [and] business development, and/or
get more professional resources to help them take the lead and bring their projects home
before starting ten others.
In Barker’s opinion, the executive team’s slow onboarding of Switch Activewear resulted in four
months of lost production and revenue. Processes were not streamlined in a timely manner, and nine
months after its founding Switch Activewear still lacked a website and online sales capability.
The Chief Executive Officer
In the course of analyzing the dynamics of the executive team, Barker also had to examine his own
leadership. The majority of the team characterized him as a passionate entrepreneur and visionary with
both strengths and shortcomings; he was described as inspiring, empowering, and talented, for
example, but not as a coach to his team. As a self-identified introvert, he admitted to spending little
time engaging socially with colleagues. “I’m not a CEO that needs to be the loudest guy in the room,”
Barker said. Hennessy described him as “very good at knowing what buttons to push, and when to
push them, in order to get that maximum effort out of people without burning them out." Though
effective at driving his executive team to perform, Barker sometimes failed to hold people accountable.
“As a group, we talk about what needs to be done, and then I back away,” he admitted. He was also
somewhat disconnected from the day-to-day details of the business, devoting most of his time to
strategy and to leveraging external resources, such as professional organizations, to help him think
through strategic issues: “I'm not in the weeds. I don't like the weeds,” he explained. Barker also
expressed a preference for succinct summaries of operational issues, accompanied by suggested
solutions: “I like the summaries, with solutions to the summaries, in regards to what we can do, and
what we should do.” Barker possessed a willingness to surround himself with people with stronger
skills in areas where he needed help, but the company lacked a cross-functional internal leader to
oversee day-to-day operations.
Barker’s detachment from daily operations was a possible factor in the existence of competing
priorities at the company. Judith Soule, GM International, observed:
Sometimes Cam is the one that is causing the chaos in the group, because of all the
entrepreneurship and projects he's working on. I think he sometimes puts things on
people's desks that are not aligned with the global strategy for how we want to push the
Howell business. He could be stricter, to keep us focused on our main priorities and make
sure we're not getting sidetracked. That's a difficult one, because in his role as CEO he
should push us, I think; but on the other hand he is also the one that puts these side
projects on our desks with a deadline of the next 24 hours.
Just as the executive team set an example for their subordinates, Barker set the tone for his team. Often,
he readily admitted, he presented himself very casually: “A lot of the time I’m in shorts, a t-shirt, and tennis
shoes.” The executive team in turn was less than professional in verbal communications with one another.
Working toward Solutions
Barker considered it urgent to address the executive team’s challenges. A strong, united team at the
top would position the company better to address the challenges and opportunities of the months and
years ahead: for instance, in addition to taking on the additional Howell product categories and further
integrating Howell and Blake Sports Apparel, Blake Sports Apparel would probably need to expand
its ecommerce business, implement better systems and processes, increase innovation, help grow
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Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear: Bringing the Executive Team Together
Switch Sportswear, and reassess its business model. Barker credited the executive team with many
successes, but enumerated the ways that its dysfunctional dynamics hurt performance: “We're missing
revenue, missing opportunities, not making quicker decisions, hurting relationships, and hurting
communication. We do lots of good things, but the perception is our management team hates each
other.” The tone set by the executive team also reverberated, impacting how people at all levels of the
company worked together, as well as how the company was perceived by external parties. “The
executive-team members look at one another as competition, not as collaborators. They’re setting an
example," said Herman. Another employee spelled out the consequences in a company-wide survey:
“Executives are not getting along, not dealing with their differences directly, and putting staff in the
middle of their fights, which makes the situation very uncomfortable. It negatively affects employee
inter- and intra-department morale and otherwise great staff relationships.” The tension between
executive-team members also caused some employees to create an allegiance to their respective
department head on the executive team, at times refusing to collaborate with other executive-team
members, who they viewed as adversaries of their boss and their department.
As he turned the ignition, Barker reminded himself that the executive team was capable of
exceptional performance and had supported Blake Sports Apparel through years of sustained growth;
its members had been loyal in times of crisis and uncertainty. On the other hand, animosity among
team members sometimes impeded performance and eroded morale. Executives even badmouthed
each other and reported each other’s mistakes to Barker instead of offering one another support. The
executive team itself saw a need for change. Asked to rank their performance as a team, they scored
themselves 3.2 on a 1–5 scale (individual scores: 2/2/3/3/3/3.5/4/4/4.5). Some members described
the team as average, "passing, but not honors students," or "in the middle"; others scored the team
lower for reasons such as “inefficiency due to distractions"; still others assigned the team higher scores
because, as one put it, “the company wouldn't be where it was if the team wasn't performing at a
relatively high level.” Perhaps tellingly, one executive said he would award the team a 4 or a 5 except
for one member who deserved a lower mark.
Although Blake Sports Apparel had experienced aggregated growth of about 28 percent per year
over the course of the company’s history, in the current year, they were facing growth only in the high
single digits. Several of their brick-and-mortar customers (including major big box retailers such as
Sports Authority, Sports Chalet and City Sports) had declared bankruptcy, unable to keep pace with
the increasing dominance of online retailers, such as Amazon. In fact, that same year, almost two
hundred sporting goods stores declared bankruptcy, signaling a challenges time for the industry and
impacting several of Blake Sports Apparel’s key accounts. Barker needed the executive team to operate
as seamlessly as possible to rebound the next year back into a growth rate of 20+ percent. Furthermore,
Barker needed the executive team to work together to reach his longer-term goals for the company:
five hundred million dollars in revenue by five years later, and one billion dollars in revenue by ten
years later. Although the company had grown under the leadership of the existing executive team,
Barker could not help but wonder how many growth opportunities had been lost due to their inability
to work together and align themselves for the benefit of the company. He wondered if and how the
existing team would be able to help the company deal with its current challenges and reach its
ambitious goals for the future.
Barker summarized his challenge as he was starting to see it: "If I don’t do something, the team is
going to crumble. On this particular team, players need to be traded. Is the team going to dissolve, or
am I going to control how it dissolves? How am I going to dissolve it in regard to pace, timing, and
who is going to move on from the group?" Did the team really need to be dismantled? Was there any
way Barker could intervene before the team got to that point? Or was the team already there? How
should Barker proceed?
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Company documents.
Source:
Exhibit 1
Executive Team: Organizational Chart
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Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear: Bringing the Executive Team Together
Exhibit 2
Executive Team: Biographical Information
Andrew Cook, Chief Financial Officer
Joined nine years ago. Served as controller for approximately six years, and as CFO reporting to Barker
for three years. Over twenty years finance and accounting experience. Previously worked in positions
ranging from controller to CFO at both public and private companies.
Zachary Fried, GM of North America Sales
Joined Blake Sports Apparel eleven years ago; GM of North America sales reporting to Barker for the
past eight years. Twenty-five years sporting-goods industry experience, including at Howell as internal
sales representative, territory sales account executive, and strategic account executive.
Christopher Hennessy, Head of Global Product and Merchandising
Joined Blake Sports Apparel nine years ago. Served as director of merchandising and national sales
manager. Head of global product and merchandising reporting to Barker for the past five years.
Previously held licensing positions at two global organizations and buying positions at leading
sporting-goods companies.
Olivia Hermida, President of Switch Activewear
Joined Switch Activewear last year as a direct report to Barker. Located in Edinburgh, Scotland. Over
twenty years in the sports-accessories business; previous experience co-licensing brands.
Jeff Shargel, Chief Operating Officer
Joined eleven years ago as a direct report to Barker. Industrial engineer and executive with over twenty
years of experience developing, growing, and leading supply chain, logistics operations,
manufacturing, engineering and information technology.
Judith Soule, GM International
Joined Blake Sports Apparel four years ago as a direct report to Barker. Located in Munich, Germany.
Seventeen years with Howell Europe as merchandising manager, sourcing manager, development
manager, sales manager, business-unit director, and merchandising director.
Lance Templast, General Counsel
Joined this year as a direct report to Barker. First general counsel at the company. Over fifteen years of
experience in general corporate law, strategic business and commercial contracts, M&A, venture
capital, private equity, corporate finance and securities, and provision of counsel to companies with
domestic and international operations.
Source:
Company documents.
Note:
Executives are located in Birmingham, England unless otherwise stated.
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WORKPLACE
PROFILE
Brittany Bridges
Monday, October 15, 2018
This report is provided by:
The Jack Welch Management Institute
For information or to order contact:
Center for Internal Change
(847) 259-0005
customerservice@internalchange.com
www.internalchange.com
THVKRM2V3F
INTRODUCTION TO DiSC®
Brittany, have you ever wondered why connecting with
some people is easier for you than with others?
Maybe you’ve noticed that you relate better to colleagues
who focus more on teamwork and providing support.
Or, maybe you’re more comfortable working with those
who take a more easy-going approach than those who
approach every task with intensity.
Or, perhaps you relate best to people who are more
diplomatic than forceful.
Welcome to Everything DiSC Workplace®. The DiSC®
model is a simple tool that’s been helping people to
connect better for over thirty years. This report uses your
individual assessment data to provide a wealth of
information about your workplace priorities and
preferences. In addition, you’ll learn how to connect
better with colleagues whose priorities and preferences
differ from yours.
Cornerstone Principles of
Everything DiSC Workplace®
All DiSC styles and priorities are equally
valuable and everyone is a blend of all four
styles.
Your work style is also influenced by other
factors such as life experiences, education,
and maturity.
Understanding yourself better is the first step
to becoming more effective when working
with others.
Learning about other people’s DiSC styles
can help you understand their priorities and
how they may differ from your own.
You can improve the quality of your
workplace by using DiSC to build more
effective relationships.
Dominance
•
•
•
•
•
Direct
Results-oriented
Firm
Strong-willed
Forceful
•
•
•
•
•
Analytical
Reserved
Precise
Private
Systematic
Conscientiousness
© 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any form, in whole or in part, is prohibited.
Influence
•
•
•
•
•
Outgoing
Enthusiastic
Optimistic
High-spirited
Lively
•
•
•
•
•
Even-tempered
Accommodating
Patient
Humble
Tactful
Steadiness
Brittany Bridges
2
YOUR DiSC® OVERVIEW
How is this report personalized to you, Brittany?
In order to get the most out of your Everything DiSC Workplace® Profile, you’ll need to understand how to read your
personal map.
Your Dot
As you saw on the previous page, the Everything DiSC®
model is made up of four basic styles: D, i, S, and C. Each
style is divided into three regions. The picture to the right
illustrates the 12 different regions where a person’s dot
might be located.
Your DiSC® Style: Si
Your dot location shows your DiSC style. Because your dot
is located in the S region but is also near the line that
borders the i region, you have an Si style.
Keep in mind that everyone is a blend of all four styles, but
most people tend strongly toward one or two styles.
Whether your dot is in the center of one style or in a region
that borders two, no dot location is better than another. All
DiSC® styles are equal and valuable in their own ways.
Close to the Edge or Close to the Center?
A dot’s distance from the edge of the circle shows how naturally inclined a person is to encompass the
characteristics of his or her DiSC style. A dot positioned toward the edge of the circle indicates a strong inclination
toward the characteristics of the style. A dot located between the edge and the center of the circle indicates a
moderate inclination. And a dot positioned close to the center of the circle indicates a slight inclination. A dot in the
center of the circle is no better than one on the edge, and vice versa. Your dot location is about halfway between the
edge of the circle and the center, so you are moderately inclined and probably relate fairly well to the characteristics
associated with the Si style.
Now that you know more about the personalization of your Everything DiSC Workplace Map, you’ll read more about
what your dot location says about you. Then you’ll learn about your personal map shading and priorities, and
discover how this affects your preferences. After that, you’ll learn some basics about the other DiSC styles and how
to use that information to connect better with everyone in your workplace.
© 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any form, in whole or in part, is prohibited.
Brittany Bridges
3
YOUR DiSC® STYLE & DOT
Your Dot Tells a Story
Your DiSC Style is: Si
Because you have an Si style, Brittany, you’re probably a friendly person
who reaches out to others with your warmth and sincerity. You tend to be
empathic, and you’re likely driven by a desire to like and be liked. You’re
quick to offer a smile, and you make an effort to get to know people
personally.
You’re probably a service-oriented person who enjoys meeting the needs of
other people and working quietly behind the scenes. Furthermore, you want
to be helpful, so you often take extra time to listen to people’s problems.
However, you’re usually able to balance your own needs as well when trying
to accommodate others.
Most likely, you’re genuinely interested in what people have to say, and you may spend more time listening
than speaking. Because you want to connect, you make it clear to others that their feelings are important to
you. You may even file away important details about those you work with, such as birthdays or tidbits about
their families. You tend to be tactful, and you choose your words carefully to avoid any miscommunication.
Because you appreciate a calm environment, you may be uncomfortable with rapid, unpredictable change,
and you probably assume that rules and traditions exist for a reason. In addition, you may sometimes hesitate
to move ahead with bold plans if you’re unsure that everyone is on board. However, because you’re also
willing to go with the flow, forceful or passionate colleagues may be able to convince you to support their
more adventurous ideas.
Like others with the Si style, you seek the approval of others, and you’re concerned about letting people
down. As a result, you may strive to meet everyone’s expectations, and you probably feel bad if you think
someone is disappointed with you. At the same time, you want to know when you have done a good job, and
while you probably don’t seek out public recognition, you do appreciate genuine praise.
Because you tend to be accepting, you may demonstrate loyalty to individual coworkers and your workplace.
You’re probably able to overlook people’s personality quirks and weaknesses. However, you may have found
that you can get yourself into trouble by trusting people who don’t deserve it.
Since you enjoy being cooperative, others may see you as a valuable team player. Most likely, you believe that
well-orchestrated teamwork leads to superior results. Competitive situations aren’t really your style, and you
probably find it a bit hard to understand people who seem most interested in individual accomplishments.
Because of your need for harmony, you’re unlikely to confront others in conflict situations, and you don’t
respond well to aggression. In fact, you may refuse to deal with negative information even when it’s important
to do so, and as a result, situations may drag on without resolution. Although you tend to keep an even keel,
suppressing your frustration during tense moments may prove counterproductive, causing bitterness to
simmer beneath the surface. Still, you often prefer the role of peacemaker, trying to find solutions that work for
everyone.
Brittany, like others with the Si style, your most valuable contributions to the workplace may include your
commitment to teamwork, your empathy, and your ability to connect with others. In fact, these are probably
some of the qualities that others admire most about you.
© 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any form, in whole or in part, is prohibited.
Brittany Bridges
4
YOUR DiSC® PRIORITIES & SHADING
Your Shading Expands the Story
Brittany, while your dot location and your DiSC® style can say
a great deal about you, your map shading is also important.
The eight words around the Everything DiSC map are what
we call priorities, or the primary areas where people focus
their energy. The closer your shading comes to a priority, the
more likely you are to focus your energy on that area.
Everyone has at least three priorities, and sometimes people
have four or five. Having five priorities is no better than having
three, and vice versa.
Typically, people with the Si style have shading that touches
Collaboration, Support, and Enthusiasm. Your shading
stretches to include Action, which isn’t characteristic of the Si
style.
What Priorities Shape Your Workplace Experience?
Valuing Collaboration
Brittany, because you value friendly cooperation, you find it motivating to work on a team. In fact, you probably have
a knack for bringing people together and making everyone feel included. Most likely, you see the benefit in
acknowledging others’ opinions, and you may feel disconnected from people who prefer to work independently. You
believe collaboration helps create a warm, cohesive environment.
Giving Support
People with the Si style tend to be caring and compassionate. You probably find it upsetting when others are
distressed or unhappy. Most likely, you want people to find you approachable, and you’re always willing to offer help
or listen patiently. Because a warm, sympathetic environment is important to you, you focus on giving support
whenever it’s needed.
Generating Enthusiasm
Like others with the Si style, you’re probably cheerful and optimistic, even when faced with adversity. You like to
appear upbeat and open, and you probably want the people around you to keep a positive outlook as well. For this
reason, you tend to assume the best in people instead of dwelling on their flaws. Because it’s important to you to
create a happy and lighthearted environment, you focus on generating enthusiasm.
Taking Action
Also, you appear to place a high value on swift, immediate progress, a characteristic that is unusual for the Si style.
You probably prefer to get going right away, and you may become impatient with obstacles that stand in your way.
You’re unlikely to be intimidated by rapid change or the need to improvise. Once you’ve chosen a course of action,
you tend to stick to it and keep moving.
© 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any form, in whole or in part, is prohibited.
Brittany Bridges
5
YOUR MOTIVATORS & STRESSORS
What Motivates You?
Different people find different aspects of their work motivating.
Like other people with the Si style, you probably appreciate
opportunities to get to know others on your team and work with
them toward a shared goal. Most likely, you have a strong
preference for supportive, trusting environments where people
pay attention to each other’s needs and provide
encouragement. However, you may also enjoy working in a fastpaced environment where progress happens quickly, and this is
less typical of the Si style.
MOTIVATORS
You probably enjoy many of the following aspects of your work:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Collaborating with coworkers
Making a positive difference in people’s lives
Being complimented on a job well done
Developing relationships with others
Being around people who are lively and
cheerful
Listening sincerely to people’s concerns and
needs
Getting people involved
Getting things moving
Initiating change
What do your priorities say about what
motivates you and what you find stressful?
What Is Stressful for You?
Then there are those aspects of your work that are stressful for you. Because you tend to value relationships and
harmony, you may find it particularly difficult to work with people who are too pushy or critical. Having to fight to
make your voice heard or your needs considered may drain your energy. And because conflict can make you
uncomfortable, you may find it difficult to confront others with tough feedback, even when it’s necessary. At the
same time, unlike others with the Si style, you may become frustrated when things aren’t moving as quickly as you
would like.
STRESSORS
Many of the following aspects of your work may be stressful for you:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Saying no
Dealing with angry or argumentative people
Giving unpleasant feedback
Being forceful or insistent with others
Working in a tense or chaotic environment
Making major decisions independently
Acknowledging and addressing problems directly
Moderating your quick pace
Working methodically toward long-term goals
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Brittany Bridges
6
OVERVIEW OF THE DiSC® STYLES
The graphic below provides a snapshot of the four basic DiSC® styles.
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7
UNDERSTANDING HOW YOU REACT TO THE D STYLE
Imagine that you regularly interact with someone with a D
style. She’s well-respected by the organization as a go-getter
who delivers on her promises, but you probably find her
direct, businesslike approach to be overly aggressive. Also,
because you tend to be friendly and supportive, you may
have trouble relating to her competitive drive for results.
Unlike others with the Si style, you share her priority of action,
so you may welcome her desire to move quickly. To you, this
colleague seems to thrive on rapid progress, driving toward
bold and dramatic change, and you’re usually comfortable
with this kind of fast-paced and dynamic work environment.
Still, because you value people’s feelings and want to
accommodate everyone’s needs, you may wonder why she
seems to push her ideas through without considering how
they affect other people.
Furthermore, since you do your best to stay focused on the
positive, you may not relate to her skeptical and questioning
nature very well. She may not seem as interested in
teamwork as you are, and you might wonder why she seems
to prefer to challenge ideas rather than collaborate with
people.
To you, people with the D
style may seem:
Blunt
Forceful
Demanding
Dominant
What Is the Motivation for Their Behavior?
As you can see from the map, people with the D style prioritize Results, Action, and Challenge. Because they place
such a high value on these three areas, it will probably affect your working relationship with them.
Results
People with the D style tend to be strong-willed individuals who prioritize Results. Because they are so driven, they
constantly look for new challenges and opportunities. They strive for success and won’t give up just because they
run into a few obstacles. You may find their competiveness difficult to relate to, but they’re naturally determined to
push to succeed.
Action
In addition, they prioritize Action, so they focus on achieving their goals quickly and forcefully. Cautious and
predictable environments are particularly tedious for them, and they may get impatient if others spend a lot of time
analyzing ideas rather than acting on them. Since you also like to move quickly, you probably have little trouble
relating to their bold style.
Challenge
Furthermore, those with the D style also prioritize Challenge. Because they want to control outcomes, they’re often
questioning and independent-minded. They are unlikely to accept things they’re unsure about, and they won’t
hesitate to challenge ideas that they don’t agree with. Since you prefer to cultivate friendly relationships with others,
you may have trouble relating to their sometimes challenging approach.
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Brittany Bridges
8
UNDERSTANDING HOW YOU REACT TO THE i STYLE
Now, imagine that you also work with someone who has an i
style and shares your priority of enthusiasm. He seems to
know everyone on a first-name basis and always has the
latest scoop. Since you can identify with his positive outlook
and his upbeat approach, you probably appreciate his
receptivity to new ideas.
Unlike others with the Si style, you share his priority of action,
and you don’t mind when he initiates rapid change. Most
likely, you are able to keep up with his energetic approach,
and you probably admire his spontaneity. However, while you
both prefer a quick pace, he’s probably a bit more impulsive
than you are, so at times you may have trouble keeping up
as he moves from idea to idea.
Since you both value collaboration and teamwork, you’re
probably happy to work together on projects. To you, he
seems comfortable in the spotlight, and because you also
enjoy the social aspects of work, you may appreciate his fun,
outgoing nature. However, at times, you may wonder how he
gets any work done with all that socializing and joke telling.
To you, people with the i
style may seem:
Impulsive
Fun-loving
Encouraging
Open
What Is the Motivation for Their Behavior?
As you can see from the map, people with the i style prioritize Enthusiasm, Action, and Collaboration. Because they
place such a high value on these three areas, it will probably affect your working relationship with them.
Enthusiasm
People with the i style put a high priority on Enthusiasm and tend to maintain an upbeat attitude. Because they get
excited about new possibilities, they may be very expressive when communicating their ideas. You probably
appreciate their warmth and optimism, but you may have difficulty matching their energetic and high-spirited
approach.
Action
In addition, they prioritize Action, so they focus on making quick progress toward exciting solutions. Because they
tend to be fast-paced, they may be eager to get going without spending a lot of time considering the consequences.
Since you tend to get going quickly, you may appreciate their spontaneous approach.
Collaboration
Furthermore, those with the i style also prioritize Collaboration. They enjoy meeting new people, and they probably
have a talent for getting everyone involved and building team spirit. They appreciate teamwork and often gather the
group to work on projects collaboratively. While you share their interest in teamwork, you’re probably not as
comfortable as they are taking the lead in group settings.
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Brittany Bridges
9
UNDERSTANDING HOW YOU REACT TO THE S STYLE
Now, let’s imagine that you regularly interact with someone
who has an S style and shares your desire to support the
needs of others. To you, he seems accepting and easygoing,
and you’re never afraid to ask him a question because he’s
always patient and happy to help. You probably appreciate
that he isn’t worried about who gets the credit, and you may
look forward to working with him on projects.
He is well-liked by everyone and can always be counted on
to perform his job consistently. In fact, around the office he’s
often referred to as a “rock.” However, because you don’t
always want to be the one who grabs the reins, you may
sometimes wish he’d step up and take action more quickly.
Because you share his interest in getting everyone involved,
you probably appreciate his team-player attitude and
concern for others. However, he tends to keep a somewhat
lower profile than you, and when someone showers him with
praise, he probably seems embarrassed. In response to this
kind of recognition, he tends to say, “It’s really not a big
deal.”
To you, people with the S
style may seem:
Caring
Considerate
Gentle
Understanding
What Is the Motivation for Their Behavior?
As you can see from the map, people with the S style prioritize Support, Stability, and Collaboration. Because they
place such a high value on these three areas, it will probably affect your working relationship with them.
Support
People with the S style place a high priority on providing Support. They tend to be good listeners, and as a result,
they’re often seen as patient and accommodating. They don’t hesitate to help out when they can, and they value a
warm and easygoing environment. You probably find it easy to relate to their laidback, helpful approach, and you’re
likely to join them in maintaining a friendly, open environment.
Stability
In addition, they prioritize Stability, so they often focus on maintaining a predictable, orderly environment. Since they
tend to be cautious, they’re probably methodical and avoid rapid change whenever possible. While you probably
acknowledge the importance of assessing risks, you may be slightly more willing than they are to try new
approaches.
Collaboration
Furthermore, people with the S style also prioritize Collaboration. They enjoy working with others in a trusting, warm
environment, and they may go out of their way to make sure people feel included and accepted. Because you share
this focus on friendly teamwork, the two of you may work together to maintain an open, receptive atmosphere.
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Brittany Bridges
10
UNDERSTANDING HOW YOU REACT TO THE C STYLE
Imagine that you regularly interact with someone with a C
style. She’s not highly sociable, but you can probably respect
her dedication to getting things done right. Because she
wants quality and accuracy, she tends to hole up in her office
for long stretches of time, checking her work two or three
times before being satisfied. As a result, she may seem too
solitary to you, and you’d probably prefer a more
collaborative approach.
To you, this colleague often seems impersonal and serious.
She wants a stable environment where she can ensure
reliable outcomes, and she is not as interested as you are in
making sure everyone is included. As a result, her selfcontained approach may seem cold to you.
Furthermore, while you’re likely to be easygoing and
agreeable, she doesn’t hesitate to ask a lot of skeptical
questions. You may think that her tendency to challenge
other people’s opinions is unfriendly. And because she
seems so questioning and impersonal, you may find it a bit
uncomfortable to collaborate with her. Still, you can trust that
when she commits to something, she will follow through.
To you, people with the C
style may seem:
Private
Methodical
Skeptical
Precise
What Is the Motivation for Their Behavior?
As you can see from the map, people with the C style prioritize Accuracy, Stability, and Challenge. Because they
place such a high value on these three areas, it will probably affect your working relationship with them.
Accuracy
People with the C style place a high priority on Accuracy. Because they want to ensure superior results, they tend to
analyze options rationally and separate emotions from facts. They value being precise, and as result, they will often
ask in-depth or skeptical questions. You may have trouble relating to their detached, logical approach since you
appreciate more warmth and openness.
Stability
In addition, they prioritize Stability. Because they tend to value follow-through and restraint, they’re uncomfortable
with quick or risky decisions and prefer to take time to make an informed choice. They tend to analyze all the
options, and they often make decisions that promise predictable outcomes. Because you tend to strike a balance
between speed and caution, you may understand their preference to avoid rushing into things.
Challenge
Furthermore, people with the C style also prioritize Challenge. In their quest to find the most streamlined or
productive method of completing their tasks, they may openly question ideas and point out flaws that others may
have missed. Since you tend to take a more accepting approach, you may find it hard to relate to their skepticism,
which seems likely to harm team unity.
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Brittany Bridges
11
STRATEGIES TO INCREASE YOUR EFFECTIVENESS
WITH THE D STYLE
When Trying to Connect
Brittany, people with the D style like to get right to the point,
and this might affect the way you relate to one another.
They’re probably willing to be blunt in the interest of making
rapid progress. You’re more likely to be tactful and agreeable,
and you may prioritize collaboration over the bottom-line
results they want. As a result, you may be intimidated by their
frank approach, while they may become frustrated if you focus
more on including everyone than on getting things done.
Therefore, when trying to connect with people who have the D
style, consider the following strategies:
•
•
•
Move quickly to focus the discussion on the topic at
hand.
Refrain from taking their bluntness personally.
Talk to them about the benefits of including others’
ideas, but focus on bottom-line results.
When Problems Need to be Solved
People with the D style make quick, firm decisions in order to make progress and keep moving. Unlike others with
the Si style, you also prioritize action, so you can identify with their desire to solve problems rapidly. However, you
also seek team harmony, and they may become frustrated if your collaborative approach seems to stall out the
process. In turn, you may see their focus on immediate answers over people’s needs as shortsighted, but you may
hesitate to speak up when faced with their forceful presence.
Therefore, when solving problems with people who have the D style, consider the following strategies:
•
•
•
Balance your emphasis on other people’s feelings with finding workable answers.
Show them how considering a plan’s effect on other people can bring better results.
Speak up to make sure you have a voice in the solution and emphasize your shared to desire to act quickly.
When Things Get Tense
Because you prioritize harmonious relationships, you’re less likely than your “D” coworkers to challenge ideas and
address issues directly. They can become competitive in conflict, and they may even become argumentative at
times. On the other hand, you tend to keep a low profile, and when confronted, you may simply give in to keep the
peace. As a result, they may assume that an issue is resolved when you still have bitterness or hurt feelings
simmering beneath the surface.
Therefore, when things get tense with people who have the D style, consider the following strategies:
•
•
•
Be aware that hiding your true feelings could be more harmful in the long run than speaking candidly.
Avoid giving in just to restore harmony.
Speak up to make sure that your needs are considered.
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Brittany Bridges
12
STRATEGIES TO INCREASE YOUR EFFECTIVENESS
WITH THE i STYLE
When Trying to Connect
Because people with the i style are extremely outgoing,
Brittany, they prioritize working collaboratively like you do.
However, they may be more sociable and adventurous than
you are, and you may pull back a bit if you feel overwhelmed
by their energy. And, while they’re probably eager to embrace
exciting changes, you tend to hold off if you think their ideas
could have negative consequences for other people on the
team.
Therefore, when trying to connect with people who have the i
style, consider the following strategies:
•
•
•
Let them know that you appreciate teamwork as
much as they do.
Speak up when you’re concerned about how plans
affect other people.
Recognize the value of their enthusiasm and high
energy.
When Problems Need to be Solved
People with the i style like to dive right in and move quickly, and unlike others with the Si style, you also prioritize
action and want to progress rapidly toward a solution. Your “i” coworkers also rely heavily on intuition, and you both
tend to be optimistic when confronting a problem. For this reason, you may occasionally gloss over potential issues
or make unrealistic assumptions that rely on best-case scenarios.
Therefore, when solving problems with people who have the i style, consider the following strategies:
•
•
•
Temper your shared optimism by considering all potential issues.
Show them that you’re open to creative solutions.
Capitalize on your shared energy, but avoid going along with their ideas just to make them happy.
When Things Get Tense
Because people with the i style want to maintain friendly relationships, they share your tendency to initially gloss over
differences. However, they’re so focused on being heard that they’re more likely to become emotional and lash out
when confronted. Since you probably take a more diplomatic approach, you may simply give in to avoid negative
feelings. As a result, you may fail to resolve the conflict and allow your resentment to build beneath the surface.
Therefore, when things get tense with people who have the i style, consider the following strategies:
•
•
•
Acknowledge the importance of everyone’s feelings, but don’t sidestep the issues.
Avoid concealing your own needs, as this can cause your resentment to emerge later.
Let them know that working through the disagreement will help you maintain a good relationship down the
road.
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Brittany Bridges
13
STRATEGIES TO INCREASE YOUR EFFECTIVENESS
WITH THE S STYLE
When Trying to Connect
People with the S style value cooperation and friendly
interaction, Brittany, and this might affect the way you relate to
one another. Like them, you prioritize collaboration and seek
group harmony. However, the two of you may be so
considerate that neither of you speaks up about your own
needs. In addition, since they share your easygoing, accepting
approach, you both may overlook challenges that are holding
you back.
Therefore, when trying to connect with people who have the S
style, consider the following strategies:
•
•
•
Share what you’re really thinking and let them know
that you genuinely want to hear their opinions.
Encourage each other to stretch outside of your
comfort zones and take on new challenges.
Work collaboratively with them, but don’t let your
shared trust allow you to overlook potential problems.
When Problems Need to be Solved
While you may not be quite as cautious as people with the S style are, you’re almost as likely as they are to avoid
quick decisions when it comes to solving problems. This is probably especially true when you’re contemplating rapid
change that might affect people around you. As a result, situations may go on for too long without resolution. In
addition, since neither of you is prone to considering bold options, you may wind up choosing predictable or tired
solutions.
Therefore, when solving problems with people who have the S style, consider the following strategies:
•
•
•
Agree on a reasonable decision-making timeline to avoid putting off difficult decisions.
Acknowledge the risks, but remember that daring ideas sometimes lead to better results.
Avoid joining them in excessive concern over how the decision will affect other people.
When Things Get Tense
Because people with the S style want to support others, they avoid rocking the boat and upsetting the people
around them. You’re both reluctant to cause distress, so you may neglect to address problems head-on. While open
conflict between the two of you is probably rare, your shared desire to regain harmony and keep everyone happy
may cause you to sweep problems under the rug, which can cause bad feelings to intensify.
Therefore, when things get tense with people who have the S style, consider the following strategies:
•
•
•
Voice your opinions directly rather than tiptoeing around issues.
Express concern for their feelings and show a desire to resolve the conflict quickly but thoroughly.
Encourage them to speak up, as they may mask their true feelings.
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Brittany Bridges
14
STRATEGIES TO INCREASE YOUR EFFECTIVENESS
WITH THE C STYLE
When Trying to Connect
Brittany, people with the C style would often rather focus on
facts than feelings, and this might affect the way you relate to
one another. They probably don’t share your tendency to
focus on relationships. In fact, they may find it hard to relate to
your trusting, open nature. Since they prefer to take a more
analytical approach, they may see your willingness to easily
accept people and ideas as naïve, while you may find their
questioning nature to be a bit cold.
Therefore, when trying to connect with people who have the C
style, consider the following strategies:
•
•
•
Avoid asking them personal questions, and don’t take
their detachment personally.
Keep discussions focused on the facts and
emphasize the task at hand.
Respect their preference to work independently.
When Problems Need to be Solved
When it comes to solving problems, your “C” coworkers want to thoroughly consider all the consequences before
making a decision. Because you’re probably concerned about how plans might affect other people, you may
postpone decisions until you’re sure everyone buys in. As a result, the two of you may get bogged down in the
problem-solving process. At the same time, you may see their skepticism as rather cold, and they may find you too
willing to dismiss the facts to keep people happy.
Therefore, when solving problems with people who have the C style, consider the following strategies:
•
•
•
Consider looking to external systems or people to provide the urgency needed for the two of you to finalize
plans.
Avoid getting so caught up in keeping everyone happy that you discount more pragmatic ideas.
Back up your ideas with evidence.
When Things Get Tense
Because people with the C style often view conflict as a disagreement over who is correct, they usually avoid direct
aggression and focus on challenging the reasoning behind an argument. If emotions run high, however, they’re likely
to withdraw. Because you prefer to avoid confrontations and may even give in or neglect to assert your own needs,
the two of you may allow the conflict to simmer beneath the surface.
Therefore, when things get tense with people who have the C style, consider the following strategies:
•
•
•
Address the issues rather than hoping the conflict will work itself out.
State your position objectively and give them time to present their side.
Avoid emotional displays, since this makes them uncomfortable and more likely to retreat.
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Brittany Bridges
15
SUMMARY: INCREASING YOUR
WORKPLACE EFFECTIVENESS
Brittany, given everything you’ve learned about your style, what follows are three key strategies that might help you
work more effectively with all the people in your workplace.
1 Acknowledge Problems Rather
Than Glossing Them Over
You probably prefer to keep an upbeat attitude and
look at the bright side of things. But because you tend
to skim over problems rather than facing them headon, you may allow small issues to become more
serious than they need to be. Remember that
responding quickly with a direct approach can help
prevent unpleasant consequences.
•
•
Confront potential issues with others right away so
they don’t turn into even bigger problems.
Work to strike a balance between being optimistic
and being realistic.
2 Be Firm and Stand Your Ground
You may find it hard to take a firm stance when you feel you’re being pressured to take a different direction.
As you’ve probably discovered, a lot of people are willing to push their plans on someone who they think will
give in. If you continually back off from your own ideas too easily, people might assume you’re generally
indifferent, and they may have less regard for your preferences in the future.
• Remind yourself that just because others are confident doesn’t mean their ideas are better than yours.
• Consider the long-term consequences of letting your ideas be stifled.
3 Focus on Follow-Through
Because you tend to be optimistic and agreeable, you may commit to more tasks than you have the time to
complete. When you aren’t realistic about what you’re capable of, you may end up making promises that you
can’t keep, and this can have a negative impact on workplace relationships. Remember that people will
appreciate your efforts to set realistic expectations, even if you have to tell them “no” at times.
• Set reasonable goals that you’ll be able to deliver on.
• Remind yourself that others will have to carry your weight if you bite off more than you can chew.
© 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Brittany Bridges
16
PERSONALIZED STYLE INDEX:
THE D STYLES
DC Style
Goals: Independence, personal
accomplishment
Judges others by: Competence,
common sense
Influences others by: High
standards, determination
Overuses: Bluntness; sarcastic or
condescending attitude
Challenge
Results
Accuracy
D Style
Under pressure: Becomes overly
critical
Fears: Failure to achieve their
standards
Would increase effectiveness
through: Warmth, tactful
communication
Goals: Bottom-line results, victory
Judges others by: Ability to
achieve results
Influences others by:
Assertiveness, insistence,
competition
Overuses: The need to win,
resulting in win/lose situations
Results
Action
Challenge
Di Style
Under pressure: Becomes
impatient and demanding
Fears: Being taken advantage of,
appearing weak
In addition, they also prioritize Results, so they’re often very direct and
straightforward. When they’re focused on the bottom line, they may overlook
the feelings of others. You may have trouble relating to what you see as an
excessive drive for results.
Finally, those with the DC style also prioritize Accuracy. Because they want to
control the quality of their work, they prefer to work independently, and they
may focus on separating emotions from facts. You may have trouble relating
to their analytical approach.
People with the D style are strong-willed individuals who prioritize Results.
Because they want to make their mark, they constantly look for new
challenges and opportunities. You may find their competiveness difficult to
relate to, but they’re naturally determined to push to succeed.
In addition, they also prioritize Action, so they often focus on achieving their
goals quickly and forcefully. Since they tend to be very fast-paced, they like it
when people cut to the chase. Since you also like to move quickly, you
probably have little trouble relating to their bold style.
Furthermore, those with the D style also prioritize Challenge. Because they
want to control outcomes, they’re often questioning and independentminded. Since you prefer to cultivate friendly relationships with others, you
may have trouble relating to their sometimes challenging approach.
Would increase effectiveness
through: Patience, empathy
Goals: Quick action, new
opportunities
Judges others by: Confidence,
influence
Influences others by: Charm, bold
action
Overuses: Impatience, egotism,
manipulation
Action
Results
Enthusiasm
Brittany, people with the DC style prioritize Challenge, so they want to explore
all options and make sure that the best possible methods are used. As a
result, they may be very questioning and skeptical of other people’s ideas.
You aren’t as questioning as they are, so you may have trouble relating to
their challenging approach.
Under pressure: Becomes
aggressive, overpowers others
Fears: Loss of power
Would increase effectiveness
through: Patience, humility,
consideration of others’ ideas
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People with the Di style prioritize Action, and they probably come across as
adventurous and bold. Because they grow bored e...
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