As I mentioned in the post on introducing DiSC®, I’m a High D. I nearly fell off the treadmill at the gym when I was going through the Manager Tools casts on each of the quadrants, listening to the cast on High Ds.

I realised why some people (mainly High Is) really annoyed me at times. In my world, they were “all talky, no worky.”

But thanks to Mark and Mike’s sage words on DiSC® I came to realise that we need all the quadrants in a small business to make an effective team. High Is for example are usually best in a sales role, as they are people-orientated extroverts.

Some people reading this post title may have thought I was going to write that I suffer from Mondayitise, that dreaded feeling at the start of the week that you don’t want to go to work. Being a small business owner, I rarely suffer from that.

Sure, we have bad weeks or even months where our energy and mojo are lacking, or just have a really long run of terrible luck. But overall, I love what I do and most of the businesses I have worked on and in. Unlike most of my friends who out of uni went into vocations they hated (or didn’t/don’t realise they really, really don’t have a passion for what they do) I’ve known since I was 12 what I wanted to be when I grew up, and love being a small business owner.

No, the reason I used to hate Monday mornings was due to all the small talk I’d have to “suffer” through. I didn’t care what my team got up to on the weekend, or how their holidays were. We’re here to work people, so let’s get into it!

That was the old me. The ineffective me.

Over time I learnt the importance of people, that they are the hardest thing in small business but also where the value is at. And for me to be more effective, I had to overcome my opinion on Monday morning and small talk in general.

It is important and valuable, it helps build a relationship. And since as a manager in a small business I need to influence people to work towards my goals (those of the business) I needed to build better relationships.

So as an ‘enlightened High D’ I lift my head and look further up the horizon and recognise that it is people that will help me achieve my goals (something that is very important to a High D). And I need to be better at relationships and focus less on tasks, more on people.

Dare I say it, act more like a High I and High S.