Direction and Participation

Direction

Direction corresponds to high Dominance, and will usually be seen in teams whose members display this factor. In team terms, it describes a team where members are 'driven' by these Dominant individuals. Because Dominant individuals have a clear idea of their goals and aims, they will imbue the team itself with these values, and ensure that the other members maintain their concentration on the requirements of the team as a whole.

Direction also relates to the issue of the team remit. Highly directed teams will tend to hold to their remit more effectively, because the more dominant and authoritative members will tend to ensure that this is the case.

On the negative side (and all factors in a Team Profile have both a positive and a negative side), Directed teams tend to provide a very challenging and demanding working environment, because this is the preferred style of the Dominant type. This will, inevitably, sometimes cause difficulties for the less assertive styles within the team, who find such circumstances difficult at best and stressful at worst.

Participation (inverse Direction)

A team that lacks Direction is said to be Participatory, a factor that corresponds to low Dominance on a traditional DISC profile. A lack of assertiveness and dynamism means that the members will typically be reluctant to take individual responsibility for their actions, and will instead prefer to determine a course of action in a collaborative fashion.

The sense of collective responsibility that such an approach breeds can help to develop a sense of mutual reliance within the team, which in turn helps to build trust and positive relations between the team's members. However, the need to refer significant decisions to the group as a whole can tend to distract the team from its specified aims, and even where these aims are maintained, decisions will tend to be made in a less timely fashion than in a highly Directed team.