Personality Profiles

At the recent Every Nation South Pacific Leaders Conference we all participated in a personality profile called the DiSC test. It is by far the most insightful personality profile that I have ever participated in. Despite the fact that it was an incredibly brief run through, it was still a lot of fun and very informative.

There are four main types of personality that the test identifies, Dominant, Inspirational, Stability and Conscientiousness. These are loose descriptions of what each personality is like and of course there many different combinations of the different personalities. I am a dominant/ inspirational and fit one of the classic profiles calles the "result-orientated" person.

Some people don't like personality profiles because they don't like being "boxed" in, or they don't like being "labelled". To be honest I think that this is a slightly pridefule perspective. God has given each of us a unique personality and created each of us differently from one another. He has also used different experiences and environments to shape us along the way. This does not mean that there are not similarities between us.

Similarities and common basic styles of perspective can be empiracally proven to exist. Personality profiles do not rob us of our individuality nor take our ability to choose how we live. They can give us an excellent understanding of how God made us and what our strengths and weaknesses are. They don't mean that we can't change nor that we can't adapt and behave differently in different situations. In fact, understanding more about ourselves can enable us to adapt more effectively in different situations.

What I like most about the DiSC profile is that it helps you not only understand yourself but also how others can perceive you. For example, as a dominant-inspirational I can come across as uncaring or angry in pressure situations. Knowing that means I can work at not coming across that way.

The important thing to remember is that just because I have a particular personality type doesn't mean that I can use that as an excuse, "I'm a D-type and thats just the way i am. Deal with it." for example. Rather I have to work on my strengths and my weakness together.

So if any of you get the chance to participate in the DiSC test I highly recommend it. For those of you that know Nelli Atiga, it was actually his new wife Tina, who took us through it :)