Manage employee stress by understanding their personality types, experts say

Stress affects many people every day, and with 83% of US workers suffering from work-related stress, business leaders must know how to manage it and when to take action.

Whilst many things cause stress, such as relationships, finances or health, work is one of the biggest causes:

• Workplace stress causes 120,000 deaths in the US every year

• Ahrefs search data shows 33k people worldwide search for “how to reduce stress” every month

• 71% of US employees believe work-related stress caused a personal relationship to end (break-ups, divorce, etc.)

The experts at Center for Internal Change have identified that using Everything DiSC, a personality assessment program, will help managers understand the needs of their employees, identify when they are feeling stressed and what is likely to be causing this.

How to navigate stress with DiSC

In a 2021 NIH Study, researchers found that higher levels of workplace stress correlated with lower overall productivity. Susan Stamm, President of Center for Internal Change, says: “Often managers are able to recognize when staff productivity drops, but using additional insights from DiSC they can help introduce the topic of stress to either help provide workplace solutions to ease employee stress or help employees become more aware of how their stress impacts their work.”

The DiSC assessment test is able to determine someone’s DiSC Style, and from here, managers will be able to see what their employees care about, what drives them, what their strengths are and what might stress them out.

Someone who is revealed to be an ID DiSC type, for example, will likely prioritize collaboration and enthusiasm and, as a result, might feel stressed when being isolated or working in a low-energy environment. If a manager tasks this person with something that requires them to work alone, this could cause stress, and so the manager would know to change the way the task needs to be done.

Susan highlights: “We frequently like to say that DiSC is not something you do to people but instead with people, and the unfortunate part about stress is that we often don’t recognize its root. Managers should encourage their direct reports to confirm or refute any associations they see about what might be causing stress.”

Applying emotional intelligence

We can use emotional intelligence to help us adapt and adjust our behavior patterns to meet the changing emotional and interpersonal needs around us.

This is key when it comes to managing employees who might be feeling stressed. DiSC can help managers identify why someone might be feeling stressed, and emotional intelligence can help navigate those conversations.

If we use the example of a D-Style manager having a ‘self-assured’ personality trait and being assertive and taking charge of situations. If an employee comes to them feeling stressed or anxious, the manager might attempt to take charge of the situation or assert their ideas – but this might not be best.

Susan adds: “Understanding emotional intelligence often includes a three-step process of learning, stretching and then developing, whereby you will be able to change your response to match the situation.”

These are just some of the ways that DiSC can help managers understand why their employees might be feeling stressed. You can find out more about how DiSC can manage stress, including information about the ‘reframing’ method online.