Task-Master Meets Floating Target

When I entered sales a year ago, I honestly did not know what I was doing. What I knew mostly was that I loved where I would be working and what I would be selling. And then I started. In the midst of the worst recession in decades, with no training and no clue.

Now I am blessed enough to have been linked up with a sales coach, someone who I think could turn my work life around. And I think it will help to write some of it out.

The coach (let's call her M, it's very Bond-esque) sent me a list of questions and introspective prompts for our first meeting. On the list was one thing I was dying to do--take a DISC test.

I am convinced that everyone loves learning things about themselves, or having someone else tell them something about themselves. I have never taken a true Myers-Briggs test, but I love learning more about us mysterious INTJs. It's almost as if putting a label on it gives us magic powers. Nothing about me has changed, but now I can be sure that I espouse this and not that. It's an odd phenomenon.

Anyhow, my DISC test came back telling me that I am a C/D, or a "cautious/dominant" personality blend. (I like that they use "blend" instead of "type, it's less pigeon-holing.) According to the DISC spectrum I am much more task-oriented than people-oriented (not surprising) and slightly more reserved than outgoing (no surprise there either).

The report lists all these adjectives that supposedly describe someone of my "blend," and some of them seemed to fit and some not so much. But I was really struck when I got to the summary of my ideal environment:

"Ideal Environment: Freedom to ask questions; definite procedures, structure and roles."

Yes! That's it! I have struggled in this position in some ways because the tasks and next-actions are not predefined for me. The internships I have had in the past, while they included much independent work an initiative, also included clear assignments. Starting a brand new sales position is much more of a moving target, and when I do not know what to do next, I get easily lost.

Of all the things I got out of reading my DISC results, this was the most encouraging. And of the many things I hope to clarify through working with M, the most important may very well be to set up my job as a process that has defined (but not inflexible) procedures, or at least to frame my day-to-day in a way that satisfies my need for such an environment.