Application profiles
Variants of the DISC profile for a specific role or context, such as sales, secretarial work, students, or learning and development. Same model, different angle.
View the application profilesPersonal Style (DISC)
Understand why you do what you do — and how you come across
Personal Style (DISC) makes conscious and unconscious behaviour visible: how you naturally act, what changes under pressure, and how to communicate more effectively with people who are wired differently.
- Based on Marston's model
- Core pattern and desired pattern
- Profile in 5 languages
- Available through certified professionals only
Four temperaments, one language for behaviour
The Personal Style (DISC) Profile gives you insight into the differences between people, but above all insight into yourself. What is your natural way of doing things? How do you handle situations under pressure? What is your communication style? What are your unconscious drivers?
The model goes back to Dr. William Moulton Marston, who distinguished four fundamental temperaments. We show all four in our behaviour, but one is strongest — the primary temperament — in combination with a second. That combination largely determines how you come across.
DISC does not measure qualities, intelligence or suitability. It describes behaviour: what others see and hear. That makes it not a verdict but a shared language for a conversation that otherwise quickly turns into one about character.
- Why?ConscientiousThinking through · Information
- What?DominantSetting direction · Deciding
- How?SteadyDelivering · Instruction
- Who?InteractiveInfluencing · Recognition
Explore the four temperaments in the Communication Grid
Two axes define the model: how you direct your energy outwards (direct or indirect) and where your attention naturally goes (task or people). That produces four quadrants: the four temperaments. Pick a quadrant and read what typifies that temperament beside it.
Task-orientedIndirectDirectPeople-oriented
How to read the Communication Grid
How to read the Communication Grid
Each heading shows a different layer of behaviour: the first question says what someone notices first, followed by natural behaviour, behaviour under pressure and what gives someone energy. Choose a temperament to open its explanation.
We all show all four temperaments in our behaviour. The profile shows how strongly each temperament is present in you and which ones set the tone: usually a primary with a secondary, sometimes a single temperament standing so far above the rest that it makes a pure style.
Your core pattern and your desired pattern
The profile measures two sides of the same behaviour. The gap between them is often the most interesting part of a feedback conversation.
Core pattern
The behaviour that surfaces when circumstances are less favourable: under pressure, in setbacks, in conflict. This is your automatic response — the pattern you do not have to think about.
Desired pattern
The behaviour you show when you are at your best and the environment suits you. This is what others usually see: more consciously steered and better tuned to what the situation asks for.
Are the two patterns far apart? Then adapting to your job or your surroundings costs you energy. That is not a problem, but it is worth knowing.
What the Personal Style (DISC) Profile contains
It is an extensive, personal profile. Not a list of scores, but a readable description that you go through with a certified professional.
Personal Style (DISC) Profile
The full profile gives you a broad view of your personal style, behaviour patterns and the way you communicate with others.
- Introduction
- Personal description
- Personal growth opportunities
- Personal communication style
- Personal style in the work environment
- Communication sequence
- Personal Style DISC background
- Personal style patterns — Graphs & DISC grid
- Self-image
- Communication tips
- Q4 Profiles analyses
- Who is Q4 Profiles?
- Questionnaire in 7 languages
Dutch · English (UK) · English (US) · French · Spanish · Polish · German
- Profile in 5 languages
Dutch · English (UK) · English (US) · French · Spanish
The questionnaire runs in two more languages than the profile: participants complete it in their own language, then choose the profile language that serves the conversation best.
Sample profile
See a complete DISC profile
Curious what it looks like? Request a full sample profile and read exactly what a participant receives.
For anyone who wants to understand behaviour better
DISC gives language to differences in behaviour and communication. That makes it useful in conversations about collaboration, leadership and coaching.
Coaches and trainers
To help clients and participants put words to their style and its effect on others.
Leaders and teams
To make differences in pace, preferences and communication easier to discuss.
HR professionals
To give development, collaboration and sustainable employability a shared language.
How to connect with each style
Adapting does not mean pretending to be someone else. You mainly adjust the form and order of your communication — the content stays the same.
- CConscientiousWhy? · Thinking through · Information
How to connect with C
- Bring facts, figures and the reasoning behind them
- Allow thinking time instead of an answer on the spot
- DDominantWhat? · Setting direction · Deciding
How to connect with D
- Lead with the conclusion, then the reasoning
- Keep it short, businesslike and concrete
- SSteadyHow? · Delivering · Instruction
How to connect with S
- Announce changes in good time and explain why
- Ask for objections explicitly; they will not surface on their own
- IInteractiveWho? · Influencing · Recognition
How to connect with I
- Make contact first, then get to the point
- Be enthusiastic and leave room to think out loud
What professionals use DISC for
DISC works wherever behaviour has to become discussable without it turning into right or wrong.
- CoachingMake conscious and unconscious behaviour discussable and give the coaching conversation a shared language.
- Team developmentShow how styles complement each other, where friction comes from and which voice the team is missing.
- Communication and collaborationRecognise the style of the person in front of you and tune the order and form of your message to it.
- LeadershipSee your natural leadership style, and what happens to your behaviour under pressure.
- Career and developmentMap talents, pitfalls and growth opportunities concretely, as the basis for a development plan.
- Map energy lossA large gap between your desired pattern and your core pattern can lead to energy loss. Learn to recharge your battery based on your needs.
Style alongside values and interests
Q4 Profiles looks at three motivators. Personal Style is one of them; together they explain why someone does what they do.
Motivation: Together these three form the Motivation Profile: the complete picture of what drives someone.View the Motivation Profile
Personal Style (DISC) — this profile
How someone behaves and what they need from those around them: pace, direction, cooperation and precision.
Drivers — Personal Values
What someone considers important and which choices follow from it: what they stand for and what they resist.
Explore Personal ValuesInterests
Where the attraction lies: the kind of work and the activities someone enjoys.
Explore Personal Interests
The three instruments can be used separately, but they are stronger together: style shows how someone works, values why they choose, interests where their energy comes from.
One model, several applications
Alongside the standard profile there are variants for specific situations. They use the same model, with questions and language that fit the context.
Observation profiles
These map another person's style based on your own observations — for instance an employee, client or candidate who does not fill in a questionnaire themselves.
View the observation profilesShort DISC profile
Want to experience how it works first? The short profile is a brief questionnaire that gives you an immediate first impression of your style.
From questionnaire to conversation
A DISC profile is not a test you take and interpret on your own. The value is in the conversation afterwards.
Online questionnaire
Filling it in takes about fifteen to twenty minutes. There are no right or wrong answers; your first instinct works best.
Profile
The profile is generated immediately and goes to the certified professional guiding you.
Feedback conversation
You go through the profile together: do you recognise the picture, where does it differ, and what does that mean for your work?
Putting it to use
Concrete agreements about communication, collaboration or development. This is often the moment the profile really starts to work.
Learn to administer and debrief DISC yourself
The Personal Style (DISC) Profile is available through certified professionals only. During the certification you learn to read the model, interpret profiles and hold a feedback conversation that lands.
- The model and the theory behind the four temperaments
- Interpreting the core pattern and the desired pattern
- Holding a feedback conversation, also when the picture stings
- Applying DISC in coaching, teams and organisations
- Access to the Q4 platform to administer profiles yourself
Used by coaches, trainers and consultants
Certified Q4 partners use DISC every day in coaching, team development and leadership programmes.
For years I've used Q4 Profiles' DISC in my work as a coach. For my coachees the DISC profile is a wonderful way to understand themselves better. 'A whole world opened up for me,' they often tell me. And that's what it's all about!
HTHielle TillemaCoachWhat truly sets Q4 apart are the in-depth insights their profiles offer, going further than most other DISC providers. I'm incredibly glad Q4 came into my path.
PBPaula de BrouwerYour True NatureThanks to the certification in Q4 Profiles' instruments I've been able to strengthen my services considerably. The tools have contributed to my professional and personal growth. I'm grateful to Q4 Profiles for the past 20 years.
EKEd van 't KloosterSo Human
What people often want to know
Get started
Put DISC to work in your own practice?
Tell us briefly what you want to achieve and we will think along about the format: a profile for yourself, a programme for your team, or the certification so you can run it yourself.
- Personal advice on the best-fitting variant
- Certification for coaches, trainers and HR professionals
- Support for team programmes and organisational questions