Christmas Comes Early!
At least that’s what it felt like: I got up early because I couldn’t sleep. My workday started at 3 AM today not because of anticipation of St. Nick’s leave-behinds–it’s only December 8th. No, it was the long-anticipated addition to the Everything DiSC® on Catalyst™ platform: Management.
I wanted to get a jump on all of the changes to the website that the launch of Management on Catalyst would bring. Today was the “go live” day and typically, new products and updates drop sometime during the launch day. So I was quite surprised to find that this one was already here when I woke up! So let’s dig in!
Getting Started
The first thing I did was add the Management application to my existing Catalyst record. This is a slightly different workflow, so let me run through it quickly.
If you’re not a seasoned EPIC Administrator, you might want to jump to Exploring Results.
Add Management to an Existing Catalyst User
Rather than issue a new Access Code, with Catalyst, we simply enable the new application for an existing record in EPIC. Here are the steps:
- Log into EPIC
- Go to the Manage Reports menu and select Catalyst: Add
- Applications to Access Codes
- The next screen is the standard EPIC search screen, so use it to locate the record(s) you want to augment with Management
- Note that the product “Catalyst: Everything DiSC” is pre-selected because you can only add applications to existing Catalyst records.
- If you want to give a new user access to Management on Catalyst, then you would issue a Catalyst assessment to them as you would any other assessment, choosing Management from the applications selection checkboxes
- Once you have selected the records, check the Management on Catalyst box
- The total credits required will be displayed
- Click Save
That’s it! The user will get an email letting them know that the new material is available. Note that while it took several minutes for my email to arrive, the Management section on Catalyst was available to me right away.
On a side note, this is the same process to add Agile EQ for a user and you can add both at the same time if you need to.
Free Management Upgrade
Any existing Everything DiSC Management record can be upgraded to Catalyst for free. There are two ways to do this, depending on whether or not the user has a Catalyst record or not:
For Users with a Catalyst Record
If the user completed Management and then Catalyst, this is as easy as adding Management to an existing Catalyst user (see main article). When you add them to the list and select the Management checkbox, the screen will show zero credits for eligible user and a note saying, “This report qualifies for an application credit discount.”
If you know the person has an existing Management profile but it’s showing the 10-credit charge, you’ll have to follow the next set of instructions instead. It’s still free, but the user will have to complete a short assessment to get their Management results on Catalyst.
For Users without a Catalyst Record
When users have a traditional Management profile, but are not yet on Catalyst, you’ll have to create a new Catalyst record for them. It’s still free, but it is a different process. Refer to our article, How to Use an Existing Report to Create a New Assessment.
Once you follow those directions, the user will receive an email inviting them to take a short assessment (about 10 minutes) in order to collect the information needed for the Catalyst profile.
Please note that upgrade offers are good through December 31, 2024.
Exploring the Management on Catalyst Results, Part 1
On Catalyst, the Everything DiSC Management results closely align with the traditional PDF report. The sections are as follows:
Management overview
This section provides a high-level look at how DiSC can help managers understand themselves and their direct reports. This page features the Everything DiSC Management Introduction video as seen on our Sample Management Videos page.
This section does not map to existing pages in the traditional Everything DiSC Management profile.
Your Management Style
This section reviews what the user prioritizes as a manager and explores the parts of the manager’s job that they enjoy and those tasks that they find draining. This section of Catalyst corresponds to pages 5 & 6 of the Management profile, although in reverse order.
Exploring the Management on Catalyst Results, Part 2
Sections on Management Skills
The remaining four sections are devoted to specific management skills that users can improve upon by leveraging their understanding of DiSC.
For each section, there is a style locator (shown here) that allows the manager to estimate someone’s style when they are not on Catalyst. If the person is on Catalyst, the manager can quickly look them up by name to see their style.
From there, Catalyst provides links to information, by style, on how to approach each skill for the person with that DiSC style.
These sections are:
- Direct & delegate – corresponds to pages 7-11 of the traditional Management profile
- Motivation – corresponds to pages 12-16 of the traditional Management profile
- Develop talent – corresponds to pages 17-21 of the traditional Management profile
- Manage up – corresponds to the “How Your Manager Sees You” section of the traditional Management profile (pages 22-26)
We often do training around the Management profile using an approach like this: Pick a person you have difficulty [directing, motivating, developing] and then use the information in the profile to find a better strategy. This new layout on Catalyst dovetails nicely with that method and continues to be an easier way for managers to use the information to improve working relationships with their employees.
What’s Next?
Get to Know Catalyst
No matter how much you think you know DiSC, if you haven’t experienced Catalyst, you are missing out. But you don’t have to be! Shop Catalyst profiles in our online store or schedule a tour of Catalyst.
With this quick review hot off the presses, next we’ll be digging into the facilitation materials which are already available.
Facilitation Materials
The Catalyst in-person and virtual materials are a free upgrade to any Workplace, Management, Agile EQ or Catalyst Facilitation Kit purchased before December 31, 2023.
Go to register.everythingdisc.com to update your kit!
Workshops Available!
We have created a Catalyst version of our own virtual Management workshop. Submit a workshop request form to see about getting your managers up to speed on leveraging DiSC with their direct reports (and their manager, too!).