Episode 111: DISC Decoded: Part 3 – Spotlight on S: Supporting Stability and Team Harmony

This week, it’s all about the S – Steadiness personality type. High Ss are the heart of the team—the ones who value harmony, loyalty, and stability above all else. They’re the glue that holds everything together, but how do they handle change, conflict, or fast-paced environments?

We’ll break down the defining traits of this supportive style, talk about how to communicate effectively with a high S, and share how their incredible consistency can be a game-changer for any team. But we’ll also tackle some of the common challenges they face—like stepping outside their comfort zones or addressing issues head-on.

Whether you’re a high S or just trying to understand the steady presence in your life, this episode will help you see their quiet strength in a whole new way.

Links & Resources:

• Curious about your DISC style? Take the assessment [here].
• Need help integrating DISC insights into your team? Let’s chat about workshops or trainings!

Let’s get after it!

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Read the full transcript of this episode below:

 

Lynn Howard (Lynn Howard)

Hey, I’m Lynn.

Amanda Furgiuele (afconsultingteam21@gmail.com)

And I’m Amanda. Welcome to the pursuit of badasserie and the podcast. We are back talking again about the disc assessment, breaking down each of the levels.

If you haven’t yet reached our, or listened to our previous episodes on D and I today, we’re going to be covering S.

So we do recommend that you go back and listen to D and I as we are heading, heading into S or steadiness on the disc assessment.

Lynn Howard (Lynn Howard)

Absolutely. Just a quick overview of what disc is. It’s a behavioral style. It’s been around. It’s way back in the philosopher days where they noticed that certain groups of each other and fast forward, I think it was in the 1920s or 1920s.

40 a psychiatrist or something like that. Mark, Marcin, do you remember his name? Oh, grossly exaggerating. Marcin, Marcin, Marcin.

And he was a psychologist, William Marcin. He is the one who put it together like more officially and wrote books on it and now we have an assessment.

But essentially, it’s like part of our DNA. are born this way and it’s a way of understanding ourselves and each other and how to engage with one another.

So it’s been one of my favorite things personally for a decade and a half at least since I learned it.

And I just love, love, love it, love it. There’s so much knowledge in understanding the disc assessment that goes beyond even just like super.

official knowledge. So let’s dive in to ask the steadiness, which is what we lovingly call our nurturers.

Amanda Furgiuele (afconsultingteam21@gmail.com)

Yes, you know, don’t want to say say that one of the reasons why I really love disc is that if you do fall under each of these letters, then you know more about yourself.

But if you don’t fall into this letter, if you’re not an S, like I’m not an S, but it allows me to really understand my team and people like coming into contact with.

So there are so many things that I use disc for now at this point, because since I’ve been doing for a decade, it’s so subconscious that I just it’s almost I meet someone I’m like, Oh, this person’s an S, this person’s a C, this person.

So it’s actually kind of almost I mean, it’s integral now. However, I feel like I almost know the S is as well as I know D so I the previous episode, I’m a high D, but I feel like I know S so well because

I would say close to 90% of the people that are employed by me or contract through me tend to be S’s for a lot of random reasons.

However, it’s almost comical because I didn’t know it at the time when I first found out Lynn was actually working with me and she was like, yeah, everybody on your team is the exact opposite behavioral style.

And you know, like, oh, so I really, really know S’s and I, you know, we talk about how there’s not one that’s better or worse than the other and when it comes to S’s, these are like your dependable people.

They’re patient, they’re consistent, they’re, they have, um, they’re loyal, they’re supportive. really have these, they prioritize your relationships. Far more than they prioritize tasks, which has ID, sometimes that’s tricky.

However, like these people are like salt to the earth, nurturers, They really believe in that deep commitment to people and the causes that they care about.

They’re, and we talked about on the on the this side being people oriented versus task oriented and being fast versus slow.

And when it comes to an S, they’re going to be more on the slow to make decision side or the slower side reserved.

And then also more people oriented, but these people are great and supportive and they’re great and collaborative environments. They’re reliable.

They can count. They can count on them to follow through with the commitments. And I mean, we really we call them like salt to the earth.

These are just so grounded and very, very, very people oriented, at least my, in my experiences.

Lynn Howard (Lynn Howard)

Yeah. Typically aren’t aggressive. They are all about fostering growth and cultivating growth. And think of them as like the roots of the tree.

They’re really, they’re really the ones who are their long term and yeah, they make you feel like you’re the only person in the world at times and we’ll get to that in a little bit.

Very thoughtful, they’re more perceptive of others than themselves. And yeah, again, like Amanda said, on the cross, they’re people and reserved.

So they’re a little bit, they take their time in making decisions, they actually make their decisions based on the people around them, how it’s going to cause an effect, right?

If the person is rooted in the community or not, they’re not fly by night, they’re going to look at the hole.

want to make sure that that nobody is affected illy about that, especially if they don’t know. a person. Another really cool feature about high S’s is manners matter.

They are really big into manners. They’re a bit more formal than the other behavioral styles. yeah, so in the way typically nurturers will be dressed, we’ll say, or the steadiness will be dressed as.

Usually in earth tones, a bit more simplistic, casual. Where you’ll never see a D wearing Crocs, might see a high S wearing Crocs.

Again, we are a combination of all of them. We just have our high one. So if you might have some of the other traits, but don’t necessarily like a high S, that’s okay.

We are a combination of all. It usually will have subtle accessories, not a lot of makeup, if any, for women or men.

jewelry, it’s usually meaningful, very simplistic, small pieces. Typically, that has been handed down to them or has great meaning.

Again, understated, well comfortable. You’re going to see linens, just more comfortable, casual, I would say.

Amanda Furgiuele (afconsultingteam21@gmail.com)

Absolutely. It comes to the challenges that you face or that an S will face can be resistant to change.

They can struggle to adapt and particularly adapting quickly to new situations. They also avoid confrontation even when it’s really needed.

They will absolutely avoid confrontation because in a lot of ways, they don’t want to They don’t know how the other person going to react and since they’re so people oriented, they don’t really want to go to that place.

They often will prioritize other people’s needs over their own and that can often lead to burnout. So if the people who will often say they have a burnout, this is definitely an acting because they’re just so emotionally burned out and they’re putting everybody else in front of them.

Definitely appreciate clear expectations, but they really need time to process change. So these aren’t the people that you will spring on a new thing and expect them to fall in line within an hour.

It’s, I mean, they might. I mean, they will because they’re loyal. However, they’re going to have a better outcome if you give them like longer projects that have a clear expectation and there isn’t going to be a lot of crazy change.

They definitely want stability. They don’t want sudden crazy changes and disruptions in their day. Do want to encourage them to express their own needs and opinions?

And definitely talk to value how much they’re loyal and acknowledge their contributions because they definitely, again, in addition to the feeling the need for manners, they want to feel like they’re places valued as a person, not just as somebody who’s doing things.

Lynn Howard (Lynn Howard)

Yeah, a couple more things to add to that is, like in the pros and cons would be like, they tend to have really deep empathy and sympathy.

Depending on how emotionally intelligent they are will depend on which one that they are, but they can hold space, their team player, they tend to be a bit more stable.

Amanda was saying about resistance to change and really like crossing the line. They have a really hard times saying no, so essays have a hard time saying no, which is something that if you’re high as you should practice because it’s.

uh it’s not just for you it’s for them and um they do have a really hard time like sticking up for themselves unless or like kind of crossing that line or or getting into conflict unless you hurt or affect somebody that they care about then it’s like uh they will come all all at you uh so it’s usually somebody else’s true yeah so when communicating or when they communicate you want to have a softer uh a softer more appearance typically they will be they will only say their first name if they even say their name the focus usually when you’re when you’re communicating with a hi- is the they’re going to ask you lots of questions about you and and forget to talk about themselves um they

are the ones who won’t usually sit. If they’re seated and you approach them, they’re not going to stand up.

They’ll say seated. And so when you’re communicating with the high essence, you just want to remember a few things.

First of all, you don’t want have laser beam eyes. You want to kind of like have a gentle gaze with them, a softer tonality.

In your voice, you’re going to slow your pace down. You’re going to soften your body language as well. You will have a little bit more, like Amanda said, clear and simple.

because they’re they like clear and simple. just don’t. They don’t want to feel like they’ve been got over on really.

You don’t want to pounce on them. And what we mean by pounce is just like super aggressive and in their face about like buy this, buy that, buy that, like

decide you want to give them time to process things. When you are connecting with them in a networking function or maybe for the first time, if they don’t know you utilizing other people, maybe in your network, oh, how do you know Amanda?

I’ve known her for five years now, well, if not each other, but you know what I mean? Like, you use, you leverage your relationships with other people in order to be able to get the nurture to feel a bit more at ease with you, usually we’ll take a little bit more time with nurturers.

They’re not your instant BFFs, because they need to feel like you’re going to be around while, that you’re going to be a bit more rooted.

Change is really hard for them, like Amanda said, so this is also in building new relationships. so just keeping that in mind that they’re going to take a little longer to come on board, but once they’re on board, they are the

of stable, reliable, and they’re the ones that you can pick up the phone and call anytime of the day, and they’re going to be wondering what’s going on with you versus what’s in it for them.

Amanda Furgiuele (afconsultingteam21@gmail.com)

Absolutely. When we say that these are really your empathetic, all-in loyalty people, they absolutely are, and again, it may not be fast, they may not be your BFS instantly, maybe it could be in a high-high wood where everybody’s your friend.

They’re in it for the long haul, so these are your loyal, loyal people, and they’re great to have on a team because they do have that desire to be connected and loyal and really connect on a deeper level rather than just get it done, get it done, get it done, and I say that because I am a get it done, get it done, kind of go.

So having those opposite side of the spectrum can be really good in a team dynamic. And that’s one of the things we really love, one of the things that’s great about this, when you have a team of people, you can really sort of see where their strengths and weaknesses lies in how they can work together based on their behavioral style as well, not just what they do day to day, but just the behavioral style can help you put people in the right types of teams and the right positions within your company if you’re hiring or whatnot.

So putting an S in like a customer service or HR is a great thing because they’re super empathetic rather than, you know, they’re going to be much more patient in those kinds of roles than say a I or D would be in general.

Lynn Howard (Lynn Howard)

Yeah, yeah, I agree. Also, you know, we speak about sales and a high S is great to have on your team team because they typically know a good amount of people.

And the people that they know, they have really, they know a lot about them and they know they have a deeper relationship.

It’s not superficial typically. So the people that they know the relationships are deeper. And so that means that their word has more leverage because they’re not out there willy-nilly like, oh, me do this.

Let me do that. Let me do this. And so really in a sales capacity or even a strategic alliance capacity, they’re really great for your team in that way.

Identifying them in a networking function or out in the public, we already kind of spoke about the way that the dress is, right?

So it’s a bit more casual, simplistic, Some other things they typically like in a networking event will be one-on-one with somebody and usually in a closed group.

Again, they make. feel like you’re the only person in the world at time. So they’ll make it feel like a really safe environment, even if you’re not having an emotional time.

So there are typically one-on-one or very small groups and a closed communication body language. They will usually be on the outside the perimeter of the room.

Remember when you are speaking with them, they won’t typically get up if they’re seated. So when you approach a nurture and they don’t stand up or you see that they might not get to their level, the second they feel like you’re trying to over-dominear even if you are not that.

it’s funny because every time I talk about high S’s, think of one individual actually too, but one individual who is a team member of mine back when I was

was an air director of B&I and he was underneath me and he was a high- and just my energy like threw him off until he got to know me.

And even when I was doing all of the moves of like trying to make him feel comfortable, it took him a while to really get to know me.

But you never want them feel like you’re domineering them. You want to come from a supportive point of view, but not overly, not positive poly.

I want to help with everything because if you don’t follow through, if you go into this, go into this and you don’t follow through, then they’re going to have a problem with it.

Eye contact, remember, they’re not going to be the ones who are making super intense eye contact. They’re usually a bit calmer.

They can be a bit of a wallflower as well if they’re not in a group. So yep. it’s Absolutely.

Amanda Furgiuele (afconsultingteam21@gmail.com)

You know, when it comes to understanding your your behavioral style, again, we are a combination of all of these.

So when we talk about having your main dominant behavioral style, this is the sort of the thing that you fall back into.

And there are absolutely, there absolutely is the ability to morph and take on other behavioral styles in order to adapt to certain situations.

But when we’re talking about it in this context, this is sort of like your your base level, like this is your status quo where you kind of normally would live in a behavioral style.

And that doesn’t mean you can’t switch back and forth between other things. It doesn’t mean that you can’t be more extroverted or introverted or that you’ll that you’ll never see an s in the middle of the room or up on stage.

It doesn’t mean that at all. It just is that they tend to be more towards one of the other.

Lynn Howard (Lynn Howard)

I was, I don’t know if I was going through the divorce at that time or about to, but I definitely saw some different kind of peaks and valleys in my, but my baseline stayed the same.

Like it was pretty much always the same. A big situation that has PTSD can throw you into a different behavioral style, but usually we are, it’s just part of our DNA.

It’s the natural thing. And it’s if we’re living more in the adaptive or the natural style. But usually you keep the same, more or less, more or less.

Amanda Furgiuele (afconsultingteam21@gmail.com)

More or less, but you know, I will say that there are some things because I took a disc assessment shortly after COVID and it was slightly different, but I think it was, it was definitely situational because the way I was seeing things was much more negative or, you know, situation.

So the things will shift, mine’s been pretty much the same for all of time, but I definitely saw a change when I took one shortly after bunch of my businesses closed.

Lynn Howard (Lynn Howard)

You mean you weren’t a high D?

Amanda Furgiuele (afconsultingteam21@gmail.com)

No, I was still a high D, but I had more changes on the other ones. Like I was always high D, but generally speaking, it’s like a hundred or like 99% high D and then like 0.3% of the other two or the other three.

However, during COVID, changed a little bit, but I was still high D, for sure.

Lynn Howard (Lynn Howard)

Okay, so that’s what I mean by your dominant and your baseline should be roughly the same. are situations, jobs, people can absolutely induce other part.

For example, when I was COO, I found myself playing martyrs, so I definitely forced myself to be more in a high S and a high D.

But I, because I’m a D. I but I was playing an S and being a martyr and so but that was active that was situational it wasn’t my baseline um and yeah again like Amanda said like we’ve said earlier is we are a combination of all we will have our baseline and we will float in and out of things when we need it but really when it comes down to it that core essence um typically is one or two behavioral styles and that’s our go to and that’s okay it’s knowing that respecting that of ourselves but also respecting others and knowing how to communicate with them um just adds for better connection better clarity better movement better sales um you know when you know who you’re selling to it makes a lot easier to present uh in a in a sales

way to that individual if you know what behavioral cell they are because you’re not going to sell the same to each of them.

So we hope that you enjoyed this and we look forward to giving you the last one. There’s so much information about this that we can definitely break down for you.

Please reach out to us. Let us know. would love to jump on a call with you. We can do an official assessment outside of the assessment link that we have in the show notes for you as well.

We can get you pricing and all of that good stuff but this is something that we absolutely love.

Amanda Furgiuele (afconsultingteam21@gmail.com)

And we love it for teams as well. You know you’re talking about how effective it is to know who you’re selling to.

It’s effective to know who’s on your team and how they want to be treated, how they want to be spoken to, what’s important to them in the job world.

So there’s so much you can gain from really understanding discs for yourself and for the others around you because it’s all about that platinum rule, treating others, how they want to be treated.

And it makes a huge difference and trickles down in many aspects of your business and for all life.

Lynn Howard (Lynn Howard)

Absolutely. So, till next time.

Amanda Furgiuele (afconsultingteam21@gmail.com)

Get after it.