Navigating change with Everything DiSC: why the same change lands differently with everyone
When you’re not in the middle of a major change, it’s easy to forget how all-consuming it can be. But think back to a time when you genuinely weren’t sure you’d still have a job in a month. Or when a new policy landed overnight — everyone back in the office four days a week, no more music at your desk, a familiar way of working suddenly taken away.
In the abstract, most of these things earn little more than a shrug. That’s life. But when you’re actually living through one, it’s a completely different story.
The change curve
There’s a well-known way to picture how most of us respond to unwelcome change: the change curve.
It starts with a dip — a period of disorientation where morale drops and people wrestle with a difficult mix of confusion, frustration and insecurity. Over time, often slowly, the mood shifts towards reorientation. People begin to accept the new reality, explore it and problem-solve. Maybe this isn’t so bad. Maybe that old way of doing things was holding us back after all. Eventually, after a period of adjustment, they reach a new normal, where the change is folded into their outlook and daily routines.
This doesn’t hold true for every person or every change, but it’s a fairly typical pattern.
Here’s the part that matters most for anyone leading a team. When there’s a sizeable change in an organisation, you are not going to prevent this reaction. We’re human, and this is simply what we do. What you can do is influence it: lessen how deep the dip goes and how long it lasts — and, crucially, reduce the number of people who never quite make it up the other side.
The mistake almost every leader makes
So how do you do that? A large part of it comes down to being attentive to what people need during these periods, and helping them meet those needs. And where you can’t help directly, simply acknowledging the need still counts for a great deal.
The catch is this: different people need very different things in exactly the same situation.
As leaders, we have a strong and entirely natural tendency to assume everyone needs what we need. I just need some time on my own to process this. I just need to talk it through with a few people. Whatever our own coping strategy happens to be, we quietly assume it’s universal. It isn’t.
This is where a personality model like DiSC becomes genuinely useful — not as a box to put people in, but as a map of the different needs that surface when change hits.
Four styles, four sets of needs
Dominance (D). People with a D style tend to be direct and assertive. When things are turned upside down, one of their first instincts is: how do I restore some control and agency here? They want a voice in the conversation — a sense that decisions aren’t simply being done to them. They’ll be especially alert to any loss of freedom, authority or status, and they need a legitimate place to raise what they’re unhappy about. For leaders: give them a genuine say and a clear route to influence what happens next.
Influence (i) and Steadiness (S) — connection. For people in the i and S regions, the mind often goes to connection. I need to express what I’m going through and feel genuinely heard. Which relationships are being disrupted by this? In this new setup, do I still belong? They need to feel acknowledged, reassured and seen by someone they trust — and often, just knowing that support is there makes a difference, even if they never call on it. There’s also the pull of attachment: to people, yes, but also to the environments and routines being taken away. Part of what they need is to rebuild a sense of familiarity. For leaders: make time to listen and reassure, and help re-establish connection and routine.
Steadiness (S) and Conscientiousness (C) — stability. Towards the lower half of the circle, in both the S and C regions, there’s a strong pull towards stability and safety. These people are looking for some confidence that things are going to work out — because right now, that’s far from clear. They want predictability restored: What will I be working on next month? Who will I actually report to? For S styles in particular, one of the strongest needs is time, space and freedom from pressure — the room to adjust in their own way, rather than at the pace they’re being told to. For leaders:offer reassurance, a clear sense of what’s stable, and room to adjust without being rushed.
Conscientiousness (C) — information. Finally, the C region has a pronounced need for information and understanding. Almost all of us want this to some degree, but for some people it’s especially strong. What exactly are these new systems and expectations? What’s the plan for getting back to normal? And in the more sceptical CD/DC range, there’s a real demand for a solid justification for the disruption. The logic had better be airtight and transparent — and it had better not rest on politics, shortsightedness or irrelevant factors. Much of this is about being able to prepare, and to regain some sense of control over what’s coming. For leaders: be transparent. Share the plan, the reasoning and the trade-offs honestly.
Keeping it in perspective
A word of reassurance for leaders: you are not a therapist, and you’re not expected to meet every one of these needs. For some of them, it isn’t even within your power.
The real message is simpler. Different people need very different things in the same situation — and the same person will need different things in different changes. What we instinctively assume people should need is often not what they actually need.
If you have the bandwidth, the four styles above make a useful cheat sheet for what to watch for. And if you have access to Everything DiSC on the Catalyst platform, you can look colleagues up, get a feel for where they sit, and see some genuinely useful comparisons of how the two of you might see the same situation differently.
Because in the end, if you can understand what someone actually needs at a crossroads like this, even a small, well-targeted action can make a profound difference.
