Successful SCM teams work with several different types of people. Each of the various stakeholders types should be treated special in their own unique way. This means the SCM professional needs to understand there are differences and must be able to quickly identify which type or types they are dealing with; as well as understand how to work with them.
One such difference between people is the Global vs Lineal distinction. This difference was once creating friction between my wife and I, and it was several years before working in the software industry when a marriage counselor pointed it out to me. Knowing that Lisa is a short-term, global thinking individual explained why our house was messy all the time. At the time, she was a ‘have fun first,’ short-term, globally oriented person and I was a ‘work first’ long-term, lineal thinking person. I wanted a clean house and she didn’t care as much. We agreed to meet in the middle. Sure, it cost a few bucks, but hiring a cleaning lady (to hide all her stuff in sensible places) is working out well for us. Of course, it meant she had to get a job to pay for it!
Knowing this difference helped me understand working relationships at work. Categorizing people worked most of the time as they would either be like lineal me, or global, which is not like me at all. But work relationships are much more complex. There are more types of people at work and fitting all of them somewhere on a one dimensional, global to linear line wasn’t working for everyone. In fact, there were times when it seemed like a horrible fit. There are some linear thinking people who are more like my wife and they were supposed to be like me; plus there were global thinking people who were more like me.
After continuing to struggle with the various personality types for several more years, I was introduced to the DISC profile through a company training session put on by Paul Jerome. This DISC profiling technique added a new dimension to the mix for me. I think of this new dimension as the people to data line. Now I have four types of people categories instead of just first two. As it turns out, I am located on the data end of this line and my wife is on the people side. In other words, I am a linear-data oriented person and Lisa is global-people oriented.
Remember those folks who were hard to categorize? They are the linear-people people, and the global-data people. I think it’s important for you to know where you fit, and don’t be afraid to say you are on the line between two types. That’s entirely possible. Consider learning more about the standard DISC Assessment . I find it hard to believe anyone could possibly work on an SCM team without understanding DISC profile or something similar. This is why I think it’s safe to say…
SCM is DISC