DiSC® is a valuable and powerful “people-reading tool.” One group of people that lawyers have “to read” are jurors. Consequently, lawyers should consider adding DiSC to their toolkit when trying to understand and select jurors.
DiSC provides lawyers quick guides to understand what drives jurors by observing juror behaviors. A juror’s “observable behavior” is what they do and how they do it; what they say and how they say it; what they write and how they write it; and what they express and how they express it.
DiSC divides observable behavior into four types – Dominant (D), Influence (i), Steadiness (S), and Conscientiousness (C).
Lawyers can discern the tone of voice, words used, the pace of speaking or responding to questions, facial expressions, and gestures, and whether there is an orientation towards being logic- or people-focused.
Each juror is a combination of the four types, but they tend towards one. No “type” is better or worse than another. It’s just important to understand the mix of those who are:
- Action-oriented, fast-paced and logic-focused.
- Collaborative, fast-paced and people-focused.
- Systematic, moderate-paced and people-focused.
- Factual, moderate-paced and logic-focus.
DiSC is more than for reading jurors; we can read ourselves and others in our organizations and life and enhance understanding and communications.