It's important to note there is no 'best' behavior style. Each style has its own strengths and its own opportunities for improvement and growth. The key is in recognizing and understanding each individual's style. This is known as self-awareness.

Becoming self-aware

Knowing your behavioral style is an example of being 'self-aware'. Great athletes and coaches have self-awareness. They know what they do best, and where they need to improve. The same holds true for any successful individual.

Studies suggest that 75 percent of making behavioral changes is being 
self-aware of what it is you currently do.

Self-awareness is the recognition of our behaviors, our strengths and weaknesses, our beliefs and values, and how this all creates the outcomes we experience in life. High level self-awareness goes deeper into our core beliefs and values, both of which shape our actions, decisions and behaviors.

Developing self-awareness can help us to recognize the specific triggers creating certain emotional and behavioral responses. Self-awareness is also a prerequisite for effective communication and interpersonal relations, as well as for developing empathy for others.

The bottom line is, people perform in their chosen fields to a higher level if they have greater levels of self-awareness.

When we develop self-awareness, we can begin to choose 
the types of behaviors that 
create great and consistent performances.

Gap analysis

Gap analysis is a way to graphically illustrate where you are and where you want to be, and the impact time has on outcomes and performance, as shown in the diagram below. Self-awareness is all about knowing where you are now, where you want to be in the future and how you plan on getting there.

Closing the gap - emotional intelligence

The ability to modify your behavior (and 'close the gap') is called behavioral flexibility or adaptability. Behavioral flexibility or adaptability is the degree to which an individual is able to adjust their behaviors to suit different environments, situations and people.

It is now apparent the highest performing teams, athletes and coaches
are those that are able to adapt to suit their environment,
be it in training or in competition.

Social scientists call this ability to adapt and be flexible in our behavior 'emotional intelligence'.

Adapting behaviors for sporting success

Once you, as a coach, athlete or sports professional, become aware of your behaviors and how they influence performance, the ability to reach your potential is greatly enhanced.

Behavioral adaptability follows a distinct process:

1. First, understand your current behavior patterns and the results these create for you as an athlete, coach or in your current role.
2. If you are not currently getting the desired results, you must be able to 'DO' something different.
3. In order to 'DO' something different, you need to be aware of the alternative choices/behaviors you can select from.
4. Finally, you must also WANT to adapt, or try a different behavior. This requires the right attitude, and trust in yourself (and your coach).

This is the crux of what the AthleteDISC, CoachDISC and ManagerDISC sports behavioral profiling system enables you to do.

Despite his more recent behavior in his personal life, Tiger Woods summed this up perfectly when he said:

"People thought it was asinine for me to change my swing after I won the Masters by 12 shots. ... Why would you want to change that? Well, I thought I could become better. If I play my best, I'm pretty tough to beat. I'd like to play my best more frequently, and that's the whole idea. That's why you make changes. I thought I could become more consistent."

IMPORTANT NOTE: An athlete only modifies their behavior, or changes their technique, if the coach suggesting the change is, in the eyes of the athlete, more credible, respected and worthy of being listened to than the person (coach, parent, fellow athlete) who firstly taught them to do what they are doing.

How coaches and athletes can use this behavioral profiling

The AthleteDISC and CoachDISC behavioral profiling system has been specifically developed to give you detailed insight into your behavior as a coach or athlete. Coaches can also use the AthleteDISC profiles for their coaching purposes. The profiles are a valuable tool in providing specific advice you can use to become self-aware, analyze the 'gaps', and affect positive changes that ultimately translate into improved performance.

As a coach, the CoachDISC behavioral profiles, will allow you to:

1. Assess your preferred coaching style.
2. Understand how your style may help or hinder you to coach different types of athletes.
3. Learn how to adapt your style to suit different athletes.
4. Learn how to best communicate with your athletes and team.
5. Understand more about the team dynamics that will exist within diverse groups of people.
6. Better understand your own and your athletes' unique motivation strategies.
7. Create the type of environment that your athletes and team may most likely succeed in.

As stated, your choice of coaching style is determined by the athlete's needs for task and relationship behaviors. The AthleteDISC Model can be used to suggest certain behavioral types are more likely to want a certain style of coaching. For example, high D or C styles may want more task oriented behaviors from their coaches.

The AthleteDISC Model can also be used to identify:

1. How athletes prefer to take in information and express themselves (communication style).
2. Athletes' priority to focus on tasks or relationships.
3. What athletes' preferred environment to train in will be.
4. How athletes are motivated.
5. The amount of information athletes prefer to process.
6. How athletes 'see' things (big picture or detail).
7. The pace (speed) at which athletes do what they do. Pace includes the speed at which they physically move, make decisions, change technique and adapt to other changes in their environment.

How sports professionals can use behavioral profiling

The ManagerDISC behavioral profile has been specifically developed for team managers, sports administrators and others who work in the sports industry. It gives you detailed insight into your behavior and how you perform your role. Just like for the coaches and athletes, this profile is a valuable tool in your professional development. It provides specific advice to help you become more self-aware, analyze the 'gaps', and affect positive changes that ultimately translate into improved performance in your work.