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Boardroom Communication Strategy

This podcast focuses on tailoring presentations to board members’ DISC styles to maximize engagement and approval.

• Cindy Jacoby and Martha Forlines recommend using a structured approach to pitching ideas by addressing the four DISC types—Dominant, Influencer, Steady, and Conscientious—ensuring each style’s priorities are met.
  • Dominants want quick decisions, results, and options framed as risk-reward tradeoffs.
  • Influencers respond to energetic, vision-driven messaging emphasizing buy-in and excitement.
  • Steadies seek assurances of team support and low disruption during change.
  • Conscientious members require detailed data, risk mitigation, and compliance evidence.
  • This approach balances brevity and depth, avoiding overwhelming any one style while engaging all.

Style by Style

Experienced executives often embody high dominance and expect confident, bottom-line presentations that highlight fast impact and competitive advantage.

• • Dominants prefer options with likelihood of success and cost implications clearly stated.
  • Risk-reward framing resonates strongly with them, guiding swift decisions.
  • They expect minimal storytelling but clear, actionable information.

Influencers value dynamic, relational messaging focused on team and customer excitement to secure buy-in during boardroom pitches.

• • Influencers want to visualize success with phrases like “our team is excited” or “this will boost our brand.”
  • Presenters must energize the room without boring more results-focused members.

Steady board members prioritize security, stability, and team impact, requiring reassurance about low-risk, smooth implementation.

• • Use phrases such as “low disruption implementation” and “support through change” to gain their support. They typically avoid conflict but will engage if they feel the change benefits the team.
  • They typically avoid conflict but will engage if they feel the change benefits the team.

Conscientious members are risk-averse and detail-oriented, demanding thorough preparation and evidence of compliance and risk mitigation (35:34)

• • They appreciate advanced access to materials for review before meetings.
  • Presenters must be ready to answer detailed questions but avoid overloading the entire group with data.
  • Demonstrating risk awareness and mitigation fosters their trust and buy-in.

Successful boardroom communication requires adapting styles to audience composition and not relying solely on one’s personal approach.

• Build mini-presentations addressing each DISC type’s key concerns within a 10-minute pitch.
• Practice presentations to confidently vary tone and content.

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DISCy Chicks are wrapping up Day 2—and the final day—of TTISI Con 2026! 🎤✨

Coaches and consultants from all over gathered in Arizona, and we couldn’t resist capturing the energy, insights, and wisdom in a round of spontaneous hallway interviews. This special short cast gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the conversations that matter where we tackle the most egregious myths about the DISC assessment.

Hit play and join us as we put our colleagues on the spot and close out an inspiring conference!

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DISC Chicks Podcast with Video

Listen in as Cindy and Martha explore Day 1 of the TTISICon 2026 in Phoenix,AZ. Enjoy their "man on the street" interview with some of their colleagues. Enjoy this short recap of Day !

Can All Styles Effectively Lead ?

Let’s begin with the Dominant style. Their behavior tends to be more aggressive in pursuing results. So, they're all business, more command and control with their teams. They have high expectations of their team members and hold them accountable for delivering results.

Let’s talk about the Influence Style. They tend to be very relationship-oriented, motivational, and inspirational with their team. They show their support and affirm a job well done. Challenges for this style include underperforming team members. Remember, this influencer likes to keep the peace with its team members.

The Steady Style is also relationship-oriented and takes a more gentle approach to how they manage others. The steady leader is more soft spoken, even handed with how they manage their people. Having constructive conversations may be a challenge for the high steady leader; however, if they are motivated to please their boss, and achieve their goals, they can deal with difficult conversations in a very empathetic way.

We now have the high compliant leader to discuss. The compliant leader is very detail-oriented, with perfectionistic tendencies. They are good at setting very specific goals and expect their team to meet them. They have high expectations of themselves and transfer these expectations to their team members. Constructive conversations will likely be brief and to the point.

The DISCy Chicks agree that all styles can lead, understanding that each style leads differently!

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Hiring for skills is easy. But hiring for fit for your team, the job, and the culture of your company is more difficult. Using the DISC assessment can enable you to make better decisions to avoid the high cost of turnover for your business. Some of the mistakes in hiring the wrong person for the role are hiring people that are too much like you, , ignoring the candidates soft skills, and favoring your best friend's relatives!

The DISCy Chicks give you a quick review of DISC, for those of you joining for the first time. They also share the fact that the more diverse your DISC styles are on your team, the better. As each style approaches problem solving differently, which strengthens your team.

We always advocate hiring ethically, and each new person you hire will have their own strengths and weaknesses. We don't recommend you automatically give an assessment every candidate that applies. Once you have narrowed your selection to your top two to three people, then have them take the assessment. Prepare for your interviews, consider how this person will integrate into your team, and design how you will onboard them, with their behavior styles in mind.

We share tips on asking appropriate questions for each for the predominant behavior styles.

Hiring for fit is not about eliminating people, but building balance in your selection process. You will find that by using the DISC assessment you will complement skills with behaviors to strengthen your whole team.

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The DISCy Chicks kick off Season 8 with a session on dealing with conflict. Hey, conflict is a normal in the workplace, so we thought we'd address it head on!

Cindy and Martha started with a quick review of what DISC is for those listeners new to our favorite assessment. We dive into styles that are basically opposite of one another, like a high Dominant and a high Steady. First of all pace is very different for that high dominant (fast paced) and the high Steady (slower paced). A high steady can feel very overwhelmed by how aggressive a Dominant can show up! The truth be known, a dominant typically does not adapt their style to the employees that are different from their own way of showing up! The high steady is very relationship oriented, while the dominant is not so much.

We then go to the high Influencer and the high Compliant, again two opposite styles. The high influencer is trying to get an employee to their point of view, talking and persuading. The high Compliant is looking for details, which is not a strong suit for an influencer. So basically they are not giving each other what they are wanting and needing. This definitely can become contentious!

Next, we discuss a high Influencer and a high Steady. The good news is they are both relationship oriented; however their approaches are quite different. As you listen to our discussion,you will understand that the high Influencer energy can be too much for the high Steady pace and energy, resulting in conflict, which the Steady is not comfortable with.

Next up is about how a high Dominant and a high Influencer communicate. The high Dominant is all about the results, and sees people as a means to an end for those results. The Influencer is more sensitive and wants to make sure the people are on board and have what they need to accomplish those results. These two styles have very different approaches to how they lead their team.

Lastly, we address the High Steady and the High Compliant. Their pace is very similar, and their approach to communication is different. The Compliant is looking for accuracy and perfection, and typically may not communicate their needs to others, as they tend to be more self-reliant. The high Steady is gentle and can be as thorough as the high Compliant, and the differentiator is they really care about their employees.

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The Driving Forces Stress Responses

The DISCy Chicks speak to how stress can affect each of us based on our primary motivators. Cindy and Martha have talked about the importance of understanding what drives and motivates us in our personal and professional life. The six domains of the Driving Forces are as follows: Knowledge, Utility, Power, Methodologies, Surroundings, and Others. We encourage you to watch our video on Facebook or listen to our podcast at DISCYCHICKS.COM, as we cover a lot of ground in this recording. If we look at the domain of Knowledge, we share with you how those that have Intellectual as a one of their top two motivators, under stress they may tend to suffer from burnout because of their need to gather so much information, which can be stressful. The other Knowledge driving force is instinctive, which is to seek information when they need it. The stressor for people with this motivator is to feel overextended just to stay current with the information they need.

We break it down like this for the other five domains of Driving Forces. Remember, gaining more self- knowledge can enable you to better manage your stress in your personal and professional life.

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In this week's DISCy Chicks Podcast meeting, hosts Martha Forlines and CindyJacoby welcomed guest Karen Nutter, who shared her experience with using the DNA competencies for job benchmarking to hire the best candidates, as well as succession planning. Karen shared the experience she has had in identifying someone to be a successor for her own business. One insight she had was that she and her successor complement each other really well.

The main focus of the podcast is succession planning, where Karen emphasized the significance of TTI assessments and competencies in hiring and coaching, providing insights from her own experiences. The discussion also introduced Karen's Problem Solving Checklist tool, highlighting its application for coaching and client acquisition while stressing the importance of understanding driving forces for job satisfaction and for a good fit for the role her clients are trying to fill.

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BizHelp Consulting- Cindy Jacoby

Martha Forlines

Karen Nutter- CBK Advising