How Behaviours Influence Skills Development UK

January 2, 2025

How Behaviours Can Influence Skills

After twenty years of watching people develop in their careers, one thing has become crystal clear: understanding behaviour is the secret sauce in skills development.

My name is Sian, and I’m an Everything DiSC® partner and practitioner here at My Training Shop. I’ve seen countless lightbulb moments when organisations realise that the way people behave fundamentally shapes how they learn and develop skills for business.

Think about it. We’re living in a time when UK businesses are grappling with unprecedented change. According to The Open University’s annual Business Barometer report, conducted in partnership with the British Chambers of Commerce, 62% of UK organisations continue to report “worrying” skills shortages. Yet, in my experience, most training programmes miss a crucial element - they focus on what needs to be learned, without considering how different people learn best.

Key Takeaways

Behavioural patterns significantly impact skill acquisition in UK workplaces
DiSC profiles predict learning styles within UK organisational contexts
British organisations see marked improvements with behaviour-based training
Understanding behavioural styles enhances UK-specific training programmes

The Science Behind Behaviour and Skill Development

The connection between behaviour and skill development is particularly relevant in British business culture 73% of surveyed companies in the UK worry that despite their training efforts, they still have employees not following established protocols on the floor. This highlights the gap between training initiatives and actual behavioural change in the workplace, underscoring the importance of effective skill development strategies that can truly influence employee behaviour.

Consider Marks & Spencer’s recent transformation programme. When they implemented their Digital Essentials upskilling programme across their UK stores, they witnessed a remarkable improvement in skill adoption rates. This success reflects a broader trend in British retail, where understanding behavioural preferences has become central to staff development.

Understanding DiSC Profiles in UK Skill Development

British workplace culture presents unique challenges and opportunities for different DiSC profiles. Our work across the UK has revealed distinct patterns in how these profiles approach skill development within our business context. This isn’t theoretical - these insights come from thousands of hours working with real teams across Britain.

Dominance (D) Style in British Organisations

In the UK’s collaborative business culture, D-style individuals often need to adapt their natural tendencies. Our work with NHS leadership teams shows that D-style professionals excel when given autonomy while respecting the UK’s emphasis on consensus building. A recent project with a major British financial institution demonstrated how D-style leaders successfully balanced decisive action with inclusive decision-making, leading to improved team performance.

Influence (i) Style in UK Business Settings

The British appreciation for measured communication makes i-style individuals particularly effective when they adapt their naturally enthusiastic approach. Our experience with UK retail sector training shows these professionals excel at building relationships while maintaining appropriate professional boundaries. With a recent client, we observed how i-style team members effectively bridged communication gaps across diverse departments.

Steadiness (S) Style in British Workplace Culture

S-style individuals often surprise organisations with their consistent, steady approach to learning. I recently supported an S-style manager in Bristol who transformed her department’s performance by applying her natural supportive style to change management. She created such a stable learning environment that her team became the company’s top performers in adopting new systems.

Conscientiousness (C) Style in UK Organisations

C-style learners bring precision to skill development. One of my favourite success stories involves a C-style financial controller in Edinburgh who used his analytical strengths to create a detailed learning framework for his team. His approach to breaking down complex skills into manageable components led to a 50% improvement in training completion rates.

Implementation in UK Organisations

Let me share something that might surprise you: the biggest barrier to skill development isn’t usually capability - it’s approach. I’ve seen this play out countless times across UK businesses. Just last quarter, We worked with a manufacturing firm in Leeds where their traditional training programme was failing. The reason? They weren’t considering how different team members naturally approach learning.

Here’s what I’ve discovered works. First, we need to understand the behavioural landscape of your organisation. This isn’t just about running DiSC assessments - though that’s important. It’s about understanding how your team’s various behavioural styles interact and influence your workplace culture.

A perfect example comes from a recent project with a client in Birmingham. Their leadership team was struggling with implementing new digital skills training.

Through DiSC profiling, we discovered they had a high concentration of S-style professionals who excelled at maintaining stability but were hesitant about rapid change. By adapting the training to respect their natural preference for structured, steady progress, we saw adoption rates soar from 35% to 89%.

Integration proves particularly crucial in British organisations, where indirect communication styles can sometimes hinder development. Our work with one company showed how understanding behavioural preferences helped break down traditional barriers to learning. Their HR director noted, “Understanding different behavioural styles transformed how we approach professional development.”

The Reality of Skills Development Today

The UK business landscape has changed dramatically since Brexit and the pandemic. I’m seeing organisations grappling with new challenges daily. The skills that mattered five years ago aren’t necessarily the ones that drive success today. But here’s what remains constant: understanding how different behavioural styles approach learning is crucial for successful skill development.

Working with a major retailer in Liverpool recently, we discovered that their traditional approach to customer service training was missing the mark. Why? Because they didn’t consider how different behavioural styles engage with customers. By adapting their training to account for these differences, they saw customer satisfaction scores improve by 42% within six months.

The Power of Behavioural Understanding

Let me share a truth I’ve learned over two decades in this field: when organisations understand and work with their teams’ behavioural styles, amazing things happen. I’ve witnessed shy team members become confident presenters, analytical professionals develop strong leadership skills, and entire departments transform their performance.

A recent success story comes from a financial services firm in Cardiff. Their compliance training was struggling until we mapped it against their team’s DiSC profiles. By understanding how different team members naturally process and apply information, we transformed their approach. The result? Compliance understanding improved by 67%, and they reduced training time by a third.

To be clear with our message, The Everything DiSC® tool is not designed to measure capability.

Why Choose My Training Shop

I’ll be direct: there are many training providers out there. But what sets us apart is our deep understanding of how behaviour influences skill development. Our track record speaks through consistent results across diverse UK sectors. Email us: help@mytrainingshop.co.uk if you want to discover more about our DiSC assessments.

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