 Senior Non-Commissioned Officer, Advanced Leadership Experience, Student Guide. Date published, 1 October 2016. Personal Profile System. Senior Master Sergeant Williams is the Superintendent of the Military Personnel Flight. She has 40 people that work for her in various positions. Although there are several subordinates she communicates well with, she often has difficulty communicating with several of the section chiefs. In her mind, they just don't see things the way she does, and that often at times causes conflict. She has a hard time understanding how others don't see her most logical point of view, the way it should be done. She's tired of hearing that there's more than one way to solve a problem. What should she do? The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up. John C. Maxwell. Note, this document contains curriculum-sensitive information and may not be used for public dissemination. Inside this chapter, PPS dimensions and components. Dominance, influence, steadiness, conscientiousness, task-position mismatches, impact of PPS, subordinate, senior NCO, mission. Upon completion of this chapter, you should be able to Terminal Cognitive Objective Comprehend personal profile system concepts and or their impact on subordinate, senior NCO, and mission effectiveness. Terminal Cognitive Samples of Behavior 1. Identify personal profile system concepts and or their impact on subordinate, senior NCO, and mission effectiveness. 2. Illustrate personal profile system concepts and or their impact on subordinate, senior NCO, and mission effectiveness. 3. Predict the impact of personal profile system concepts on subordinate, senior NCO, and mission effectiveness. Effective Objective Value personal profile system and its positive impact on subordinate, senior NCO, and mission effectiveness. Effective Samples of Behavior 1. Enthusiastically dedicate yourself to read and listen to all material about personal profile system and its impact on subordinate, senior NCO, and mission effectiveness. 2. Voluntarily complete all coursework related to personal profile system and its impact on subordinate, senior NCO, and mission effectiveness. 3. Openly accept personal profile system and its positive impact on subordinate, senior NCO, and mission effectiveness. 4. Willingly develop a preference for personal profile system and its positive impact on subordinate, senior NCO, and mission effectiveness. 5. Strive toward a commitment to apply personal profile system because of its positive impact on subordinate, senior NCO, and mission effectiveness. How many times in your career have you dealt with subordinates that did not see things the same way you did? How did you respond? How did they respond? Have you ever wondered why some people behave the way they do? In today's environment, understanding behavioral tendencies of yourself and others is essential to being a successful leader. The personal profile system, PPS, can help you. The profile provides a framework for looking at human behavior while increasing your knowledge of your own unique behavior patterns. Effective leaders understand their own behavioral tendencies and the behavioral tendencies of the people they interact with on a regular basis. In addition, effective leaders know how to create motivational environments based on behavioral tendencies. Finally, effective leaders know how to adapt their behavior to the situation. Effective leaders change the way they interact with subordinates, peers, and supervisors based on their needs. Understanding the behavior tendencies of others will help you create a cooperative, pleasant, and productive work environment. This chapter begins by covering the PPS dimensions, disk, and components, tendencies, preferred environment, needs, and strategies for effectiveness. Next, your focus will shift to the use of PPS strategies. Finally, you'll end this chapter by covering the impact of PPS on subordinate, senior NCO, and mission effectiveness. Before you start learning about PPS, there's some important copyright information you need to understand first. Compliance with credit, copyright, and trademark notification. The information in this chapter is copyrighted and based on the Disk Classic Personal Profile System 2800. Permissions have been granted to the Barn Center for Enlisted Education to use the copyrighted information. The Disk Classic Personal Profile System 2800 is a copyrighted assessment instrument. It can help you understand yourself and others. It's broken into dimensions and components by covering the basics of understanding behavioral styles. You can purchase the instrument online at various websites by doing a word search on Disk or Personal Profile System, since one is synonymous with the other. However, it's not necessary to take the assessment to understand it. PPS Dimensions and Components Would you like to create an environment for others to be more successful? Would you like to understand the different motivational environments required by your subordinates' behavioral styles? Could you use the Disk to help you adapt your communication to meet the needs of other people's behavioral tendencies? According to the Disk Classic Personal Profile System 2800, the goal is to help you create an environment to ensure your success. Understanding Disk will help you gain an appreciation for the different motivational environments required by other behavioral styles. It can also help you adapt your communication to meet the needs of people's behavioral tendencies, reduce stress, and increase effectiveness when interacting with others. With this in mind, in this section you'll learn about the PPS Dimensions, Disk, and the PPS Components, tendencies, desires, needs, and strategies to be effective. The tendencies and desires are descriptions of the dimensions, where the needs and strategies are the action plan for people in the dimension. Now that you know what we will cover in this section, let's look at some general information about the Disk. The Disk is a behavioral model that describes how people behave as they respond to their environment. Perceptions come into play as you look at how others behave. The Disk is about understanding, accepting, and respecting differences and managing those differences. Whenever we have a difference of opinion, use different procedures for handling the same activity, or have different solutions to the same problem, we usually experience conflict. These differences appear to be the source of most conflict because we tend to believe that one person must be wrong for the other to be right. However, this thinking is flawed. Differences are just differences. It's important to keep in mind that the Disk is not a personality test. It neither measures nor assesses personality, nor reveals personality types. What it does is reveal how people respond to their environment. Also, it's situational. It measures thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to respond to a particular situation. Dominance. The first PPS dimension is dominance, the D in the Disk. People who operate out of this dimension focus on shaping the environment by overcoming opposition to accomplish results. This person's tendencies include getting immediate results, causing action, accepting challenges, making quick decisions, questioning the status quo, taking authority, managing trouble, and solving problems. This person desires an environment that includes power and authority, prestige and challenge, opportunities for individual accomplishments, a wide scope of operations, direct questions, opportunities for advancement, freedom from controls and supervision, and many new and varied activities. This person needs others who weigh the pros and cons, calculate risks, use caution, create a predictable environment, research facts, deliberate before deciding, and recognize the needs of others. To be more effective, this person needs to receive difficult assignments, to understand they need people, to base techniques on practical experience, to receive an occasional shock, to identify with a group, to verbalize reasons for conclusions, to be aware of existing sanctions, to pace self and to relax more. If they were engaged in battle, they would need to be the one in charge since they desire power and authority. They would be the one leading the charge across the field or down the dark alley. The value of people with this profile is that they naturally want to be the leader. They are an important part of the team because they bring the desire to be in charge. If you don't consider that the person with this profile desires to be in charge, you may miss an important motivational opportunity with them. Influence The second dimension of PPS is influence. People who operate out of this dimension focus on shaping the environment by influencing or persuading others. This person's tendencies include contacting people, making a favorable impression, being articulate, creating a motivating environment, generating enthusiasm, entertaining people, viewing people and situations with optimism and participating in a group. This person desires an environment that includes popularity and social recognition, public recognition of ability, freedom of expression, group activities outside the job, democratic relationships, freedom from control and detail, opportunities to verbalize proposals, coaching and counseling, and favorable working conditions. This person needs others who concentrate on the task, seek facts, speak directly, respect sincerity, develop systematic approaches, prefer to deal with things instead of people, take a logical approach and demonstrate individual follow-through. To be more effective, this person needs to control time, if D or S is low, to make objective decisions, to use hands-on management, to be more realistic when appraising others, to make priorities and deadlines, to be more firm with others, if D is low. These people like people. In your work center, they would be the ones socializing with others and would be a lot of fun to be around. The value of people with this profile is that they create a motivating environment for everyone. They are an important part of the team because they bring optimism with them. If you don't consider that the person with this profile brings optimism to the group, you may miss an important motivational opportunity with them. As a senior NCO, it's important to understand those with this eye profile so that you can set them up for success in whatever position you put them in by pointing out the things that will motivate them and also the things in the job that they will need to be careful of in the job or tasking. Understanding some of the characteristics about an eye profile should help you better manage those individuals that have an eye profile. Let's now look at the steady dimension of PPS, the S. Steadiness. The third dimension of PPS is steadiness. People who operate out of this dimension focus on cooperating with others within existing circumstances to carry out the task. This person's tendencies include performing in a consistent, predictable manner, demonstrating patience, developing specialized skills, helping others, showing loyalty, being a good listener, calming excited people, creating a stable and harmonious work environment. This person desires an environment that includes maintenance of the status quo unless given reasons for change, predictable routines, credit for work accomplished, minimal work infringement on home life, sincere appreciation, identification with a group, standard operating procedures and minimal conflict. This person needs others who react quickly to unexpected change, stretch toward the challenges of accepted tasks, become involved in more than one thing, are self-promoting, apply pressure on others, work comfortably in an unpredictable environment, help to prioritize work and are flexible in work procedures. To be more effective, this person needs to be conditioned prior to change, to validate self-worth, to know how personal effort contributes to the group effort, to have colleagues of similar competence and sincerity, to know task guidelines and to have creativity encouraged. These people are very steady. In your work center, they would be the one that calms everyone down after a major change is announced. They like the routine and steady approach. The value of people with this profile is that they like to help others and calm, excited people. They are an important part of the team because they help create a stable, harmonious work environment. If you don't consider that the person with this profile likes to help others, you may miss an important motivational opportunity with them. As a senior NCO, it's important to understand those with this S-profile so that you can set them up for success in whatever position you put them in by pointing out the things that will motivate them and also the things in the job that they will need to be careful of in the job or tasking. Understanding some of these things about an S-profile should help you better manage those individuals that have an S-profile. This is the fourth dimension of PPS, the C. Conscientiousness The fourth dimension of PPS is conscientiousness. People who operate out of this dimension focus on working conscientiously within existing circumstances to ensure quality and accuracy. This person's tendencies include adhering to key directives and standards, concentrating on key details, thinking analytically, critically, weighing pros and cons, being diplomatic with people, using subtle or indirect approaches to conflict, checking for accuracy, analyzing performance critically, and using a systematic approach to situations or activities. This person desires an environment that includes clearly defined performance expectations, values of quality and accuracy, a reserved and business-like atmosphere, opportunities to demonstrate expertise, control over factors that affect their performance, opportunities to ask why questions, recognition for specific skills and accomplishments. This person needs others who delegate important tasks, make quick decisions, use policies only as guidelines, compromise with the opposition, state unpopular positions, initiate and facilitate discussions, encourage teamwork. To be more effective, this person needs to have time to plan carefully, to know exact job descriptions and performance objectives, to schedule performance appraisals, to receive specific feedback on performance, to respect people's personal worth as much as their accomplishments, and to develop tolerance for conflict. These people like to do things by the book and expect others to do the same. In your work center, this person is going to hold others to the standard and help keep everyone focused and on track. The value of people with this profile is that they naturally take care of the details. They are an important part of the team because they bring a systematic approach to most all situations. If you don't consider that the person with this profile desires and likes the details, you may miss an important motivational opportunity with them. As a senior NCO, it's important to understand those with this C profile so that you can set them up for success in whatever position you put them in by pointing out the things that will motivate them and also the things in the job that they will need to be careful of in the job or tasking. Understanding some of the characteristics about a C profile should help you better manage those individuals that have a C profile. At this point, you should have an understanding of each of the dimensions of the disc. However, before you wrap this section up, there is one more thing you need to cover. Task or position mismatches. Task position mismatches. Understanding the disc allows you to determine the characteristics of a task or position and then use that information to match a subordinate with it. But what should you do if the task that's required doesn't match your subordinates' profile? For example, what if the task requires someone that displays more of the dominance profile but your subordinate displays more of the steadiness profile? PPS and task or position mismatches occur more often than not because we almost never have the luxury of choosing our subordinates or team members. However, that does not mean we cannot be effective in helping our subordinates be successful in positions that do not quite match their PPS. When we have to assign people to tasks or positions that do not match their PPS, it is vitally important to set them up for success. We do this by using a technique known as caution, motivate, and support. Caution. We caution on aspects of the position that will not appeal to the person based on her primary and secondary tendencies. This information comes from the general highlights of the disc classic interpretation stage one referenced earlier in this chapter labeled, This person desires an environment that includes, and to be more effective, this person needs. Motivate. We motivate the person by letting him know which aspects of the position appeal to his primary and secondary tendencies. This information comes from the general highlights of the disc classic interpretation stage one referenced earlier in this chapter labeled, This person's tendencies include, and this person desires an environment that includes. Support. We support the person by letting her know we are always available to listen, answer questions, provide more information and guidance, secure resources, and when necessary run interference or remove roadblocks. We also support by utilizing information from the action plan sections of the general highlights of the disc classic interpretation stage one referenced earlier in this chapter. Remember, people are motivated to do what they want to do, not what you want them to do. Therefore, the most effective leaders expend effort toward creating environments where people are self motivated. The best environments are those where once PPS matches the requirements of the position, and when that's not possible, the individual is set up for success through effective use of the caution, motivate, and support. In this section you learned about the PPS dimensions and the PPS components. Some people focus on shaping the environment by overcoming opposition to accomplish results, the dimension of dominance. Others focus on shaping the environment by influencing or persuading others, the dimension of influence. Some people focus on cooperating with others within existing circumstances to carry out the task, dimension of steadiness. And yet others focus on working conscientiously within existing circumstances to ensure quality and accuracy. General highlights, interpretation stage one, see page six, guidelines for interpretation. D, dominance. Emphasis is on shaping the environment by overcoming opposition to accomplish results. Description, this person's tendencies include getting immediate results, causing action, accepting challenges, making quick decisions, questioning the status quo, taking authority, managing trouble, and solving problems. This person desires an environment that includes power and authority, prestige and challenge, opportunities for individual accomplishments, a wide scope of operations, direct answers, opportunities for advancement, freedom from controls and supervision, and many new and varied activities. Action plan. This person needs others who weigh pros and cons, calculate risks, use caution, create a predictable environment, research facts, deliberate before deciding, and recognize the needs of others. To be more effective, this person needs to receive difficult assignments, to understand that they need people, to base techniques on practical experience, to receive an occasional shock, to identify with a group, to verbalize reasons for conclusions, to be aware of existing sanctions, and to pace self and to relax more. I influence. Emphasis is on shaping the environment by influencing or persuading others. This person's tendencies include contacting people, making a favorable impression, being articulate, creating a motivating environment, generating enthusiasm, entertaining people, viewing people and situations with optimism, and participating in a group. This person desires an environment that includes popularity, social recognition, public recognition of ability, freedom of expression, group activities outside of job, democratic relationships, freedom from control and detail, opportunities to verbalize proposals, coaching and counseling, and favorable working conditions. This person needs others who concentrate on the task, seek facts, speak directly, respect sincerity, develop systematic approaches, prefer to deal with things instead of people, take a logical approach, and demonstrate individual follow-through. To be more effective, this person needs to control time, if D or S is low, to make objective decisions, to use hands-on management, to be more realistic when appraising others, to make priorities and deadlines, and to be more firm with others, if D is low. S, steadiness. Emphasis is on cooperating with others within existing circumstances to carry out the task. This person's tendencies include performing in a consistent predictable manner, demonstrating patience, developing specialized skills, helping others, showing loyalty, being a good listener, calming, excited people, creating a stable, harmonious work environment. This person desires an environment that includes maintenance of the status quo unless given reasons for change, predictable routines, credit for work accomplished, minimal work infringement on home life, sincere appreciation, identification with a group, standard operating procedures, and minimal conflict. This person needs others who react quickly to unexpected change, stretch toward the challenges of accepted tasks, become involved in more than one thing, are self-promoting, apply pressure on others, work comfortably in an unpredictable environment, help to prioritize work, and are flexible in work procedures. To be more effective, this person needs to be conditioned prior to change to validate self-worth, to know how personal effort contributes to the group effort, to have colleagues of similar competence and sincerity, to know task guidelines, and to have creativity encouraged. C, conscientiousness. Emphasis is on working conscientiously within existing circumstances to ensure quality and accuracy. This person's tendencies include adhering to key directives and standards, concentrating on key details, thinking analytically, weighing pros and cons, being diplomatic with people, using subtle or indirect approaches to conflict, checking for accuracy, analyzing performance critically, and using a systematic approach to situations or activities. This person desires an environment that includes clearly defined performance expectations, values of quality and accuracy, a reserved business-like atmosphere, opportunities to demonstrate expertise, control over factors that affect their performance, opportunities to ask why questions, and recognition for specific skills and accomplishments. This person needs others who delegate important tasks, make quick decisions, use policies only as guidelines, compromise with the opposition, state unpopular positions, initiate and facilitate discussions, and encourage teamwork. To be more effective, this person needs to have time to plan carefully, to know exact job descriptions and performance objectives, to schedule performance appraisals, to receive specific feedback on performance, to respect people's personal worth as much as their accomplishments, and to develop tolerance for conflict. When you become good at reading people, you will find you are also very effective at leading people and building teams. People react differently in different situations. Remember, it can be useful to identify disc behavior dimensions in others. If you become good at reading people without labeling them, you can be very effective at leading them. Now that you have the experience of using PPS concepts, let's look at the impact of PPS. Impact of PPS. You now have a better understanding of PPS concepts, so what's most likely to happen if you apply these concepts? Why should you use them? How have leaders around you applied them? As you read the following material, you should ponder how you can enhance your success by employing the ideas in this chapter. We'll start by looking at the impact of PPS on subordinate effectiveness, then move on to senior NCO effectiveness and mission effectiveness. Using PPS can have its greatest impact on subordinates. Let's now look at how it affects subordinate effectiveness. Since you'll have larger groups of subordinates to work with, you'll have to adjust your behavior using PPS concepts to manage the group. Subordinate effectiveness. A subordinate's effectiveness may be hindered if you do not employ PPS concepts. This is especially true if you do not consider the desires and needs of the PPS components. The disc model helps you lead subordinates more effectively by showing how to identify the behavioral tendencies of others and then use that knowledge to develop strategies for working more effectively with those people and for creating environments that motivate people based on their behavioral tendencies. This is where legitimate power comes into play. Legitimate power is based on one's title and or position within the organization. Since legitimate power gives you control over your area of responsibility, why not use it to create motivational environments for your subordinates? Not only should you focus on recognizing and respecting individual differences, but you should also educate your subordinates to do the same. But how should you accomplish this? Short of purchasing a PPS instrument for every subordinate, your next best option is to become very good at reading people. The general highlights of the disc classic interpretation stage one, referenced earlier in this chapter, is full of priceless information to help you learn how to people read. Without an instrument, you are taking an educated guess. But the better you become at recognizing behavioral tendencies under different situations, the better you become at accurately identifying what does and does not motivate others. When you become good at people reading, he will find you are also very effective at leading people and building teams. Keep in mind that when using the disc information on yourself, you are considering your feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. When using the information on other people, you can only see their behaviors. Their thoughts and feeling remain hidden. Also, keep in mind that everything is situational. People react differently in different situations. While it can be helpful and fun to identify the disc behavior dimensions in others do not fall into the trap of labeling people. Remember, disc is dynamic, not static, and it depends heavily on the situation. Never assume someone will always react the same way. Pigeon-holing people is dangerous. It causes you to limit how you lead others, which often results in you limiting their responsibilities, which hurts their career and ultimately hurts the Air Force. You can also use disc behavioral statements to describe and discuss expectations of the job. Too many times we talk about what should be done in the job, like defining tasks, duties, and responsibilities, and ignore the equally important elements of how and why the job needs to be done. Understanding the disc allows you to determine the characteristics of a task or position and then use that information to match a subordinate with it. PPS and task or position mismatches occur more often than not because we almost never have the luxury of choosing our subordinates or team members. However, that does not mean we cannot be effective in helping our subordinates be successful in positions that do not quite match their PPS. By being cautious of the aspects of the task that might not appeal to your subordinate based on their profile, motivating him or her on the aspects of the task that do appeal and supporting them through the process, you can help your subordinates be more effective at any task, even if it doesn't fit their behavioral tendencies. As leaders, we should always be thinking about what our subordinates need to be successful. Leaders who don't consider their self-behavior and the behavioral tendencies of others will hinder subordinate effectiveness. However, you now know that PPS can impact subordinate effectiveness in a good way. Let's now move on to how PPS can impact senior NCO effectiveness. Senior NCO effectiveness. The ultimate goal of understanding your behavioral style is to become self-managing. Knowing you have different sources of motivation and different goals based on your natural behavioral style can help you create positive situations for yourself. Take a hard look at your current work environment. Are you happy? Is there a lot of distress associated with your workplace? Now think of your primary behavioral tendencies and the information associated with them. How many of your motivating factors are currently available in your work environment? If the factors you find motivating are missing, then list actions you can take to meet more of your motivational needs. In order to achieve optimal performance, you need to understand yourself and understand the positive and negative factors that affect your performance. Just remember, what makes you most effective in one situation may not work well in a different situation. What makes us different from each other are our combination of behavioral tendencies and the intensity of each behavior. We tend to use those behavioral tendencies with the strongest intensity more frequently. Therefore, it is critical for you to remember people have all four behavioral tendencies. Understanding your own dimension of behavior is important because it helps you learn how to best adapt your behavior to meet the needs of other people and the situation. In addition, understanding your own dimension of behavior will help you identify other people's behavior and better understand why they and you respond differently in different environments. Air Force Manual 36-2647 analyzes self-behavior and quickly and proactively modifies behavior to deal effectively with changes. Does not persist with ineffective behaviors. Manages change and maintains continuity for self and others when mission requirement varies or becomes ambiguous. Senior NCOs are most effective when they use the PPS to manage their own behavior and use it to help subordinates manage their behavior. Notice the wording from the Air Force Manual 36-2647. Does not persist with ineffective behaviors. Your effectiveness will be hindered if you don't use PPS concepts to modify your behavior to create the environment the subordinate needs to be most effective. Your effectiveness will be increased if you continuously strive to use PPS concepts. Understanding and using the PPS components, tendencies, desires, needs, and strategies to be effective can help you be a better leader. Although it might be hard to use the concepts at first, as senior NCOs we are required to stretch beyond our comfort zones to accomplish the mission. Focusing your efforts to use these new concepts will increase your effectiveness even if it causes you to stretch beyond your comfort zone. Air Force Manual 36-2647. Actively synthesizes and commits to formal and informal learning activities and assignments, including stretch and risk beyond comfort zone in a way that makes the most of the learning experience. Today, more than ever, enlisted members fulfill more than one role. Most of us fulfill leadership and management positions while also handling technical tasks. We also lead teams and are often members of teams outside our unit. Each role requires different behaviors, and when we fail to address the differences, other problems may surface. Conflict is one problem that usually surfaces. The difference between behaviors required for a specific position and a person's natural behavioral style often causes distress, which can lead to conflict. AFI 36-2618, The Enlisted Force Structure. Senior NCOs should continue professional development through a variety, stop and reflect for a moment. Is your behavior at home different than your behavior at work? Why is that? Remember, we all behave differently in different environments and situations. The important thing is figuring out whether our behavior is most effective given the situation. Imagine someone as a high D in her role at work, then going home and behaving the same way toward her family members. Might that generate some conflict? A significant strength of the PPS and the DISC model is they can help you identify the behavioral expectations of any role and then use that information to reduce conflict. Understanding how PPS can impact senior NCO effectiveness is important. Just as important is understanding how PPS can impact mission effectiveness. So let's see how it affects mission effectiveness. Mission effectiveness. Using PPS concepts can also impact mission effectiveness in several ways. Your mission may be hindered if you do not employ PPS concepts. Senior NCOs should continue professional development through a variety of means, such as books, voluntary career development courses, lectures, off-duty education, leadership seminars, et cetera. Personal professional growth never ends. One of the primary reasons personal professional growth, the Senior NCO Academy Distance Learning Program and PPS, for example, is so important is that senior NCOs are moving into positions of much greater mission responsibility at a strategic level. Leaders who don't consider their self-behavior and the behavioral tendencies of others will not meet the institutional competency of embodies airmen culture develop self and therefore hinder their mission. AFI 36-2618, the enlisted force structure. Master Sargeants are transitioning from being technical experts and first line supervisors to leaders of operational competence, skilled at merging subordinates talents, skills and resources with other teams functions to most effectively accomplish the mission. Using PPS can enhance accomplishment of the mission because you better understand the behavioral tendencies of yourself and others. Often this can lead to conversations that frequently uncover new approaches and solutions to move the mission forward. This will meet the institutional competency of managing organizations and resources continuous improvement. It's not only a good technique to use, it can help you meet the mission. So now that you have a better understanding of how to apply PPS concepts, you should be able to infer some answers to the questions posed earlier. Much has been written about the behavioral tendencies and the best method to manage behaviors. Not only do you now have a better understanding of behavior tendencies through the use of PPS, but also you should see the benefits in using PPS concepts on the senior NCO, subordinate and mission effectiveness. Summary. This chapter on PPS began with an examination of the dimensions and components of each of the dimensions. Remember, the dominance dimension is where people focus on shaping the environment by overcoming opposition to accomplish results. The influence dimension is where people focus on shaping the environment by influencing or persuading others. In the steadiness dimension, people focus on cooperating with others within existing circumstances to carry out the task. Finally, the conscientious dimension is where people focus on working conscientiously within existing circumstances to ensure quality and accuracy. You also learned about the components of each dimension which includes the tendencies, desires, needs and strategies. Tendencies include things like getting immediate results for the D, making a favorable impression for the I, showing loyalty for the S and thinking analytically for the C. Each of the dimensions also desire a certain environment. Each of the dimensions also have very different needs. And finally, the strategies, what they need to be more effective, includes different approaches for different dimensions. Finally, you wrapped up the chapter by gaining an understanding of how PPS impacts your subordinates, you as a senior NCO and your mission. Your effectiveness will be increased if you continuously strive to use PPS concepts. Understanding and using the PPS concepts, understanding and using the PPS components, tendencies, desires, needs and strategies to be effective can help you be a better leader. Considering each of these components as you give job assignments can set your subordinates up for success. Even if the job is not the kind of work the subordinate likes, you can use PPS components to set the environment for them. This person desires an environment that includes, be supportive, this person needs others who and help them be more effective to be more effective this person needs. Using PPS can enhance accomplishment of the mission because you better understand the behavioral tendencies of yourself and others. Often this can lead to conversations that frequently uncover new approaches and solutions to move the mission forward. It's not only a good technique to use, it can help you meet the mission. In today's environment, you are faced with airmen of diverse backgrounds and behavioral tendencies. For senior enlisted leaders, the implications of understanding people are extremely important and not using every tool we have to manage people can hinder our success. By understanding PPS concepts and in turn using them, senior NCOs can be better positioned to lead their organizations and ensure successful mission accomplishment. Key terms, caution, motivate, support, page six. Conscientiousness, page five. Disc, page three. Dimension, page three. Dominance, page three. Influence, page four. Personal Profile System, PPS, page three. Steadiness, page four. References. Air Force Instruction, AFI 36-2618. The Enlisted Force Structure, 27 February 2009. Air Force Manual, 36-2647. The Institutional Competency Development and Management, 25 March 2014. Disc Classic Version 9.0. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Inscape Publishing Incorporated, 2001. Profession of Arms Center of Excellence. Profession of Arms Handbook, 21 July 2015.