Dansk Retursystem about Everything DiSC®
"It is an integral part of our culture"
In Dansk Retursystem, Everything DiSC is a crucial tool for creating a workplace with room for everyone. It creates understanding for each other and provides a precise language to articulate the collaboration.
Why have you chosen to cooperate with DISCnordic?
“Because they are a strong partner in Denmark in the practical application of Everything DiSC. In Dansk Retursystem, we have decided that all employees must have a DiSC profile made, so that they get a thorough insight into their own way of thinking and prioritizing when it comes to functioning in a workplace. It is a central goal for us that we want to create better job relationships through self-insight and insight into the personality of our colleagues. We consider DISCnordic a close collaborator in that endeavour, and our partnership actually goes all the way back to 2017. DISCnordic has long since become a permanent part of the house. They certify all our managers and hold ongoing courses for our employees. And then they are a sparring partner when we need professional input or concrete support for difficult situations.”
What results has it produced for you?
“We attach great importance to diversity and have long been successful in creating a spacious workplace. Here, Everything DiSC has been an indispensable tool, because it precisely gives the individual employee a better understanding – and thus greater tolerance – towards colleagues. If, for example, we employed a war veteran with PTSD in the past, some colleagues would think that it was most of all difficult because the person did not immediately fit in. Today, the same colleagues think it’s great that someone comes along who has something different and brings new skills to the team. And that success is mainly due to the fact that, via Everything DiSC, we have gained a greater respect for each other’s differences – and not least a common language to talk about it.
"Everything DiSC has been an indispensable tool here, because it precisely gives the individual employee a better understanding – and thus greater tolerance – towards colleagues."
In the more measurable areas, we can also see that Everything DiSC makes a big difference. We become more efficient year by year, and we have a very low employee turnover. Our employees have simply become happier to go to work. Our sickness absence is admittedly well above comparable workplaces, but this is solely due to the fact that our prioritization of diversity also means that we accommodate a number of employees with physical and psychological challenges.”
How have you worked with it in practice?
”It is in the nature of DiSC that nothing is better than anything else. We are simply arranged differently and therefore bring something different to the table. In that realization lies a willingness to understand each other’s motivations and focus on the positive, rather than pointing fingers at what we do not immediately understand. It provides a constructive approach to collaboration. In practice, we use Everything DiSC all the time and in all contexts. We use it, for example, when we talk to each other about situations that arise in our everyday work. Well, it’s clear that he or she reacts that way, because the profile actually tells us that too. We also remind each other of the dynamics between different DiSC profiles – and of course we use it actively when we need to understand why a team is lagging or why conflicts arise.”
"Our employees have simply become happier to go to work."
How will you work with it going forward?
“We have had an ambitious approach to working with Everything DiSC from the start, and we are not going to change that. All our managers are certified, and all employees, high or low, must have created a profile and be on a course in understanding the theory behind Everything DiSC. But we only do that because we can see a real value in it. Our employees use it every day to create a working environment where we have a sincere desire to understand each other. Because regardless of the challenges and conflicts there are in a department, everyone can agree that a common foundation is needed so that everyone can perform and thrive. And that is a good starting point for creating change. Among other things, we have had an interesting process with our drivers. We could see that they pretty much all belonged to the same DiSC style and therefore by nature really just wanted to get into their trucks and go as quickly as possible. However, it presented a challenge in terms of talking together and planning the day’s routes optimally. Everything DiSC made that point clear, and today drivers are getting their act together because they can see the benefit. We have many aha experiences where our employees suddenly understand why specific patterns repeat themselves in their teams.”
How have you experienced the collaboration with DISCnordic?
“We have had a fantastic collaboration with Michael (Giroux-Drejer, ed.). He has been on a big task in conveying the material to our many different target groups, but he is super good at talking to people based on their prerequisites. Everyone in our organization understands the thinking behind Everything DiSC and can see the value in including it in the conversation about how we work together. I especially appreciate that we can always get in touch with Michael. He is always ready with good advice and new angles on the challenges we encounter. And I can see that it is often a great advantage that he comes from outside. He is simply listened to in a different way than when we in management open our mouths.”
Dansk Retursystem A/S
Dansk Retursystem A/S is a privately owned, non-profit company that was founded in 2000 by the breweries in collaboration with the grocery trade. The company’s task is to ensure a high return rate of empty, mortgaged packaging by collecting disposable packaging for recycling. It has always been part of Dansk Retursystem’s DNA to have many different employees employed. Out of the company’s well over 400 employees, approx. 10% employed on special terms.