Don’t mistake me, there are any number of factors that determine whether a strategic initiative succeeds or fizzles. In many organizations, though, one factor towers above the rest: execution.
You know the stories. Leadership rolls out what they think is a brilliant strategy. Middle management is tasked with making it happen on the ground. Things get lost in translation. What was once strategic now seems listless and reactionary. Workarounds abound. Clean accountability evaporates. People know what they’re doing isn’t working, but no one knows who can fix it.
So who do you think ends up shouldering the blame when “strategy execution” fails to execute? Middle managers.Â
Every organization. Every industry. Every corporate culture around the world would love to improve their strategy-execution capabilities, and research shows that having strong middle managers is the most effective way to do it.
For managers whose natural Everything DiSC® style is CD, leading the charge from strategy to execution aligns with many of their strengths—and creates a few inevitable challenges along the way. In this article, based on Wiley’s Everything DiSC Catalyst Worksmart and Dr. Mark Scullard’s Everything DiSC-style podcast episode on CD-style leaders, we’ll explore how CD managers can leverage their skepticism, need for competence, and attention to detail to own strategy execution.
The CD Manager’s Natural Approach to Execution
Like any Everything DiSC style, everything about how CD managers lean into execution starts with their core worldview. In CD’s case, that worldview hinges on skepticism: the world around us isn’t always friendly, it doesn’t always have our best interests at heart, and it sure isn’t always competent.
Our need to compensate for an unkind world creates three psychological pillars, each with its own accompanying behavioral trait: competence, control, and non-vulnerability. CD styles set the bar impossibly high for themselves (they typically hold themselves to a higher standard than others), have an intense drive to be accurate, and are naturally analytical problem solvers who refuse to settle for either emotion or incomplete logic. They stick with difficult tasks longer than most, work tirelessly to uncover logical explanations for how things work (or don’t), and will ruthlessly critique others who rely too heavily on guesswork. (Per the podcast: “For CDs, mastery becomes a skill you can take with you. If you know enough, things can’t surprise you.”)
Put simply: when it comes to execution, CD managers are skew-tailed and logical. They double and triple check their work. They plan for contingencies and anticipate what could go wrong. They set the standard for their peers. They know that if a job needs to be done right, they’re the ones who will do it.
Where CDs Can Get Stuck in Execution
It should come as no surprise that a skeptical manager with an unyielding drive for competence and control will excel at…well, being competent and in control. But these very strengths can also create stumbling blocks for execution.
CD managers have a natural tendency to micromanage, whether they realize it or not. Their high standards and harsh inner critic also mean that they will often become disproportionately upset with teammates who don’t (yet) meet their standards. They can miss deadlines due to over-analysis. And their blunt, straightforward communication may come across as abrasive, insensitive or unsupportive in tense situations.
Not to mention: the podcast points out that CDs have a tendency to focus exclusively on problems and what’s next, sometimes failing to celebrate victories along the way. Imagine how a CD manager must feel hearing team members say, “It’s never enough!” a common refrain when execution is suffering.
Worksmart: Five Actionable Tools for CD Managers
If you’re a CD-style manager wondering how you’ll ever strengthen your execution without compromising on quality, Wiley’s Everything DiSC Catalyst Worksmart has your back. Worksmart guides users through five personalized modules that highlight where they naturally excel as managers and where they could use some work. Along the way, users learn how to leverage their strengths to become even more effective while gaining access to style-specific tools to improve their challenge areas.
Here’s how CD managers can use Worksmart to own strategy execution.
1. Giving & Receiving Constructive Feedback
While CDs are great at giving clear, actionable feedback, they can come across as cold or punishing in the process. Worksmart allows users to dig into common CD feedback pitfalls while uncovering the four pillars of great feedback: specific, actionable, balanced, and encouraging. From there, users will learn how to adjust their feedback style to connect with each of the other DiSC styles. CD managers will be especially excited to see how they can tailor their feedback to give high-S and high-i teammates more psychological safety so their reviews empower direct reports to act, rather than shutting them down.
2. Managing Conflict
Everyone knows that CDs can be stubborn. Combine that with their need to make an “airtight case,” and you’ve got the perfect recipe for escalating a conflict situation. Worksmart helps CD managers explore their default conflict response and develop a personalized action plan for more positively navigating conflict with all of the other DiSC styles. Think less “dumping data on someone until they agree with me to maintain my competence” and more “surfacing issues early and staying open to good points, even if the outcome isn’t what I want.”
3. Empowering Your Team
Does anyone else feel like empowerment goes against every fiber of a CD manager’s being? Fighting that instinct to micromanage is a battle CD managers will never fully win. Worksmart’s empowerment module will not only help CD managers understand their default empowerment style, it will also show them exactly how to adapt their style to suit everyone on their team. By understanding their teammates’ DiSC profiles, CD managers can empower their employees with just enough autonomy to stretch without breaking.
4. Helping Your Team Navigate Change
Let’s face it: CDs don’t exactly warm to change. But whether we like it or not, change is an inevitable part of executing strategy. Worksmart’s navigate change module will walk CD managers through how every DiSC style experiences change (and how they recover from it) so that CDs can use their logical, critical eye to help teammates thrive in times of transition. If that means pairing realistic expectations with high-S teammates and offering clarity to lofty i types, so be it.
5. Motivating Your Team
Just because someone’s motivation looks different from yours doesn’t mean it’s not motivating to them. On the Worksmart motivation module, CD managers will discover exactly what energizes and discourages every DiSC style so they can ensure their teams are operating in a motivating environment. Learn how to effectively celebrate wins with your i’s. Help your most detailed-oriented S’s see how their daily tasks tie back to larger goals. Stop doing the things that drain your teammates’ motivation. The result? A team that approaches execution with gusto.
Next Steps for CD Managers
- Complete Worksmart modules 1–5.Â
- Assess your team’s DiSC styles (if you haven’t already) and review your Worksmart team comparison reports.
- Identify one subconscious belief you have about delegation or empowering others that holds you back and design a small experiment to challenge it.
- Begin holding regular check-ins with your team that balance forward-progress metrics with emotional check-ins.
- Commit to celebrating wins with your team, no matter how small.
Middle managers with a predominant CD style don’t just have what it takes to thrive in execution-heavy environments. They’re born for it. By pairing that natural drive with style-specific insights and tools from Worksmart, CD managers can fulfill their potential as execution gurus.
What’s next? A series diving into how each DiSC style can become a more effective middle manager, starting with CD and moving straight through all 12 styles. After we cover execution, we’ll tackle coaching, developing, and managing talent.
Which Everything Disc style are you most excited to see covered? Where do you want to improve as a middle manager? Let us know in the comments!
