Looking for a DISC alternative?
DISC is a familiar, accessible way to describe behavioural style, and it is good for opening a conversation about how people communicate. If your teams want something built for ongoing team development across roles, values and leadership, here is how the TMS Global suite compares.
What DISC measures
DISC describes behaviour across four styles — commonly Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness. It is quick to grasp and widely used in communication training. It was developed in the United States.
What TMS Global offers
TMS Global is not a single questionnaire but a connected suite of work-focused tools, built around more than 40 years of teamwork research:
| TMS Global product | What it focuses on |
| Team Management Profile (TMP) | How people prefer to work, mapped to eight team roles and the Types of Work a team must cover |
| QO2 (Opportunities-Obstacles Profile) | How people approach risk, change and challenge — their balance of seeing opportunities and obstacles |
| Windows on Work Values (WoWV) | The core work values that shape how a person and a team operate |
| Linking Leader Profile (LLP|360) | 360-degree feedback on the Linking Skills effective leaders use to connect a team |
| Team Signals | A regular team-level check on how the team is working together |
| TeamOS | An always-on digital platform that brings TMS insights together and turns them into clear, everyday actions — with AI coaching to support continuous team development. |
The research behind the Team Management Profile
The figures below relate specifically to the TMP, the flagship instrument the suite is built around.
- Reviewed by the British Psychological Society (2003, updated from 1995 and 2000 reviews).
- Backed by 40+ years of research and 100+ published research papers.
- Validated across 683,000+ individual responses and 159 professions.
- Trusted by 2.5+ million professionals across 190 countries.
- Developed in Australia (Queensland) by Dr Charles Margerison and Dr Dick McCann.
Source: Team Management Profile — tms.global
How the suite maps to DISC
| If DISC gives you… | TMS Global adds… |
| A four-style read on individual behaviour | Eight team roles plus the Types of Work a team needs to cover (TMP) |
| A communication-style conversation | A shared team map for spotting coverage gaps and balancing roles |
| An individual snapshot | Values alignment (WoWV), change orientation (QO2) and leadership 360 (LLP|360) |
| A one-off workshop tool | A team-level pulse over time (Team Signals), and continuous team development with AI coaching (TeamOS) |
At-a-glance comparison
| DISC | TMS Global | |
| Model | 4 behavioural styles | 8 team roles + Types of Work, plus values, change and leadership tools |
| Focus | Individual behavioural style | Work preferences + team-level coverage |
| Team diagnostic | Limited | Built in (TMP + Team Signals) |
| Independent review | Varies by DISC publisher | TMP reviewed by the BPS (2003) |
| Origin | United States | Australia (Queensland) |
Three ways to put it to work
There are three ways to put TMS Global to work for your team:
| Route | Best when |
| TeamOS | You want continuous, always-on team development with AI coaching in the daily workflow — ideal for ongoing development, onboarding a new team or leader, a moment of change such as a restructure, or rolling out from a single team to organisation-wide. |
| Work with an accredited practitioner | You want a facilitated workshop or practitioner-led debrief — ideal for a team offsite, deep individual leadership development, or where you already work with a TMS practitioner. |
| Become an accredited practitioner | You want to deliver TMS profiles yourself. Accreditation is lifelong with no annual renewal fees, open to managers, coaches, educators and anyone developing teams, and recognised across 190 countries — most practitioners start with the TMP. |
Key Takeaways
- TMS Global offers a suite of tools based on 40+ years of teamwork research, including the Team Management Profile (TMP) and AI coaching through TeamOS.
- TMS Global enhances DISC by providing insights into team roles, work preferences, behaviours and continuous team development.
- Research validates the Team Management Profile with over 683,000 responses and broad international recognition.
- You can implement TMS Global through TeamOS, workshops with practitioners, or by becoming an accredited practitioner.
Not sure which fits? Tell us about your team and we will point you to the right starting point. Contact us →