The Influencer Personality Style in DiSC

(Part Two) Focused on relationships, creativity and freedom of expression — this describes our Influencer personality style. Know someone like that?

Do you know someone who relishes autonomy, is a strong communicator, relationship-driven and strives to have an impact on others? This describes the Influencer or “i” personality style in the DiSC Behavioral Assessment.

After the Dominant profile in DiSC, Influencers are the second personality style we’re covering. The lower case “i” is the trademark used by the company that publishes the assessment. It’s a branding thing.

My primary style is that of a high “i”. I’m almost off the charts, actually. Not always one to follow rules and typically creative, here’s an example of how an Influencer might show up.

A Handwriting Analysis

While conducting a training session, I was in the middle of writing key learning points on a whiteboard when, from the back of the room, I heard a groan.

I turned. “Stephen, what’s up?”

“Why do you write like that?”

I was mystified. “Like what?”

“Why do you mix upper and lowercase letters when you’re writing something? It’s driving me crazy!”

Everyone in the room looked back around to what I’d just written on the whiteboard.

Someone laughed. Someone snorted and said, “It’s true! She DOES mix them up!”

kiNd oF LiKe tHis

And indeed I did. I hadn’t noticed until then, but I DO mix my upper and lowercase letters, especially when I’m writing something in a hurry. And to me, it’s no big deal.

But it was having a big impact on Stephen. He’s an analytical person and admits to also being a perfectionist. My lack of using correct letter case was a distraction and was an obstacle to his learning process. He was focused more on how I was writing than the oh-so wise and wonderful concepts I was trying to teach.

We all had a good laugh and, just for him, I made an effort to discipline my writing. It taught me a good lesson that some details, which don’t matter much to me, are pretty important to others.

Typical Influencer Behavioral Traits

In addition to freedom from details, Influencers tend to be social, well-connected, optimistic and enthusiastic. They are good at creating a motivational environment and tend to move through the world with energy.

They like to voice opinions, propose solutions, share ideas and verbalize proposals. In other words, they like freedom of expression and strive to have an impact over others. They also like freedom from control.

Reputation is important to these folks. They like bringing people together, making introductions and are often amazed that those within their social circles may not know one another.

But despite what you might guess, Influencers aren’t always extroverts. They can be on the quieter side and may prefer to spend time with one or two friends versus being around large groups of people. Too much social stimulation can be exhausting for introverted types.

The Evil Twin

But done to excess, “High I” behaviors can be seen as manipulative, impulsive, unprepared, unfocused and unable to follow through. Because of this, their more analytical colleagues often don’t take them seriously and may question their credibility. The Influencer’s attraction to proverbial “shiny objects” and love of socializing may keep them from getting the job done.

Influencers must do their homework before presenting their positions to those who value facts and logic. They can’t rely on a positive relationship or friendly demeanor to carry them through when important issues are at stake. Too often, Influencers take things personally when to our Dominant and Conscientious type colleagues, it’s more about task accomplishment.

While we Influencers like to “go with the flow”, we benefit from partnering up with others who bring more structure into life. My husband (the engineer) values process and details. I rely on him for those strengths. But we’ve also learned to poke fun at each other’s quirks, knowing that humor can keep a relationship strong.

Fun with Influencers

These people will:

• Put scented garbage bags in every trashcan (including in the garage), hang air fresheners in their car and buy fragrance plugins for every room.

• Read obituaries in the newspaper to see who they know. Or, in my Mom’s case, she looks there first to be sure she’s not listed!

• Decorate their offices with plants, motivational posters and lots of family photos. They’ve even been known to put miniature beanie baby animals on top of their computer monitors.

• Firmly believe “the more bling, the better!”

• Never use a checkbook register, but occasionally login to their online bank account to make sure there’s still money left.

• Share more details about themselves, friends, family and people you’ll never meet than you ever want to know.

• Put a candy dish on their desk so people will stop by and visit them.

I’m sure you can come up with a few more, both for the Dominant/Directive style as well as our Influencers. Please feel free to share in the comments. Go ahead, poke fun at yourself. We won’t hold it against you!

Complementary Styles

Most people who have taken the DiSC notice they have a secondary style which is close in proximity to their primary. These secondary styles mitigate or shall we say, complement one another.

For example, both the Dominant/Directive style person and Influencers like to move through the world with energy. Often, the high “i” style can help our Dominant folks value the relationship and help our amiable Influencers focus on task accomplishment.

You’ll see this combination at work in salespeople and entrepreneurs, who must overcome objections and face rejection while cultivating productive relationships. Often these D/I combination folks project an inspirational persona. Hard-charging and motivational at the same time.

In our next articles on the “S” for steadiness and “C” for conscientious traits, I’ll also explore a few combinations of styles since all of us are made up of multiple traits. Some we rely on more than others, depending on what the environment requires of us.

In Closing

People who have taken the DiSC profile in the past might see a shift in their results if they’ve changed jobs, have a new manager, entered a new relationship or joined a new work or community project team.

If you’ve taken the DiSC before and would like to take it again to evaluate your new situation, please contact me and I’ll make it available to you. Subscribers will receive it at cost. I can also provide a personal debrief or a group training (online or in person) upon request.

Warm regards, Laura, your Colorado facilitator