Communication Styles – Part 3

In our last post, we discussed the basic elements of the Dominant factor of DISC. As a recap:

D – Dominance; How you approach and respond to problems and challenges

Today, we will introduce the elements of I; Influence.

Influence is the element of an individual’s personality that indicates how you interact with others and influence them to your point of view. Highly influencing people tend to joke around a lot, talk a lot, and want to be liked by everyone. They need to be in the company of other human beings as often as possible and are expressive and enthusiastic. The lower influencer is a critical thinker and enjoys time alone. They will be more pessimistic than their higher counterparts and will have a tendency to distrust while the higher influencer will trust immediately, sometimes to a fault.

The high Influencing element is people oriented and wear their heart on their sleeve. While they believe the impossible can be done the lower task oriented, influencing element will say ‘prove it!’

The high influencer is indirect with their communication, becoming distracted easily. When having a discussion with them you may find yourself having to interrupt them so you can get a word in or bring them back to the topic at hand. The lower I is much more direct and wants to get to the point and will need to understand the others need for personal conversation. Conversely, the higher I must respect the need of the lower I to have their own space and be factual and direct during any discussions.

In our next post, we will discuss the basics of the S element of DISC, Steadiness.