Understanding DISC - What is the "I" or "Influence?"

For those who have taken a DISC Assessment, this is an opportunity to dive into understanding what the "I" means in the result. While "I" stands for "Influence" there is more to knowing how that applies, in broadening your conception on what that means to you.

Video Transcript

" In this course, we'll be discussing more about the disc profiling program and more specifically, digging into what is an AI. And the reason being is we get a lot of questions about disc profiling, we've been doing it for just about 10 years or better. And because of that we've developed unique programming protocol and how we use this. And it's been seen from a lot of our visitors as being something that they'd like to get involved with. And by digging into what the AI behavioral trade is, we'll be have a better understanding for the behaviors that make up the disc profile assessment. Now, when we start talking about the AI, I'm referring to the influence behavioral trait, because every part of the disc profile has a definition, D meaning dominance now, I mean influence. Now when you hear influence, it's pretty easy to misunderstand that term, taking it on face value, specifically influences about the gradient or the amount of influence. Specifically, the absent value of influence, meaning zero means that person's not exhibiting much influence at all, when in fact, 100% simply doesn't mean perfect at it, there's no understanding for being perfect and influence, it just means you have a lot to share, you're starting with that prevailing behavior trait. And so something to be mindful of is, when we look at a disc profile, we look at the top two prevailing behaviors, the top two results to identify the prevailing behaviors which a person will lead with being able to understand If a person's a DI or an ID, it means they're starting with these behaviors, and you can count on seeing those things as part of your experience of the individual. Now, this also means and understanding if we look at influence of behavioral trait, it gives us a better understanding on what to know for what to look out for how we would expect to experiences and fundamentally as managers and supervisors what to prepare for, because high is your high, influential people are going to give you some unique trait characteristics that you need to be mindful for. And fundamentally, if we can find better ways to ensure respect and give consideration to those people who are exhibiting this behavioral trait, it lets us know how to start from a position of respect. Because one thing I've learned over the course of my 40 some odd years, is that if you start from a position of conflict, that's where you end up. And by proxy, if you start from a position of understanding, you're more apt to retain that position. Now, the question I get most commonly, when it comes to understanding disc profiling is why bother? Why should we even care about knowing? Well, simply put, is that people have a, what I call a measurable duality to them. People have commonly share a part of themselves, they do we share a part of ourselves we're most natural and comfortable with. But that also means we have this other part of ourselves that we hold back, a part that we reserved us for ourself. And then some people and I don't subscribe to the theory, but some people allege that the part that we hold back is where our secrets live. It's not true. The part we reserve back maybe for those people who are most close to us, our spouses, our friends, our family, who've been with us for a long amount of time. But understanding that there can be this duality, that there'll be a part of us we share openly, and a part of us that we hold back. From this position, we can understand that conflict can abound, conflict can be an absolute in positions where we don't know to expect this. And if we like it, and if we start from a position of conflict, we'll always consequence people for what they're not sharing, instead of just accepting and admitting that that's a part of every person. But if we start from a position of understanding and saying, look, I understand that you're different than me, let's sit need any let's talk about this, let's find a compromise. When we find our position. in finding compromise or middle ground, we allow ourselves to open up to the person they're sharing with us, but to allow a door to be propped open for them to share a little bit more with us if they feel so supposed. And that's why we talk about this. It's why we bother. It's because we need to understand that there's a duality with individuals. And if we do this, we're more apt to reduce the amount of conflict and increase the measures of understanding. Now the interesting part about a disc profile is that it provides a people dialog meaning specifically that disc profile provides very specific attributes for individuals who have taken it. Now if you remember, I said that every profile we look for the top two prevailing behaviors, the leading behaviors to identify how will experience that individual, what's going to shake our hand what's going to say hello, what's going to be a wallflower in a room full of new people, those prevailing behaviors will tell us with an eye the influence the prevailing behaviors are pretty clear cut. A high is going to be a little flip anxious, but it's also going to be happy. Uh, hi is a person who likes to be about people. The influential behavioral trait is a person who is just capable of being external They're they're projecting part of themselves out there easy to talk to easy to discuss with easy to carry a conversation with, so long as they are ready to receive the information. See high influential individuals also have a trade of sometimes being a little energized or nervous. The challenge with this is that high is also have this unique behavioral trait that if they're in a conversation, they're really liking or They're digging, what they'll end up happening is they'll listen for their chance to talk and they share that same similitude with the high dominant. And that's why when you think about it, if you have a high and a high D in an individual, like a sales Pro, and outside sales Pro, sometimes some of your training has to be about learning how to listen constructively waiting for your chance to talk, being able to ask good questions, because high influential people are those individuals who just like to hear the sound of their voice sometimes, but also high influential, people love to write long emails. That's right, if you if you've gotten a big email that's written by Stephen King, because it's got 15 chapters, and it's got a good guy and a bad guy and the devil coming out of nowhere, it's probably because the high I wrote it. See, hi, I'd love to be masters the exposition, understanding how to explain and, and draw parallels and they love it. They love the ability to convey message. Highs will also send text messages that are about five different paragraphs long, they'll send you 10 different photos when one could have done the job. So with high is high influences the people dialogue have this really make sure that you understand this is a person willing to share and ready to share. And if they're in a position to do so they'll find success. But if they're in a position where this is not a tenable component of their of their output, you'll have conflict from the very beginning. Now talking about how this creates a daily language is another component of how we look through and review these assessments. The high influential individuals are those people who are trying to give away and expound upon the existing their masters of exposition grading conversation, and they cannot wait to share what they're thinking about what the news of the day is, sometimes your high eyes of the people who are kind of tuned into the gossip of the environment, tune into the innuendo or the hyperbole of the environment. But because of that, we need to be mindful that when engaging a high, you have to be interesting. Sounds unusual, but high is high, influential people, people that have a 50% or higher, influential score on their profile are individuals who are almost begging people to be relevant, just be interesting, have a story. And they if you have a story, they'll love to listen to it until it gets boring, and then they're done. The other thing about a high, they also have this unique meter about them, they can tell when somebody is being fake with them. That's not a BS meter. That's not what this is about. But they can tell when somebody is being false or phony with them. If you get a bunch of sales people around each other, you'd think that that would be a unique environment rife with a lot of attitude and ego when in fact, there's a lot of people trying to figure each other out. Now highs have that trait of being able to spot when people are being funny with them, but they can also feel the real highs feel that their words are a component of who they are. When a high sends an email explaining how greatest time they had at the chart, take cells out to their boss and their boss returns a two word response. Great, thanks. Hi feels marginalized. I is need to have some measure of back and forth. If they don't have it, they feel marginalized. They need to feel like there's people around them that can give that back to them. So if you're managing a sales Pro, and that sales Pro is a great person for gab knows how to connect knows how to use his words in a matter of speaking, find different ways to open a dialog. So you can create a good bandwidth between yourself and an individual because being very cold and Curt with that person creates distance creates conflict instead of creating understandings instead of creating connection. So as a people dialogue, we also look for these two behavioral traits. If you have a high high influence next to a high compliance, you'd find a person who is ready to talk but ready to listen, who has the relevant information today, but also can prove to you what their position is. And so people dialogue is everywhere. If we can be mindful of what to watch for and be mindful of what to be respectful of, we can be good stewards of each other. So let's dive into how this creates a dimensioned subset of behavior. See every behavioral trait has it certain carrying component of contribution mean that when you pair it with a certain type of behavioral trait, it can do amazing things. Now specifically most commonly found in the disc environment. A lot of psychologists and counselors work tribute that there are certain types of individuals there are drivers and there are thinkers, high influential people aligned to those who are high drivers. Specifically if you asked a high and a high D, this person A great sales Pro. And you ask them, Hey, take me to Disneyland. They can't wait to tell you how they're going to get there. But they're also going to rush you. Let's go. Let's go. Now, let's do it right now, because they're all about the right now. And then it won't be it won't be a dull ride on the way down there a high, especially a high D, not going to look at the road too much might pull up their cell phone, but they're also going to talk about what they did last night, what they saw last night what they're doing this next weekend. And they're not doing it trying to control the conversation. See, when you're close in proximity to a high eye, they feel closeness, like I said before, they can tell real very easily they can spot false very quickly too. But hi is love to share love to expound upon their experiences, what they're doing, how that means what their feelings are highs will be the first to also explain how they feel about something I don't like that I didn't like that we need to talk about this. As this thing has come into how drivers are very influential and hitting progress points inside of a business. consequentially, there are others who are thinkers who will see these people as outsiders. Why are these people always talking? Why don't we just doing progress should be seen not heard. That's what sometimes thinkers get stuck into. And that's why we look at this as dimension behavior. If we identify that there are some portions of the business, if you look at people as just their disc profiles, there are certain people in the business that are just driven towards performance. They're just driven towards dialogue. And there are some people in your business really don't care about talking too much they care about doing. And because we are mindful of these things. It may actually help you understand why every time you have a company potluck, why some people aren't showing up and why some people never miss it. It's because everybody's everybody's behavior tells a unique story about how they feel comfort, how they feel conflict, but also whether they can be understood. And that's what this is about. Now that we've learned more about this behavioral trait, let's dig into some questions that are commonly asked about this behavior trait being influence. The first question I get is, you know, how do we commonly find ways to learn about this? Can we learn to be more influential? Can we change to be more influential? The answer is yes. See, human beings, we are the biggest driver of change. We simply learn certain behaviors for reasons we do it because we're in certain jobs, we had a career change, maybe family has changed or status in life has changed our age it there's so much that goes into what compels us to change with the greatest component of that changes desire. If we want to change we can to simply expand upon how to be more influential is to be more open to be more sociable. Don't simply force yourself into social situations and feel like it's like nails on a chalkboard, that would be counterproductive. Instead, open a dialogue with a stranger. Say hello to somebody asked how somebody is doing. If you're taking the bus ask Hey, how's your day going? those little moments of increasing how you were expounding upon the day how you're opening sociality really contributes to how you're going to find change, take root. And by proxy, there's other ways to expand upon how to change. Desire is a big component of if you feel like you don't need to change, you probably won't. But if you feel like you need to change, you'll find ways to do that. Now. Now the question we have is how does a person come to experience and I? Well, what's funny is, is if you're listening to me, and you're engaged, it's probably because you have an eye that is characteristic eyes like to listen to each other. But they also can't wait to discuss it. If you've taken notes during this lesson. And you can't wait to share it with somebody. That's the I trade coming out. Now, realistically, what we talked about when we think about the experiencing is that our clients and our customers see a great value in our ability to find influence. Our account managers are using it ourselves. Pros are using it to close new deals. Our chief executives, our executive team is using it to help guide leaders through their day to day our managers are using it, how they drive initiatives down to their staff members and their direct reports. AI is one of the most common traits in every single day. If you've extended a text message today, if you've returned an email, if you've if you've contributed to a Facebook post, or if you're trying to update your LinkedIn with new information, those are little exercises and influence and you're doing it without even thinking. So the thing is, is that you experience it every day and you experience this the most psychologists will indicate that the influence trait is probably the most in by proxy, the most influential aspect of sociality in our environment, being influential, being engaging, being connected matters most. That's how we as a society find more understanding and empathy and conflict. And that's what we're looking for. Now, with that said, what roles do we find it in most sales we're going to find in sales, we're going to find influence in every role, especially inside of your help desk and help desk all the texts are answering the phone, your first level of triage, they're going to have influence. They're going to have the ability to convey messages to be open to be inviting. They're all going to find it in sales as well. You're going to find it in accounting, you're going to find it in every single attribute of your business. Now, for reference, if If you have an individual that is commonly having cset issues, you always get emails about this person from customers and clients don't send this guy out here don't want to talk to him again, I don't know why I haven't fired him yet what the heck, that person more than likely has an influence issue. Or there may be something about his profile that indicates that that person does not like people. It's important to know these things obviously, before you hire, but it's also important to monitor these things as a person progresses through your workplace. Because if a person goes from liking people at year one and 10 years later, they gone to hating people, it's probably time for a change. Because if not, it'll be thrust upon you by cancelations hurt feelings or conflict. Now finally, one of the last things we ask is how do we respect an AI behavior? Well, I'd like to talk to discuss defined exposition. That also means to find willing ears, they need opportunity, they need to feel like their voice matters. Without their voice feeling like it matters, they feel marginalized, they feel vexed, they feel it conflict and eyes will evade more than they will engage hi eyes will find opportunities to not dive into a subject matter if at all possible because high is also have this unique little hidden trait we haven't talked about this little high hidden trait of a high, high needs to be liked by people, they need to find validation through other people. So if they find conflict with somebody, they'll simply evade it. Because they don't want to get to the realization knowing where their personal likes them or not, they'd much rather just not know. So understand that you're going to see influence everywhere. How we experience is going to be everywhere. But fundamentally, if we respect AI, by opening a dialogue, and then listening, that's one of the greatest ways to start a conversation, but also to have a great respect for a person in a relationship. We've talked about more about disc profiling, specifically with the eye influence behavioral trait. We do profiling for a specific reason, obviously, we do it at pre hire, but we also do it every year, we do this to ensure that we can find a worthwhile result that is personable, that is accurate. And so if you're using this profiling, make sure you're using through a reputable source, I find every year there's at least 50 to 100 new vendors out there that are Hawking somebody else's product. And they might change the the psychological background to it or the algorithms that feed their network. And they're doing it to try to drive more sales when in fact, a profile should be consistent in what you use from one year to the next reason being. Think of it, if you're making a cake, and you use a measuring cup one year make mom's birthday cake great. And the next year, you just use a coffee cup because you lost the measuring cup, you're gonna find some pretty distinct differences. And it makes a big difference when it comes to something as important as food. Same thing applies itself for human behavior and treating humans with respect does you want to use the same rubric, the same type of tool from one year to the next. So that way you can make sure that the variable is how the results are being interpreted not the result themselves. Now, another thing to be mindful of is is that to develop your people is one of the greatest respects you can do. You can invest a lot of software, you can buy a lot of hardware, you can add new vacation time, but that doesn't work as well as trying to understand the people around you and trying to develop them is one of the greatest things you could do to show the workplace that you are trying to do something different and fundamentally past that. All these efforts. All these courses are done to help you access the best software in the world, which is our brain, our hurt, our pain, our joy, our passion has all created a person who we are today. And the more you can do to find ways to understand that the more ways you can use to defeat the amount of conflict the environment helps you be the best respecter of a person in the workplace and abroad. "