Posted by & filed under DISC Personality Styles, Leadership, Personal Effectiveness.

disc personality stylesWelcome to our blog series, Inside the DiSC Dimensions! This series is designed to give readers an idea of what sort of results you might expect from taking the DISC assessment, either as part of an employee development program like Increasing Personal Effectiveness, or on your own for self-improvement in your work and personal life. If you haven’t yet experienced the DiSC, you can take the assessment today and get your results instantly! The profile evaluates four key DiSC personality styles and how they interact to form your unique personality.

DiSC Personality Styles — About Influence

Today, we are back and focusing on Influence: the “i” in “DiSC.” The DiSC Profile defines Influence as emphasis on “shaping the environment by influencing or persuading others.” Like people who are Dominant personality types, Influencers like impacting their surrounding environments, exerting their own force. Both DiSC personality styles might be considered extroverts, seeking out others and finding energy and drive from external sources. However, the Influencer is less concerned with tasks to be accomplished or challenges to be conquered; building strategic relationships is of much more importance. In DiSC personality styles, influencers are known for galvanizing and motivating their teams, willing them to success by infectious enthusiasm. Rather than seeing problems as personal challenges, Influencers see them as ways to build bonds between team members and as opportunities to build social capital. Influencers are concerned with their own popularity and with how they’re seen by the other members of the group.

Influencers in the Workplace

Influencers can make tremendous leaders in their ability to inspire and motivate those around them. Even if not in “official” leadership positions, these people have a positive effect on their teams and can bridge some of the divide between the more forceful Dominant DiSC personality styles and the more reserved S and C types (whom we’ll discuss next week). Because they’re often concerned with popularity, Influencers have an innate sense of compromise and love persuading others to find harmony and agreement.

Strengths and Challenges of Influencers

Of all the DiSC personality styles, Influencers are naturally focused on relationships much more than tasks or details. This can be a tremendous asset when they’re needed to build relationships and take action, but doesn’t particularly bode well when they’re needed to follow through on assignments.Their constant focus on “politics” can also sometimes hold them back. In matters of concrete, analytical problem solving, Influencers can be easily distracted and unmotivated by what they find to be irrelevant details. It’s also difficult for them to speak openly and candidly as they often wonder what impact their words might have on those around them.


Employee Development Systems delivers results-oriented training programs that increase productivity, effectiveness, and performance. Take the DISC assessment today, and contact us to find out how we can help your organization.

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