Lynda’s High 5 for Leaders: Do you know 5 Things Influencers would love for you to do this week?©
By: Lynda McNutt Foster, CEO
Cortex Leadership Consulting
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Lynda McNutt Foster appears at CoLab
It’s easier to treat people the way they want to be treated if you have some idea of what they want. DISC helps with that. DISC is a behavioral assessment that can be used to help predict how you will act in certain situations, how you may respond to others’ interactions with you, and can also be used to discover people’s strengths when it comes to workplace challenges. The I in DISC stands for Influencer.
An Influencer is someone who tends to be friendly, smile frequently, move at a faster pace, likes to interact with people, connect with them and build relationships. They like to have fun and enjoy work environments where people laugh and get along with each other. They tend to avoid conflict if they feel like to will create discord in a relationship that they deem is important to them. They are often people who talk with their hands and jump from topic to topic, in a conversation or meeting, with ease.
If you are not familiar with DISC, click here for more information. Last week’s article, 5 ways to get what you want from a Driver, provided some helpful hints on how to best communicate with the D part of DISC.
Here are 5 things Influencers you work with would love for you to do this week:
- HAVE FUN. Influencers love to have fun! Just saying the word fun in a sentence can make them smile. The mere discussion of a party or a way to get together that could lead to people laughing and enjoying time together will endear them to you.
- EMBRACE CHANGE. Influencers love change. Doing the same thing over and over again in exactly the same way doesn’t seem like much fun to them. Variety and doing something that is new and exciting will motivate them towards doing even the most difficult of tasks or assignments. They like to be challenged, it just needs to be towards something that will lead to something they will enjoy. They tend to have lots of new ideas they want to share and have others consider. They are okay if you don’t want to take all their ideas for changes, they just like to feel heard.
- LISTEN TO THEM. Influencers love to talk to people who listen to them and talk back. They want to know you like them and enjoy their company. They can get uncomfortable if you stare at them with a blank gaze for too long. They need to know you like them and enjoy their company….I mentioned that already, right? Yeah, it’s because they disconnect quickly when they feel like that is not happening with you.
- SAY GOOD MORNING. As simple as this sounds, an Influencer can take it quite personally if you walk right past them with no smile, “hello”, “good morning”, or acknowledgement of any kind. They find it rude and unfriendly.
- SEND THEM ON A TRIP. The vast majority of Influencers we’ve studied love to travel. They love to see new places, meet new people, try new things, experience new surroundings. They are the first ones, normally, to raise their hands to go to conferences, and usually have just come back from someplace fun or are planning their next adventure.
Quick leadership tip to engage and motivate an Influencer on your team:
Assign them something that requires positive interaction with people.
THIS WEEK’S EXERCISE FOR YOUR TEAM:
Consider doing something this week that will connect and energize your team. Get ideas for what that activity would be from one of your Influencers. Ask them what they think that people on the team would like to do together. Have them poll the group and see which type of activity people would be open to and get excited about (although tell them that the C’s – Calculators, won’t really get too “excited” but it’s a win if they simply agree to do it with the team). Give them a budget and an amount of time the activity can take. They usually have lots of ideas so you’ll need to make time to hear them and help them decide on the best one.
Influencers love team building activities because it gives them a chance to connect and get to know everyone better. Remember, they just want everyone to get along and have fun!
BIG HIGH 5’s go out to the following professionals and organizations they serve this week:
Ariel and Fe at the CoLab. They are two, big ole I’s, who love to have fun and are doing a bang up job leading new initiatives that serve the business community, in our region, in important ways. We had a blast facilitating a discussion at their (X)po Wednesday event last week about self publishing and appreciate them inviting our team. We were able to explain how Joseph Carleno, all things digital for Cortex Consulting created the digital version of the Time Mastery book and Sean Eddy of Eddy Communications coached, recorded and edited the audiobook version.