In last week’s blogpost, we talked about how a High D prefers to communicate – dealing directly, frankly, no-nonsense, focused on the task at hand. This week, our subject is the High I’s ideal way to communicate, which is vastly different, as you’ll see below.
Since High I’s make up about a third of the population, it is highly likely you will either live with one, work with one, or be one yourself. So it is of value to understand their communication preferences.
Not understanding these DISC Communication preferences actually kept my husband and me from dating for a year! But let me back up a bit…
On our first date, my new acquaintance made me supper and took me to see “Fiddler on the Roof”. Sounds innocent enough. But I was about to have my wisdom teeth taken out. My date was about to finish his Dental Degree. His High-D communication style was full of strong statements about what I must do and must not do with getting wisdom teeth taken out. (See last week’s blogpost.)
Being the High I-Style, I did a lot of laughing, brushing off his strong statements, and he says I even sang along with the movie… which I find very hard to believe. It was more “silliness” than he could stand. So we mutually agreed not to pursue the relationship any further. And yes, it was a whole year before we crossed paths and started dating again. Simply misunderstanding these preferences for communication and not understanding our DISC Styles nearly kept us from our now 50 years of marriage.
As a review, the High I-Style person tends to:
- Be fun-loving, a “party looking for a place to happen”
- Focus on people more than on tasks
- Have a “faster speed motor”
- Be more outgoing – an extrovert
- Be very persuasive
- Have a positive attitude – usually sees the jar half full
- Have lots of enthusiasm
So the I-Style Prefers to Communicate by being:
- Direct- more on the honest side than the forceful High-D approach
- Persuasive – “This will be FUN!”
- Inspiring – especially about how their idea could benefit people
- Optimistic – “SURE! I can add that to my already packed schedule!”
- Focused on Ideas – getting past the surface facts of a discussion
- Fun-loving – lots of laughter, joking, finding the funny side of things
- A “Persuasive Seller” approach – click here to see the blogpost describing this
Several years ago, I was on a committee that was led by a very High I person. We all knew that the beginning of every meeting was “Welcome to the Party”, and we would eventually get down to the agenda of our time together. But we could always count on it being lots of fun!
Do you have any High I’s on your staff, in your home, extended family, workplace or neighborhood? Have you noticed that they prefer any of these natural communication tendencies?
Remember that a High I’s main goals are to focus on people and have fun. So their communication will reflect these goals. This week let’s observe the High I’s as they communicate in their preferred way.
If you would like to know precisely what DISC Style you or those in your office or family are, please click here for more information on the online DISC Assessment. In just 10 minutes, you can complete the online assessment and have a detailed report giving you insight into your Style and preferences.
QUESTION: What do you think could be the consequence of misunderstanding how someone naturally communicates? I’d love to hear your thoughts and observations. Please share in the comment section below.
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