I + S · one of the twelve blends

Is personality type (The Trusted Encourager)

The Trusted Encourager believes in people and tells them so.

The Trusted Encourager is warm and loyal, and keeps people connected to the team.

Is is one of the twelve blends in the WiredType model. Influence leads, and Steadiness is close behind. People also write this blend as IS or I/S. The Si blend, in which Steadiness leads, is a different type. This page describes the Trusted Encourager. If the Trusted Encourager is your type, you will likely recognize yourself in it. If you live or work with a Trusted Encourager, it shows what the Trusted Encourager is wired to do and how to work well together.

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Traits of the Trusted Encourager

This section covers what drives the Trusted Encourager and what the Trusted Encourager works to avoid, then the Trusted Encourager's main strength, main weakness, motto and signature animal, from WiredType's profile of the Is type.

What drives the Trusted Encourager

  • The Trusted Encourager wants people to grow, so when a coworker is nervous before a big day, they name exactly what that coworker did well last time.
  • They want connections that last, so when a friend is nervous about a medical test, they call the friend that morning before they start their own day.
  • They want everyone included, so at a party they walk the friend who knows nobody across the room and introduce that friend by name.
  • The Trusted Encourager wants ordinary days to feel special, so their own budget keeps a line for small gifts, and that line runs out first.
  • They want to be trusted with real feelings, and they feel that trust when someone lowers their voice and says, "Can I tell you something?"

What the Trusted Encourager works to avoid

  • The Trusted Encourager can fear an argument will end a good working relationship, so when a coworker pushes back on a plan the Trusted Encourager made, they agree too fast.
  • They can fear they did something wrong when a coworker goes quiet halfway through a conversation, and that night they go back over everything they said looking for the cause.
  • When the group chat fills with photos from a dinner their friends planned without them, the Trusted Encourager can fear those friends would rather go without them.
  • When they finally keep an evening for themselves, they can fear the friend who needed them that night will think they stopped caring.
  • When someone they count on starts replying "ok," the Trusted Encourager can fear they are losing that person, and they reread every message they sent.

Superpower (main strength)

When someone says "I'm fine" in a flat voice, the Trusted Encourager asks, "How are you really doing?" and waits through the pause, and the person often names the worry they were holding back.

Kryptonite (main weakness)

The Trusted Encourager skips their own lunch to talk a friend through a bad morning, then starts the afternoon hungry and behind on what they planned to do.

Motto

“Before we start, has everyone met the person who just got here?”

Signature animal

The quokka is friendly and approachable, and puts others at ease.

How the Trusted Encourager works with each style

Each section describes what tends to happen between the Trusted Encourager and a colleague of one style, and gives a line the Trusted Encourager can say. If you are that colleague, read your own style's section.

DIs and D (Dominance)

A D type colleague decides fast and says it plainly, which can feel abrupt to the Trusted Encourager. The colleague watches decisions and results. The Trusted Encourager watches who went quiet when the decision landed and brings the trust and loyalty that make the colleague's decisions stick. When the colleague answers a long message with 'Fine,' the Trusted Encourager may reread that word all afternoon. The colleague may never know that one word had that effect.

What the Trusted Encourager can say to a D-type colleague: “I know you want the point first, so here it is: I can do it, and I need until 6 on Thursday.”

IIs and I (Influence)

The Trusted Encourager and a pure I-type colleague both bring energy to a kickoff, and the Trusted Encourager stays with each person. The I-type gets the room laughing. The next morning the Trusted Encourager texts the designer who barely spoke and asks how the meeting felt. Together the two give people a fun hour and a follow-up.

What the Trusted Encourager can say to an I-type colleague: “I love the energy you brought tonight. Can we go back to the one thing we promised to do? I want us to finish it by Thursday.”

SIs and S (Steadiness)

This pairing comes most easily to the Trusted Encourager. By the second coffee with an S-type colleague, each one knows the other's kids by name. Both avoid conflict, so a problem each one noticed in March can still be unspoken in June.

What the Trusted Encourager can say to an S-type colleague: “I know we both avoid hard talks, and there is something we have both noticed and left alone. I am raising it because I value you too much to stay quiet. Can we take 10 minutes today and be honest about it?”

CIs and C (Conscientiousness)

A C-type colleague shows little emotion and can be hard for the Trusted Encourager to read. The Trusted Encourager opens a meeting with a story about the weekend, and the C-type answers with a question about the numbers on page 4. The gap is workable, because that question may be the C-type's way of showing care.

What the Trusted Encourager can say to a C-type colleague: “Your questions were thorough, and they helped me get this right. Can I ask you about one part, the cost on line 4? I want to answer you accurately.”

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