All Styles see the world differently, of course, and when we feel pressure, these differences only become more pronounced. At this point, each of us will innately prioritize something over producing an actual positive outcome – in other words, each style would rather “X” than have things work.
Let’s examine each style individually, this time focusing on Authorities.
Authorities have a survival concern for security driven by a survival conversation to commit to no commitment. This sounds like, “if I have to decide without all of the information under the sun, I will die.”
Due to this concern and conversation, an Authority person will many times be critical of other people’s decisions as they avoid making decisions themselves.
Consider this hypothetical: imagine an Authority working on a board or committee. Many times the Authority person is the one who will throw out all of the reasons why a project may not work, and will start to appear to others to be the pessimist of the group. When they are asked to help in the decision-making process, thanks to their unobserved concerns, many times the Authority person will avoid helping for fear of being a part of a bad decision, and will continue to share only their concerns or worries.
This perceived pressure (namely, “I cannot be a part of a bad decision”) may lead an Authority to only talk about how something could fail. We call this: Authorities would rather have an impact than have things work. Instead of leaning in and helping push forward, an Authority may literally “suck the oxygen out of the room” with negative assessments, leading others to think about them – “this person is way too difficult to work with.”
Self-awareness of how our style will respond to pressure gives us an advantage because awareness creates choices.
Be aware of what your innate Style would rather do versus having things work when triggered by identity risk in the environment.
