All Styles see the world differently 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 Powers.
Powers have a survival concern for stability driven by a survival conversation to be indispensable to others. This sounds like, “if I am not included, I will die.” Due to this concern and conversation, a Power person does everything he can to be irreplaceable to those around him. Even if it means taking on too many projects or being taken advantage by others.
Consider this hypothetical: a Power person is working away on her to-do list. Then a colleague stops by and says, “hey, would you mind helping me out on this task?” Without thinking, the Power says, “okay, sure”.
This habit can lead Powers to become so over-extended that they can be seen by others as unreliable, even though Powers tend to be hard workers.
When this happens a few too many times, others see that they can “dump” projects onto their Power colleagues.
This perceived pressure (namely, “I need to be an integral part of the team”) causes a Power to do a lot of activity. We call this: Powers would rather work than have things work.
Instead of pushing back on occasion, Powers take on huge volumes of work at the expense of getting things done well.
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.
