4
Authority-driven Thinkers
Some people best accept and process knowledge by taking
specific direction from authority. If you mentor these people, all
you usually have to do is tell them to do something. You’re the
boss. They’ll do it. Many coaches prefer this kind of employee.
Such a person rarely talks back or questions orders. Those can be
commendable characteristics, but remember also that problems
can arise in dealing with people who respond to authority with
knee-jerk obedience. They may do whatever you tell them to do,
but sometimes they don’t do anything unless you tell them.
Many people think this way because they were taught early on
by authority figures and made to obey, not question. One challenge
for you is to encourage and develop independent thinking. As a
mentor, you can capitalize on the strengths of this style while
ridding it of much weakness. Your task is to recognize where the
line of motivation exists within each authority-driven team
member, and help her recognize it, too.
Example
Coach:
Jan, this newsletter headline is the old one. Didn’t you
substitute a new emergency headline like we discussed?
Jan:
I rushed it to the editorial department like you said. I even
did it on my lunch hour. But you didn’t tell me what to
change — I thought you wanted this one.
Coach:
The newsletter was already on the press. That headline
had to be added before the run started! Jan, you can
write headlines.
Jan:
Gee, that’s a creative job, yours, and I didn’t want to
offend you.
Coach:
I don’t have to okay everything for you. You are good. But
the good news is the press broke down. They only ran off aThe Mentoring Role: Instruction by ExampleAuthority-driven
thinkers may not
do anything unless
you tell them.