Healthcare Training Institute - Quality Education since 1979

Get Audio Track: Open a new window with Ctrl N,
Left click audio track to Listen, Right click to "Save..." mp3

Does the description of a Driver fit you?

Who in your facility might be described this way?

What three truths should a Driver realize when dealing with non-drivers?
1.
2.
3.

How do these truths about the Driver apply to you in your role as a team building dynamo in your facility?

On the last track, we talked about how the metaphorical buck for facility team building stops with each person listening to this CD. Thus, as stated on the last track, each person listening to this CD needs to become a team building dynamo or powerhouse. How? It starts with knowing the communication style you use with other team members in and outside of your Department. If after completing the questionnaire or if you have not completed the questionnaire, after listening to this track, you discovered that you are the type of communicator I will call “The Driver” this track is about you. If you are one of the other three types of communicators, don’t skip this track, because it may be about one or more of your co-workers in the facility. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of how their brains function or thought process works will help you work more dynamically with them to start building your facility team.

Here are four strengths of the Driver
A Driver is just as the name suggests. A driver is a person who exhibits a driving force. Let’s look at some of the strengths of yourself if you feel you are a driver, or perhaps this will describe another staff member.
#1. Characteristically, the Driver's teamwork style is the most assertive of the four styles of communicating or thinking. This means that the driver is very up front with others, which can sometimes be construed as being rude or unfeeling. If this does not sound like you, who else in the facility might be described this way?
#2. The Driver's brain is able to process information quickly. When presented with a problem, the driver’s mind sets to work immediately, however unlike the analytical, which we will discuss late; the driver literally pops up with the quickest solution.
#3. In addition to being assertive and coming up with a quick solutions and; Drivers can be very decisive thinkers. Once the quickest course of action has been found, he or she usually sticks to it.
#1. While all four of the different thinking behaviors whether it be amiable, expressive, analytical or driver, all four have the capability of being what other staff members would call “smart.” However, in the case of the Driver, this staff member is the kind of smart that is most readily recognized because the Driver is such a task focused person.

Before we go to weaknesses of a Driver, When you hear the musical tone turn the CD player off and think about these two questions: Does the preceding description of a Driver as being assertive, quick to find solutions, decisive, and task-focused fit you? Who in your facility might be described this way? MUSIC

Here are five weaknesses of the Driver
Now that we’ve discussed the strengths of the assertive driver in your facility, and that may be you, let’s review five weaknesses of the driver:
#1. Even though drivers are assertive, they are not as skilled at building relationships as some of the other teamwork styles. Because they are the less emotionally responsive style, extreme driver’s may not take into consideration the ideas and opinions of others. As will be described later, if you are a Driver, considering the opinions of others will be your main teamwork building challenge.
#2. Many times, the decisive solution a driver has chosen may not be the best one, but that really does not phase an extreme Driver. Her or she tends to look at the big picture, and not the details.. If the Driver has done the job at least 75% right, they feel they’ve done the best job possible.
#3. Because of their hasty decision making, drivers often set themselves up for another host of problems related to creating and maintaining a team atmosphere.
#4. Drivers are more task-oriented, which means they have little or no time to “chat” with others. In the fast-paced world of the driver, if you stop to mingle, you’ll never get the task done in the allotted time.
#5. If a driver uses this communication style to an extreme, less-assertive staff members, such as the amiables and the analyticals, find the assertive, unemotional tactics of the driver intimidating, making it difficult to work in teams with them.

When you hear the musical tone, turn the CD player off, and think about your weaknesses if part of you is a driver. MUSIC

Here's how to start Team building, if you are a driver in your facility when you are dealing with non-drivers, like the amiables, analyticals, and expressives in your facility to build a teamwork environment, it is important to realize the following three truths:
#1. Your solutions, although developed quickly and may seem logical to you, are not the only solutions. The desired goal of your team project may not just be efficiency! It may involve team or community building. That may be a challenge for you.
#2. If your co-workers don’t like your ideas, they may just need time to mull them over for a while, like an hour or a day or two, to feel like they are a member of the team. However! Drivers beware! Becoming forceful and demanding may prevent them from arriving at the conclusion you desire. If you have a problem with this, Drivers, recall the two following old sayings, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't force him to drink." Here's a second one for you that needs to be your mantra for team-building. "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." Do you feel the following saying makes it sound like you are groveling? Well, perhaps… almost… but since you are task-focused, if groveling a little (Jared, said with a chuckle) with dignity gets the job done, you'll do whatever it takes.
#3. Be realistic about your shortcomings: team-building and follow-through in particular, but also another short coming is handling the details. Knowledge of your weaknesses should allow you to delegate to other team members in your department and other departments in the facility appropriately. If it is not possible for you to delegate handling the details, be aware that small dotting the I and crossing the T types of tasks are not your preference, you may do them poorly, therefore require additional care and detailed attention on your part; even though you don't like to do them. Your tendency may be to avoid these small-details tasks, procrastinate, do them sloppily, make a lot of errors, which has a ripple effect on other department members.

When you hear the musical tone, turn the CD player off and think about how these truths about the driver apply to you in your role as a team building dynamo or powerhouse in your facility. In summary, the truths the team builder who is a driver needs to realize are: their or your ideas aren't the only ideas, give people time to mull over ideas, and if possible, delegate handling details to others, if delegation is not possible, take extra care to do these detailed tasks accurately, which you do not like. MUSIC

In the end, the best thing for you to do if your main team building style is a driver is to allow others to come up with some solutions. You can challenge, critique, or question these conclusions, but only after an initial idea has been presented. This will allow your staff to get to the conclusion that you may have thought up well beforehand. While this may seem inefficient to the speedy “driver”, the end result is that you become more patient and team-oriented.

A final word on this track to the Driver. Building an understanding of how your co-workers think will allow you to develop the patience you need to slow down your own logical brain. So even if you already know you’re a driver, pay close attention to the next several tracks as they will certainly describe someone either in your department or in another department with whom you need their cooperation to build a team atmosphere in your facility.

On the next track, we will strengths and weaknesses of the teamwork style of the Expressive.

ActivityProfessional.Com Login