Thriving drivers

- [Instructor] Blink number seven. Explain to drivers why they need to be nice, and give them clear targets. Meet Dana, a driver who is having a very bad day. Not only did her coworkers waste the first 10 minutes of their team meeting making pointless smalltalk, but her boss also then unveiled a terrible new reporting system. Her coworkers seemed to love it, but Dana was bitterly disappointed. Not only were there no clear targets for her to hit under the new system, but it also lacked the key performance indicators that would allow her to measure her performance against that of her coworkers. In other words, Dana now feels she has nothing to aim for and no way to tell if she's outperforming her workmates. Of course, from a non-driver perspective, Dana's bad day doesn't sound so bad at all. Her coworkers are simply maintaining good relationships with each other, and the new reporting system is popular with everyone except her. Drivers, however, thrive when they're given clear goals that they can shoot for and then smash. And as the least empathetic of our personality types, they find it difficult to intuit the purpose of these more vague, socially-driven interactions. Therefore, if you work with a driver, the best thing you can do is explain why you're asking them to do certain things. For example, Dana's boss could explain that the meeting includes chitchat time because it helps the team to connect and bond with one another, enabling them all to work better together. When it comes to setting expectations and processes, try to build in an element of competition for drivers, which helps satisfy their need to win. Even if Dana's boss doesn't want to create competition within the team, he could still modify the system to allow Dana to compare herself against her own past performance or even against the performance of external competitors. If you're a driver yourself, the best advice for getting along with your non-driver coworkers is simply this: be kind. Although your instincts tend toward blunt communication, try to soften your interactions with coworkers. When you write an email, for example, take the time to start with a "How was your weekend?" or something friendly along those lines. It might not mean anything to you, but it will make your coworkers more predisposed to like you. And make no mistake, earning the affection of your workmates will ultimately make achieving your goals easier.