WHO’S GOT THE AUTHORITY?

Your client comes into your office and sits in your coaching chair. You then begin the probing and provocative coaching conversation and hidden inside that conversation is another meta- program—the authority source. This crucial factor refers to your client’s ability to deal with authority and to know when, where, with whom to reference. The meta-program governs the internal- referent / external referent dynamic. Where does the person look for authority? Where does the person go for “the right to decide” things?

When we are all born, we inevitably have, and can only use, an external authority sort. This makes sense because as an infant, we have not learned anything, have no experience, and can’t even talk. So naturally and inevitably we look outside. We look outside to see what things are, how they work, what we should do, what’s good and bad, what’s right and wrong, etc. We refer to things outside because there’s nothing inside.