Whose voice do you listen to most frequently?
The scale of authority specifies what the person follows while making final decisions.
People with internal authority mainly rely on their own experiences, feeling and opinions. If they make up their mind, it’s difficult to make them change it. If you try to influence their decision you may encounter serious problems.
On the other hand, people with dominating external authoruty, rely on the opinions of specialists, on the results of test and comparisons, on the experience and opinions of others. They make their final decision on the basis of the opinion of the most credible source. The appearance of serious counterarguments may easily change their decision.
To determine the source of authority during the making of decision in a given situation you can ask the person how he knows that something that he did in the past was right.
A person with internal authority will say:
- I just know that.
- I feel good about it and something tells me that I acted correctly
And a person with external authority will state:
- Because twenty other people did the same and they were satisfied
- Because John told me that this is a good choice, and he is a specialist.
- You know, my wife liked it so I bought it.
I think that it won’t take me long to explain it...
When you meet a person with internal authority you should tell him that everything depends on him and that he will certainly make a good decision. Only he knows what to do and when to start acting.
All kinds of tests, comparisons and opinions will be of service while talking with a person with external authority filter. In this case you should also do your best to express your approval of good choice. His family or friends may underestimate his decision so make sure that the opinions similar to yours are in majority.