It is at these challenging moments that Steadfastness can result in resistance to change. It is at these challenging moments that untested assumptions made by Steadfast leader tend to come to the surface and interfere with effective leadership functions (DISC, 2024):
“It’s my job to keep my team happy at all times.
I shouldn’t upset people.
It’s rude to be too assertive.
If there is uncertainty, inaction is the best course.
If people are sorry, other consequences aren’t necessary.
Direct, critical feedback should only be a last resort.
It’s better to give people what they want.
Slow and steady is better than unpredictability.
I shouldn’t inconvenience other people.
My needs are less important than other people’s.
I shouldn’t push people to push themselves.
You should always give people the benefit of the doubt.
I need buy-in from everyone before I finalize a decision.
S-style managers tend to be even-tempered, accommodating, and patient”
The desire to keep things “on-time,” organized, and accommodating might not align very well with the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of mid-21st Century life (Bergquist, 2020).
The Golden Yellow Relationship is founded in clear and consistent communication. Steadfastness comes with a commitment to active, sustained listening. Thoughtful Golden Yellow leaders interact with other people in order to learn more about the real world in which they are expected to lead. They are looking for objectively-based information—but that is hard to find. At the very least, an effective Steadfast Golden Yellow leader will look for diverse perspectives regarding the real world—multiple stakeholders will be invited to the table, where they can share what they know or what they believe that they know without being intimidated or ignored.
Those with a Golden Yellow orientation will tend to build their extended relationships around shared expertise and those people with credible sources of knowledge. They listen carefully to those who can provide valid and useful information. The best working environment for those with a Golden Yellow orientation is one in which there are strong formal operations that are being consistently monitored. Loyalty is reinforced when feedback about these operations is being taken seriously and corrective actions are being taken.
When a relationship isn’t working well, the person with a steadfast Golden Yellow orientation will want to move away from other people – especially the person with whom they are experiencing difficulties. This is the third option that is identified by Karen Horney. Just as the sun burns bright at a long distance from our earth, the Golden Yellow leader (or any other person with a Golden Yellow orientation) will want somehow to move out far enough to be safe and perhaps see things more clearly or more “objectively.”
Michael Polanyi (1969), a noted Nobel-prize winning biologist and philosopher, wrote about this irony when distinguishing between that TO WHICH we attend and the that FROM WHICH we attend. When someone points to some events, we tend to look to where they are pointing (“To Which”) rather than looking at the act of pointing itself (“From Which”). Why have they selected this event for their attention? What is the reason they have asked us to attend to this event?
