Transactional Analysis Theory - Drivers

This blog comes from Ajit Karve, Transformational TA Coach
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Drivers

Drivers are the behavioural manifestations of counter-script messages planted as counter-injunctions in off-springs by their parents. These are planted in later years of life. They give the growing child a means, at the psychological level, to be free of the debilitating effects of injunctions. As such they constitute a shield. They serve as floats and keep a person buoyant in the script ridden sea of life. 

Drivers manifest as compulsive behaviours. They carry the names of the counter-script messages. Their names and short descriptions of persons who are affected by them are given here:

1. Be Perfect: Persons affected by this driver act, do and work to perfection. They pay attention to the minutest details. In speaking, writing and in other forms of communication they are elaborate and add unnecessary details. They include descriptives in sentences. Their sentence patterns are shown in figure 37.

Figure 37

Example: Can you come to my place tomorrow, if you have time I mean, to do some housekeeping work.

Persons affected by this driver are disciplined, sincere, diligent, painstaking and reliable. They are unable to pre-decide the level of perfection they need to achieve in any work. They do not rely on others.

2. Please Me / Be Pleasing: Persons affected by this driver are polite, kind, considerate, accommodating, goody-goody. Some of them are submissive, sacrificing and compliant. Their sentence patterns include a conditional word like 'but'. It is represented in the figure 38.

Figure 38

Example: Sir, I thank you for the invitation. But, you need to excuse me because I have some guests coming home for dinner. I hope you don't mind. I will let you know in the evening.

They like to be nice to others and expect others to be nice to them. They are good team members. They encourage good will and harmony. They stay back from voicing their opinion though it may be valid and important. They use requestive words.

3.  Be Strong: They do not express their needs and experiences, they have learnt to look after themselves and their own needs. They find difficulty in small talk, they speak in monotones, they do not show excitement. In matters of weather they do not express their feeling - if asked: "are you feeling hot" the person would reply: "the temperature is high and the weather is sultry." They display strength and courage. Their sentence patterns show the topic covered in many short descriptives. Each is at variance with the previous one. It is represented in figure 39.

Figure 39

Example: We went for dinner last night. It was raining you know. You should have seen the traffic block. My wife was all worked up.

As pressure increases these people become cool and level headed. They are good to have around in crisis management jobs. They are good problem solvers. They are self reliant. They give creative inputs and honest opinions. They consider their own failure as a weakness. They lack emotional responses.

4. Try Hard: They shift energy and attention from accomplishing the task to trying to accomplish it. They work hard but rarely achieve success. They are hurt if their failures are pointed out. Their sentences contain a negative qualifier like "I don't know", "I'm not sure", "may be", "perhaps", "if ..... then", might among many others.  The sentence pattern is represented in figure 40.

Figure 40

Example: I am interested in coming over. Let me see. I will try to make it. We have our year ending you know.

They spend time in trying to do instead of in actually working things out. It is difficult to hold interest to the end of a task. They have unfinished tasks. They express doubt about themselves.

5. Hurry Up: They display lack of patience. They are ill at ease with people who are slow and take time to complete things. Therefore they are pushing others. They are likely to commit mistakes because they are internally forced to complete in a hurry. They do many things simultaneously and may commit mistakes or leave things half done. There is no particular sentence pattern.

Example: (looking at my watch - I engage in mind talk) Why is this guy taking so long. I honk my car again and again to let him know I am waiting.

They are impatient with others. They keep pushing others to the point of desperation. They finish jobs quickly instead of doing them painstakingly. Their work therefore looks like skimming over instead of going deep. They wait till deadline arrives and then finish in a hurry.

Hurry up results from clock-time and goal-time combined. To know more  about clock time, goal time and psychological time click> 08.03 Script and Time Structuring.

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