"My perception of a "co-worker" is someone who is on the same level as you, not someone who is waiting for you to give your permission of approval. Frankly I was expecting to see help on lateral relationships rather than the supervisor/subordinate interaction."

A co-worker is someone who works with you -- if you treat people as subordinate -read "inferior"(regardless of reporting levels here) then they are bound to not trust you. Unless you are in the military or a para-military function, pulling rank on a daily basis puts you in the "not to be trusted" zone.