Tag Archives: power

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Empowerment

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Increasing empowerment in your life is a process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights.

Almost all of us serve somebody.  It is those leaders or authority figures that can be a potential roadblock to personal empowerment. We must interact with them effectively if we want to increase our empowerment.

Force or Influence

There are two main ways to exercise your personal power.  Forcefully or through the art of finesse.  That is the practice of getting things done in a subtle and delicate manner but getting them done.

How you behave directly influences the way you build confidence with those you serve.  Ultimately this is directly related to the level of empowerment you are able to attain.

The use of influence type behaviours is usually more effective and longer-lasting but on occasion being forceful is what is expected and being too meek may cause others to take charge.

Cautious Balance

It is important to be careful not to be categorized as either forceful or too restrained.    The behaviour balance you choose is best tailored to the target audience.

In the case of building empowerment that is those you serve.  But this should not be interpreted as being servile.  In fact, it is very much the opposite.  Servile behaviour is unlikely to increase your empowerment.

The key is to balance the way you act in such a way you are at neither end of the spectrum but rather more centred.  That is not to say the forceful or the meek do not attain their goals but the middle ground is more often the route to success.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Information and Power

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Our culture supports the concept that information can be used to influence and manipulate.  The more secret information you know the greater your stature.

It is possible to influence others behaviors by letting them know you have the information they don’t.   Knowing things others don’t (and making sure they know that) can enhance your power over them.

A Serious Business

Our society values secrets to the extent that sharing them can lead to deadly consequences.  Consider the common joke, “I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you”.

Apparently, information sharing is a serious business.  Sharing information without permission or receiving the info you are not supposed to have can be deadly.

As I noted though, there is a real cultural aspect to secret information.  Our culture values parceling and containment of data.  We believe there is a need for secret information, so it exists.

We believe controlling access to information is important, the information in the wrong hands can be dangerous.   Trust, sharing, openness is valued but only under certain circumstances.

Unsubstantiated

My own personal experience has been the power to influence and impact is far greater through the practice of clear, frank and open sharing.

While I see many who believe having secrets gives them power and enhances there ability to lead others, it has been my experience this produces neither quality or sustainable outcomes.

Building your power base by keeping others in the dark and feeding them shit could work if people were mushrooms.

This approach can make you feel like a commanding presence and it probably does work that way to some extent, however, sharing (both ways) is almost always the better way.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Usurping Granted Power

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Organizations are structured hierarchically.  Whether a sharp pyramid or a flattened triangle the person at the top has power by dint of their position in the organization.

This is known as positional or granted power.  It may represent their entire power base or they may also have earned power, simply put the ability to get things down through others because they let you, usually out of respect, admiration or belief in your capability.

Using Others Granted Power

Throughout many years spent in many organizational environments it has never ceased to amaze me how people attempt to exercise power, that is get things down, by referencing someone higher in the organization.

For example, imagine a team meeting where collaboration is underway and there is an active discussion about which options or approach the group should adopt.

Almost without fail one of the arguments someone will use to support their position will go something like “our boss said we she do it this way”  Or some similar reference to someone in the organization with greater power than anyone in the group.

This can often be someone at a very senior level in the organization.  What never ceases to amaze me is how it can be a persuasive argument.

Me, doubting Thomas that I am usually asks for written verification or even offers to call or otherwise contact the aforementioned power broker.  Most often this breaks up the play.

It Works, Yike!

As I noted though it is stunning how often this ploy is successful.  So basically there is your granted or positional power, your earned power and the one often overlooked, leveraged power (totally made up).

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Empowerment

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Authority surrounds us.  Our culture, and therefore our basic behaviours, are shaped by authority structures.   From political leaders to the police our lives are governed by external authority.

Basic authority is defined as the the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.  Without this structure, whether from the head of household to leader in the workplace our lives would be chaotic.

It is a natural human trait to recognize and respect authority.  This is  basically a genetically inbred herd mentality present in all humans although influenced by nuture factors and therefore practiced to varying degrees, based on each individuals personal behaviour.

On the whole though, the majority of people need authority to function and respect and accept it’s presence.  Few (criminals and the like) adhere to authority less stringently (but still need some).

Empowering Others

Leaders and other obvious authority figures function most effectively when they are able to balance their power with those they interact with.  That is, power sharing or empowerment of others.

This practice does not diminish a persons authority but rather enhances it if the proper balance is achieved.   The major challenge is to determine where that balance lies so authority is maintained but results are enhanced.

A dictoral practice of authority is typically easier to employ (balance not needed).  Additionally this usually leads to immediate results although they might not be of the highest quality or sustainable.

For higher quality sustainable results over the longer term employing some level of empowerment is advisable.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Earned Power

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From a personal perspective, the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events is the exercise of power.

Exercising power others have endowed on you through a role or title (e.g., policeman, manager, organizational leader) is more about others recognizing the authority granted to you.

This type of power is often supported by consequence or penalty if ignored.  For example, ignoring a judge could result in a fine or even imprisonmen ( contempt of court).

Granted power does have some limitations, the motivation for others behaviour is not necessarily a result of agreement but possibly fear of negative consequences.

Earned Power

The exercise of power, whether earned or granted has the same purpose.  The difference is in how the behavioural influence is initiated.

Dictorial behavior is an extreme exercise of granted power.  The person welding the power relies on obedience based on their authority.

In many ways this type of power is easier to weld.  Just do it, is the mantra.  And if you don’t, you’ll be sorry, is the threat.  Intuitively it is obvious this type of power can be the hardest to sustain over time.

Self Motivation

Earned power empathizes the value equation to motivate actions.  Those who exercise earned power create an understanding of the the results and what’s in it for you.

In brief, people follow the influence of earned power because  they want to.  As long as this desire continues, because it makes sense, the behaviour of others can be influenced and is more likely to be executed with passion.

A key attribute of good leaders is the exercise of earned power more frequently than granted.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

The balance of Power

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On July 6th I explored the differences between positional(granted) and personal (earned power). This inluded a brief synopsis of the positive and negative aspects of each.

Today we will consider the best balance between these two types of power.  As a rule both are needed to achieve your goals; however, carefully exercising the most appropriate power lends the best effect.

Wrong power exercised badly

In the news recently was the successful challenge by aboriginal groups to the Canadian federal governments conditional approval to the Enbridge NorthWestern pipeline application.

In essence the Federal court ruled that because the federal government did not conduct meaningful consultation with the impacted groups (as reqiured by the environment act), the approval was invalid.

The reason the consultation was deemed inadequate – the government representatives had no positional or granted power and in essence were just note takers at the consultation.  They only had one type of power to wield (personal power) and the court ruled that was not enough.

So what is the right balance?

Granted power provides authority and empowers decision making .  Earned power relies on collaberation, all stakeholders input is leveraged.  There is no right mix of each of these power types, as their optimal usage is very dependent on situational context.

For example, consulting  for the government on environmental issues requires some authority in order to ensure meaningful and balanced consultation (or so the Federal court ruled).

What is the best way to determine which power to use and when and to what magnitude?  This requires a highly developed self awarness.  That is the key to balancing which power you use.

Consider the key stakeholders needs, your needs and organizational imperitives.  Past experience as to what has worked before is a valued input.

Most importantly though, be flexible.  As feedback is received and results begin to take form carefully monitor this and be ready to quickly change the balance from positional to personal power or vice-versa. to leverage positive developments and head off negative.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Give me some Power

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Your personal power is earned or granted.  There is no other kind.

Granted Power

Based on your position in an organization (e.g., manager, director) or role in society (e.g., politician, police person) you are granted a level of authority within which it is expected your directions will be followed.  This positional or role based power is granted under certain conditions and the level of enforcement varies.

Granted power is largely exercised through recognition of the authority and associated respect for it.  The expectation is that the rules of governing body, that is a government, political, business or social organization will be respected.

In some cases penalties exist if the rules are not respected (resisting a police officer can lead to arrest) and tools can be authorized to be used assist in the enforcement of the rules (e.g., guns).

In other cases there can be consequences like being dismissed from your job or given a stern talking to but these are softer and sometime the negative results of disrespecting authority are ignored and sometimes not even fully enforceable.

In general though, granted power is easier for those who have it to exercise as there is some level of consequence associated with ignoring instructions from those who have granted power over you.

Earned Power

If are able to get others to act or take direction without the benefit of granted power you are exercising your earned power.  Those taking the directions are following you because you earned their respect.

Which is more powerful

Many studies have show a balanced combination of earned and granted power is most efficient in both achieving long term results as well as the immediate.

On it’s own granted power is the least effective and always has the downside that if the circumstances resulting in your granted power are removed you could be in trouble  (the dictator is overthrown).

How can this knowledge help?

Whether collaborating or leading others, consider the best way to achieve the desired results.  The directions you give must be clear enough and carry the ring of authority to be respected (granted) but also must include elements of empathy, ownership and respect of others to get their buy in.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Scotty I need more power ……

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As I sat down to write today’s blog the power went off in the neighborhood.   The traffic lights, street lights both in my immediate neighborhood and the one directly to the east (which I can see out my bedroom window were all out).

My blogging was put off for the 30 minutes or so while the power was out.  Desktop computers don’t work when the power is out.  The pads were working but there was no LAN connection.

In Edmonton Alberta, Canada’s most northerly city with a population of over a million, in the middle of winter a power outage can be a scary thing.  The central heating needs electric power to run and if it’s not available for a while it get’s cold.

Makes you think

Sitting reading my book waiting for the power to come back,  with a few candles spread around,  which my wife had found and lit, I realized how critical our dependency on electric power has become.  That is, for most large city dwellers.   Rural dwellers are probably a bit more independent.

We are lucky it was so short and I realize there are lot of bad weather related power outages in other parts of North America, during the bad weather seasons, that last a lot longer than the 30 minutes we waited.

Still it is pretty sobering to contemplate how dependent we have become on electricity.   I guess it was a bit of a wake up call for me.  I wonder how many people are running out to Canadian Tire and picking up a gas power generator as we speak.

And the good news

On the positive side, this short outage was something to blog about.  On the really negative side, it will take me hours to reboot, check and recover all my hardware and software infrastructure.  Ah well.