Power Play Primer for the Well-Intentioned

When asked how to take command of your unique brand of personal power in my enlightened leadership classes, I begin with a story about my mentor, William Smith, a consultant at The World Bank from 1978 to 1992. Yes, that was before the flood.

As a young executive working in a national retail operation, I was fascinated by how I could improve the substandard and mediocre leadership that I found to be the root cause of significant suffering in the lives of the caring professional adults around me.

During the break, Bill and I discussed the use of transformative organizational development systems, those that empower stockholders, shareholders, and stakeholders alike to thrive and succeed.
 
Implementing a win-win-win strategy is not a small feat, but it is more likely to occur when a leader takes the time to consider it as both possible and potentially profitable. What if being relaxed and feeling respected enhanced output? This idea fascinated me.

During our talk, he alluded to the current program he was delivering to the World Bank on identifying and leveraging different forms of personal power to build the power grid infrastructure for an underdeveloped South American country. His job was to train diverse project stakeholders to leverage their resources to ensure a satisfactory outcome that addressed as many of their interests as possible.

As a result of our enthusiastic exchange on the best use versus abuse of leadership powers, he agreed to share his work and understanding of how to leverage the type of power you have. It is something leadership clients and professional mentees have heard me impart, for it is an uncomplicated way to amplify your voice and navigate the complex world of power plays.

This is what Bill shared in paraphrased format:

There are three types of Personal Power:

• Control,
• Influence
• Appreciative (grassroots people power)

1. Control is when one person controls the resource(s) (i.e., food system, electrical grid, airwaves) and can share, remove, or threaten to remove them at will. If this type of leader is not physically present, their control diminishes, at which point threats and rewards become relevant. Bill and I agreed that the fall of substandard leaders occurred because, when given the opportunity, others let them fail, fall, or flourish.
   
   
2. Influence is when you can rally others to act in accord with your distribution of resources and create pods of problem-solving responders or menacing substandard presence. Often, you do not even see who is pulling the strings to direct the movement. Influencers who have character and are trustworthy far surpass threat-based influencers in the long run.
   
   
3. Appreciative power is when stakeholders across pods unify and stand up to disrupt the systems they are employed to run and grow.

Where do you see your leadership profile land?

With controlling the Universe and everything in it, or trusting your advisors to know more about their expertise than you, who will ultimately have responsibility for the decisions made?

Influencing those around you to join the value system, cause, or culture you or your business has created?
 
Or, with the Grassroots, community organizing that halts trains from running on time or functioning without the consent of the culture that cultivated them?

Think about what works for you at this time and what does not, and let us know your thoughts on personal power.