Engaging Personal Power
Throughout my years as an advocate for survivors of sexual and domestic violence, I thought a lot about power. At their foundation, these types of violence are about taking power over someone else; often someone who is known and trusted by the person harmed. When I became an executive director of a survivor advocacy nonprofit, I became curious about how spending your days talking with survivors who had their power taken from them by someone they trusted changed the way my co-workers felt about the power I had because of my role. I also considered the tension between this and the fact that an advocate's core job was to support a survivor’s ability to be empowered and regain their self agency.
As a supervisor, I’ve noticed an inherent distrust that some co-workers have for me because of my positional power. When this happens, I assume it’s because of a negative experience they had with power or a dysfunctional boss. I try not to take it personally and work a bit harder to gain trust from those who I sense are keeping me at a distance.
“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love, implementing the demands of justice.”
Positional power is the power you have simply because of the role you hold. At work, positional power comes with having more information than your co-workers, getting to make decisions that impact others, and being a gatekeeper of resources others may need to do their jobs. At the same time, each of us holds personal power - the strengths and characteristics that make us uniquely us, the things we do well, and the ways we experience freedom and/or self-expression.
Right now, many of us are watching those with positional power in our country harm others, tell lies, and promote their allegiance to “might is right” thinking. This is leading to mistrust in our workplaces and relationships - we’re questioning what we can believe and what the true intentions are of those making decisions and gatekeeping resources. This makes supervision that engages personal power more important, and also more difficult. Despite that and because of that, we need to reaffirm our commitment to liberated, equitable work teams.
“Power at its most pure, essential quality can be defined as energy or potency. Consider that power is simply a force within nature and humanity like love or joy… One of the greatest calls to action for each of us is to embody our potency, allow it to flow toward the highest possibility for equity, and make space for every other person to be able to do the same.”
Acknowledging that I am someone who often holds positional power, I want to create an environment that allows folks to show up with their personal power. Simply put, this is also the definition of empowerment. Doing this well doesn’t make my positional power go away, but it does help me gain trust with my co-workers and (hopefully) helps me stay humble enough to take up less space, communicate often and with transparency, and make decisions with integrity.
For those of us who also carry unearned privilege because of our race, gender, and/or dis/ability status (to name a few), we have to be more intentional when navigating positional power. Building trust and demonstrating humility are necessary components of supervising someone whose lived experiences and personal identity are different from yours. When this is done consistently, our co-workers are more able to bring their full selves to work with them, which adds strength and wisdom to any team.
Power is a tricky beast, and it's certainly not going away. While systemic oppression and violence can often make us feel like all power is negative, I choose to celebrate the personal power that I see in others and in myself. I want to lift up empowerment as a core component of every relationship and be constantly curious about how I navigate positional power.
Quote sources:
Gretchen Steidle, Leadership from Within
