opinion

A group enquiry

I recently had the privilege of leading a group enquiry into power for Harthill Consulting, in the context of adult development (vertical development).

The intention was to create an environment for fertile enquiry questions which would allow us to learn.

As we began, I invited participants to contemplate a framework of contexts of power and of the extent to which, or sense in which, power is in the eye of the beholder.

Power is multifaceted

One of the most striking features of power is, it seems to me, how multi-faceted the topic is – and how richly the facets interrelate and intersect and interdepend. There are many and varied implications for the exercise of leadership, and leaders can benefit from reflecting on these. For instance, a variety of perspectives are afforded by looking at ‘my’ power, ‘your’ power, ‘our’ power, and the power in and of the system. Further, within each of these comes the contrast between personal power, the power afforded by title or status, and the nuances of the perception of power that arise in the presence or absence of fear or shame.

Definitions of power

Paul Tillich, a Protestant theologian and philosopher quoted by Adam Kahane in his book ‘Power and Love[1]’, speaks of power as ‘the drive to achieve one’s purpose, to get one’s job done, to grow – an urge towards agency and self-transcendence’. Food for thought, including the striking emphasis on power as rooted within the individual or group’s growth and ‘becoming’.

In her book ‘Power, a user’s guide[2]’, Julie Diamond talks about personal power (which she refers to as the key to other types of power) as ‘an inner feeling of power that reverberates regardless of what happens to us… It helps you roll with whatever life throws at you’. She suggests that ‘using power well – that is, responsibly and effectively – is the ability to impact and influence situations, across diverse and unpredictable contexts, legitimately (with the implied or explicit cooperation and agreement of others), for the greater good’. I’m glad to see the reference here to ‘the greater good’, as power, it seems to me, must be taken in context.

Intentional and unintentional power – and empowering

Power can be intentional: think any autocratic leader, or a leader who gives themselves freedom to disregard traditional boundaries and rules – think Boris Johnson, for example. It can also be unintentional, arising, for example, from an individual’s charisma, authenticity and integrity – think Nelson Mandela or Mother Teresa. Interestingly, when a leader ‘empowers’, this suggests that they ‘own’ power to bestow – and that the follower has no, or less, power until that bestowing happens. Correspondingly, we can, as followers, give our power away – and this merits some reflection in terms of what induces us to give it away (sometimes very easily).

Power can be relational: ‘power with’

Power can be profoundly relational. If you’ve had contact with horses you’ll know that you can’t make a horse do anything: it will only do as you wish if you’re in relationship with it. Something similar goes for humans too: you can achieve an outcome through the obedience that arises from coercive power, but that will be rooted in fear, and it certainly doesn’t fit with Julie Diamond’s ‘greater good’.

So power can be ‘power over’ or ‘power with’ – and the latter implies more sustainability through relationship and connection. Coaches have power in the coaching relationship, of course, and it’s at its most fruitful when it’s ‘power with’ – walking beside the client in a partnership of connected co-enquiry.

The courageous use of power

And what about the courageous use of power, which Harthill suggests is key to adult development (perhaps because we can view it as a manifestation of who we really are)? Courage may manifest in a willingness to stand in your own power, even if this means taking a path which isolates and detaches you from your community and from the belonging which is arguably one of our greatest human needs.

Power, courage and compassion

In other contexts, witnessing suffering can be the spark and motivation for the courage to act, so that power, courage and compassion can go hand in hand (understand by ‘compassion’ the empathy that we feel when we witness another person suffering, to which are added wanting to see the relief of that suffering and wanting to do something about it). Worth contemplating is the arresting suggestion that diminishing a person’s suffering can mean diminishing their power because it implies that we, not they, make the decisions about what they want to do about their suffering. For those of us who believe deeply in the significance of compassion in leadership, this is a challenging thought.

Questions emerging

I emerged from the session with more questions than answers: what, for example, is the nature of the relationship between our power and our (and our clients’) developmental stages? What does this reflect about the systems we’re in? What more is there to discover about what the courageous use of power really is, where its sources are and how it shows up? How do we hold – and withhold – power? As a coach, am I making the best and the most ethical use of power in my relationships with my clients? And many more questions besides… rich territory indeed. The learning continues.

_{[1] McGraw-Hill Education 2009}

_{[2] Belly Song Press 2016}

^{Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash}

Power and the leader

Integrity and power

The client’s terms of engagement transgressed my own deepest values, including integrity. This kind of behaviour on the part of consultancies seems widespread. Further, the attendant disservice to the ultimate end user stems from the enforced compromise of professional integrity, and the imbalance of power is experienced by many of their associates to be abusive. As professionals, are we prepared to tolerate this kind of attitude, behaviour and lack of integrity inherent in the contracting from so many perspectives? Are we really powerless or can we find ways to bring our power respectfully to a rebalancing that will be in all our interests?

Peace, ease and fulfilment

I accept that it may make no sense to juxtapose a street sweeper's relatively simple situation with my clients’ complex roles and environments. On the other hand, I’m very curious about how leaders conceive of their responsibility (and opportunity) to design and embed working lives for themselves, their peers and their reports which release greater peace, trust, ease and fulfilment - and thus greater effectiveness. More than that, I worry about their health, their wellbeing and their longevity if leaders don't take that responsibility.

Integrity, safety and wellbeing

I’ve just done something I’ve never done before: I’ve handed back a 4-year contract. At the heart of my decision was an inability to tolerate a client’s terms of engagement – both the formal, explicit terms, and the informal, implicit terms. My deepest values (integrity, professionalism, honesty, care for the coachee experience, respect, acknowledgment, being heard) were compromised. I felt deeply unsafe: my trust in the client was entirely absent. What was happening was moral injury, and the experience was threatening my wellbeing by demanding that I don’t behave in integrity – and I can only maintain my wellbeing if I’m behaving in integrity. I’ve learnt too that doing what matters deeply to me is a significant enabler of tough decisions and tough actions.

'I' or 'we' as a model for leadership?

What happens when a leader or a nation sees the future not through a lens of relationship, action and impact, but through a lens of isolation, cutting off supply routes of collaboration and support? Is this the model of leadership that we really need? ‘You’ and ‘yours’ can actually be the route to ‘me’ and ‘mine’ if only we choose to look through a broader lens. As a coach, I may enquire with a coaching client more explicitly into the implications of ‘I and we’ in contrast with ‘I or we’, at individual level, team level, organisation level and beyond. Putting ‘I’ before ‘we’ risks shutting off not only precious resources but also risks shutting off precious rewards. ‘We’ before ‘I’ might lead to rewards we hadn’t dreamed of.

Coaching through COVID and BMJ Leader

I'm privileged to have had a blog published in BMJ Leader, published in BMJ Leader, one of the publications in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) stable. The blog focuses on the very particular leadership style that characterises Coaching through COVID, the pro bono coaching programme for NHS and care sector staff who are directly impacted by COVID, and particularly those who don't nomally have access to coaching, from doctors and nurses to porters, cleaners, pharmacists, physiotherapists and many others, who are experiencing anxiety, uncertainty, threats to their personal safety and that of their families from contracting COVID-19, distress, trauma, exhaustion and much else.

2020: a year of learning

They say the toughest experiences are also the richest sources of learning. As 2020 closes, I look back indeed on the richest and most intense year of learning I can remember. As the hidden has erupted into the obvious in the most striking of ways, and when some of what we previously took for granted has been completely overturned, it is beyond any doubt that all of us need to beware of claiming that this or that is impossible. Being a co-founder of Coaching through COVID has meant for me the most nourishing, safe, innovative and energising team that I have ever been part of - and we have achieved extraordinary results. And working from home has shown in stark relief the extent to which health and wellbeing fall squarely into the manager’s and the leader’s responsibilities.

The washing machine and the laundry: new perspectives on leadership

If we ever wondered what it would be like to be inside the drum of a washing machine, turned upside down, and over and over, multiple times, spun, and tangled in ways we’ve never before experienced, the last 10 months, since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the UK (and the world), might give us a hint as to what it might feel like. The turbulence created by the new order will mean that there are new lenses through which leaders will need to look as they sort their parameters, their strategies and their tactics: wellbeing jumps up the agenda, communication becomes a priority, relationships and connections become critical, sustainability receives more attention, and processes now require careful thinking through.

The deafening sound of silence

Silence can denote a holding back from what needs to be pointed out or challenged, a reluctance to speak about one’s own or others’ mental health challenges, or not enquiring into experience of racial difference, which can put at risk respectful connection in a relationship – and at its worst, can create a gulf. In some circumstances silence has a cost which is greater than the benefit. The danger of silence, when people don’t use their voices to admit mistakes, question the status quo, ask questions or offer ideas, is that the thinking power of a team is diminished. When people’s mental health is in play they may continue in silence, unsupported, while their condition deteriorates, corroding their wellbeing. When we fail to enter into conversation about, or to explicitly recognise racial difference, we fail to recognise, respect and acknowledge the individual. A climate of psychological safety enables inappropriate silence to be transformed into the release of rich and fertile thinking.

Psychological safety: the secret weapon of effective teamwork

Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, has been researching psychological safety for 20 years, and defines it as is a shared belief that you will not be punished, ignored or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes. Because in a climate of psychological safety, people feel free to put forward new, and even seemingly crazy, ideas, because they feel free to point out errors and risks to each other (including their seniors) and because they feel free to ask for help and surface failure, rates of creativity and innovation rise significantly. So too do trust, collaboration, engagement and discretionary effort, which link with another benefit: inclusion and the authentic embrace of diversity. I’m accredited as a Licenced Psychological Safety Guardian, which allows me to administer and debrief the Psychological Safety Index, based on Amy Edmondson’s work.

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