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4.5 | Identify some streams of power in your organization? How can power be used in your organization as a source for good? Post insights.
Below, you will see the Session #4 reflection questions. Please answer these questions at the bottom of the screen.
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38 Replies
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After the Biden Administration took control, our (federal) agency’s streams of power shifted, seemingly overnight. Right now, the environmental justice and DEIA space are prioritized, and the streams of power are top to bottom, and lateral, as opposed to solely top-down. For a large bureaucracy, it will take some time for the “top-down” stream of power to shift permanently, but we are all working hard on changing that narrative!
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My power stream affects all staff in the business but in a more nebulous, overarching manner, unfortunately (I perceive) with a maternal overtone. My practice manager is a power stream more directly involved with the day-to-day actions of the staff; so her power is more concrete in their day to day work. More senior technicians stream power for the newer staff in training and direction. Those who answer the phones have power over the caller – to set an appointment or to direct them elsewhere for care if we cannot provide it; to answer questions, or to deliver messages and information. Clients hold the stream of power over treatment plan consent and financial parameters within which care can be provided. Availability of product through distribution centers is power over what services and products that the doctors can then provide for care.
Power can be used for good when it is influential and focused on education, with a view toward improving care, reducing mistakes, preventing accidents to the staff, the pet owner and the pet. Power can be used for good when those individuals whose alignment is not synchronized with that of the organization are moved out of the organization. -
I like to think that my org is so flat and everyone is equal even though there are people with more experience. As we are growing though, if I’m honest the leaders of the projects do have the power. They are careful to be inclusive but in the end, they have the last word (well, actually I do really. I think this power structure can be used to build the capacity of the junior staff and also giving the junior teams projects they are in charge of is also really helpful.
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My organization is a university which is very top down when it comes to the workings of the university. However, there can be a shift at the faculty level, depending on the university, because their is lateral power at the faculty level. Depending on the research status of a university, some faculty can have more power than others, depending on if the university is public, private, liberal arts, or affiliated with a religion, these can all change the power dynamics within a university. Let’s not forget about the influence of university sports – it boggles the mind!
As a source for good students still matter. Student voices can make a big difference and faculty members that use the university systems to uphold and empower student voices are on the right side of history. -
My organization has mostly a top-down power stream with numerous partners and senior managers seemingly running things, though myself and my colleagues have a lot of lateral power as well, the more sales or billable hours you can book, the less “interference” from above. In my experience this is true in consulting no matter the organizational structure. I think this structure could be used for good as means to focus the org. in new business directions, aligning the teams on common goals or developing new lines of work. There is tremendous opportunity to do that in my org. but would require a shift a way from the numerous fiefdoms which have developed over time
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My organization is small–only 10 other staff–so the streams don’t go very far. I’m at the center of three streams (core programs, membership, and administration), peripheral to others but still responsible for them (working groups that we host). Internally we can use power to support each other’s personal growth and transformation.
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The power streams in my organization seem complicated. It’s a 4,500 person research lab and there are clear distinctions between the scientists (more power) and support/operations staff (much less power). In addition, there are 32 different divisions and with a distributed leadership model each division can be run as the division director sees fit to some extent. So top level decisions from the the lab’s directorate can feel more like suggestions which can heighten inequities and one person’s experience as an employee very different from another person’s. However, as part of the DEI office, my manager reports to the lab director and he’s made DEI work a focus and always puts it front and center so in this case his power and support is a source of good. We also have the support of our communications team and that also helps get our messaging out to all employees. The little I know about DEI offices in other organizations tells me that this is not always the case so I feel lucky that we have so much support.
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With respect to my church, the streams of power are roughly the senior staff, and volunteer boards within, especially those focused on collecting/investing financial support & managing facilities; music; church school & youth; outreach & peace & justice. Each is already a force for good, some more internally focused, some externally. As a rather strong and financially stable church in a very wealthy community, my sense of increasing our contribution for good is to encourage us to be more outward focused. Some new movement in that direction involves bringing more outside speakers to present to our congregation; offer weekly messaging about connections with local community groups; and creating a large event to mobilize members of the congregation to experience volunteering with at least one of the partners.
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This is something being discussed in the organization on how we can share power more every day, and give the team more autonomy. This is something I have yet to reach a conclusion about.
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My organization has the power of collaboration. Everyone is so compassionate and thoughtful with each other and other’s work. I work in a creative environment so being collaborative is key to success. Sometimes we “collaborate” too much and work doesn’t get done on time or decisions aren’t clearly made. That being said, I would say that this is our companies power and with the right guardrails, it’s a great way to success.
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My organization is currently experiencing a moment of deep tensions and intra-institutional mistrust. From a leadership perspective, in my view, there is a disconnect between the talk and the walk, between a top-down rhetoric of return to normalcy and the lived experience of workers. I see this primarily as an issue in leadership: those who can wield power demand for more results, and those who experience the effects of power feel, so to speak, like they are running on fumes. The power of changing narratives is, in my opinion, a formidable one to use. Such a power, in this context, could be used to adjust and realign expectations, genuinely listening to concerns and provide solutions – which may even be simply to acknowledge publicly as well as privately the challenging reality which we currently share, and openly address the (near) impossibility of making things any different. Nevertheless, we are all in it together – lest we are not there at all.
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We have identified lately the main pillars in our organization.We created a presentation with visual elements and graphics that illustrate each of them.After we did that, it became clear that we need teams in each of those areas. There was an emerging sense of leadership by some of the members who seem to be eager to run those spaces and bring their vision to life. That was refreshing and empowering. This approach to power felt ideal to me in our organization. We advocate for women’s agency and leadership, so seeing each member advocating for their goals and embracing important tasks was remarkable.
In our last meeting, I suggested breaking some of the current meetings into focus work meetings so we started to break big tasks into smaller tasks. We also created teams for each pillar and a list of tasks that can be done. Overall, we have been successful at including everyone on board and managing the main tasks efficiently. People are excited supporting the organization’s vision and are in constant collaboration between teams.
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There are many different layers of power, hospital administrators being at the top ultimately. We don’t often need to engage with the power at this level. When we do, sometimes it can be very helpful and at other times, quite frustrating. Mostly, we try to tap into the stream of power for help as best we can and maintain good relationships to do so.
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I think I was unable to do justice to this one this month.
Reflecting on it attuned me to the cohersive nature of much of the power in my org.
In other places people have freedom.
We are still learning to adapt to an online world, so much of the space inbetween does not exist.
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My organization has clearly defined streams of authority and power. Leadership is comprised of smart people who have earned respect and authority among peers and team members. This group meets regularly to discuss issues affecting the organization and our various teams. This is a huge strength, although in my time, many of us have sensed that we have yet to fully harness the power of this group, and our time together. I suspect that one key lies in the lessons learned from “Depend on others”: to not fear to lean on one another; to share concerns and challenges openly among leadership (without necessarily having the answers).
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