5-19-10 The Real Power

On Monday, I talked a little about the power of your position as an executive (5-17-10 Personal Impact) along with the impact that the position power has on those around you.

I was browsing the latest issue of Harvard Business Review (May 2010) this morning and ran across an article that really caught my attention….. And in my opinion, extends the discussion of position power.

The article is from Michael Segalla and is based on his research as to where the real power resides in the organization. Michael is a professor and researcher at the HEC School of Management in Paris. You can find the HBR article at the link below. It is a very short, but very powerful article, I think. Go ahead, click the link. I’ll wait.

Vision Statement: Find the Real Power in Your Organization

Glad that you came back! Didn’t you find the article interesting?

For the new and/or aspiring executive, I find a couple of interesting implications from this research.

First, it would be interesting to plot where you are on the grid. Do you fall in category A -- untapped potential? If you are new or aspiring as an executive, the answer is likely yes. So what? Well, in my mind, the issue for you becomes one of how you move up in the hierarchy and in objective authority --- while maintaining your high sense of responsibility. Of course, that movement up isn’t something you get to chose. But you CAN influence it. How? By finding a boss or mentor that trusts you AND that can help your movement. When you find this person (or persons), you will find additional opportunities to prove yourself. It is then up to you to make sure that you succeed.

A second implication for the new/aspiring executive is to understand how those around you (your peers, your bosses, etc) fall on this grid. Yeah, I know, you can’t go out and interview all of these people to get a fix on it. But that’s okay, because if you stop and think about it, you likely have all of the information you need to plot each person on the grid. And if you don’t have the info, your network can certainly help to provide it.

Once you have them plotted, then what? Well, it should help to shape your work, discussions, meetings, etc. with each person. And you can’t just limit this to those people above you on the grid. Look at the grid that was reproduced in HBR. There are a lot of people in the lower section of the grid with a significant amount of objective authority. Wouldn’t these be ideal people to have as part of your network? And what about category B, dangerous deadwood, people? You certainly can’t ignore them, because they do have a lot of power in your organization. And frankly, if you ignore or butt heads with them, it is likely that they can snuff your career advancement chances in a heartbeat. But since you now know that they wield a large amount of power but lack the sense of responsibility, you can shape your interactions with them -- such that you aren’t damaged or hurt by the interactions.

Of course, I am sure that there are many other implications that go with this model of determining the real power in an organization. And many thanks to Professor Segalla for sharing his powerful research with us.

Cheers!