First Level Leadership

Power Play is Inherent in Leaders and Managers

Power Play for the sake of… What motivates your behavior?

 

Let me introduce you to a couple of my friends

Power Play by Manager No. 1: Meet Mr. Cordial

He is more interested in being liked, than in having to use power to get the job done. He measures himself constantly on the likability indicator. Whether that is effective or not, I will leave it for you to judge.

Let me clarify, he does not think he is powerless,

but his preferred style of executing his power is based on the premise that when people like him, they will be more motivated to do the job.

What happens when authoritative decisions have to be made?

The heaviest burden in his mind while making a decision is - what would make his staff happy? His consideration often clouds his decision making process.

So what can you expect about the quality of his decisions?

Policies and procedures are subordinate to the decisions that please his people. He fails to use power for this specific reason. It is not a test of intelligence that, under his regime, goals are only partially met.

Are there any difficulties in working for such a manager?

The biggest challenge is that he is your friend, you like him as well. The point is - professionally he can do very little to help you.

If you were working for Mr. Cordial,

how would you manage your plight? How do you manage the situation? How do you come out of this imbroglio?

First recognize

that though he is your friend, he is a weak manager and not effective. No doubt, his intentions are good, but those intentions would do little good for you.

The biggest challenge is that

eventually he is going to lose his position in the company.

To whom is he going to lose his position?

He is going to lose his status to the power play of those managers who have the powers and who really know how to use them effectively. Those managers are going to swallow up this manager.

And the truth is - after a cordial pressure of the style, this manager will have to depart.

Upshot

The consequences are you would be working for a feckless boss with an effete management style. You will not get the exposure you need to build your own career.

What should you do?

You future of course will not be creditable, and there is one answer to everything I could say: ‘Your career is closed.’

If you don’t take any steps

you would be a part of the same picture. Look at your career and your set up from a more holistic outlook and make amends before its too late. You need to move out.

Power Play by manager No. 2: Meet Mr. High-and-Mighty

Mr. Mighty is comfortably numb whether you love him or hate him. The essence of his needs is - personal powers to the core.

He mainly seeks power for himself and nobody else

However, the unique thing about Mr. Mighty is that he gives a facade of managing in a democratic way. He is highly task oriented and is successful in getting the job done.

His staff adores him because

he makes them feel strong as well. Therefore, they are very loyal to him.

On the minus side,

he is obsessed with rolling up more power. He is a turf builder and thinks little about the staff development. He is not a good institution builder because his focus is on building his own powers. The biggest irony is that the people working for him do not realize these not-so-obvious facts.

Do you know any one who spreads his mighty wings?

Look out for such managers. At least you can start evaluating their managerial styles. If by good fortune, you know some of these managers, then you will agree they are ferociously combative in their interactions with fellow managers.

Here is a revelation for you-

Can you please etch these thoughts in your mind-

When Mr. Mighty leaves the company for greener pastures, or for more powerful positions, the subordinates feel incapacitated and powerless.

Why do they feel incapacitated?

It is so because, inadvertently, their loyalties were with the boss, not with the organization. They had unconsciously aligned themselves to the boss and not with the company.

What is the biggest mistake these subordinates commit?

Now, they become a wall-hanging because they did not build their own personal powers.

If you ever work for Mr. Mighty, watch out …

Mr. Mighty will usually have agonistic relations with other departments, because he does not believe in collaborating. Without realizing, you could be forced to choose between the interests of your boss , and the interest of the company as a whole. In the long run, this may endanger your career with the company especially if the personal power manager departs.

Mr. Mighty would demand allegiance,

but watch out that inadvertently or unconsciously you are not doing anything that is against the interests of the company.

What should be your action plan?

Build and maintain your own wide network of contacts within the company. Doing so will increase your effectiveness.

Develop a personal reputation

for high integrity and standards. That reputation is your survival kit when your boss leaves the company. Focus your energies on developing positive personal powers.

Power Play by Manager No. 3: Meet Mr. Peak Performer

His need to be liked is not primary but his need to see performance is primary. He spreads his power in the service of the company and not in the service of personal goals.

He has strong work ethics

and is highly organization minded. Though tempted at times, nevertheless, he is willing to sacrifice self-interest for the welfare of the company. He graciously rewards individuals who work hard towards achieving goals.

He is mature, eager to reward performance

He is not self-centered or defensive. If you like to work hard, this is the best manager to work for.

The favorite haunt of troubled spirits is –

What kind of manager are you dealing with as of now?

What is your preferred style of management?

The first step is

the awareness followed by the behavior change, depending upon what type of manager you want to become. Perhaps the most fruitful way to accomplish this is to identify and emulate a successful role model.

I can assure you that you can gain

this self-awareness through executive coaching, leadership coaching or by seeking objective feedback from peers and subordinates. You can also learn a lot from this website.

Assuming that you have acquired power required to do your job.

But...

How do you use your power? Are you aware how does power motivate your own behavior?

Few people would put two words, power and play together

Power play entails how alliances are formed and acts of loyalty are honored, how dissenters are admonished, how leaders are tumbled, how people lose power in the name of action – these are the pathways to power play, which have been going on for centuries and will continue for centuries to come.

Since Power play is a huge topic,

therefore, it is beyond the scope of this article to cover all facets of its discussion points.

However, the starting point for understanding power play

is to understand how power motivates your own behavior. Superior learning and self-awareness leads to superior performance and superior execution.

I have been in the midst of maelstroms,

and it was very difficult to pause and reflect then. In the luxury of retrospect, I am sharing some of the reflections of power play with you in the form of Mr. Cordial, Mr. Mighty and Mr. Peak Performer.

Most of us have unforgettable teachers

in our lives and in my life, these learning experiences that came from time to time have been my teachers.

It does not have any solid form but is quite up straight

I must say that the “Power Play” sketch of these managers and most of the thoughts are borrowed from the experience I faced while dealing with them.

All of them had a passion for life

and a passion for getting things done. Each had a unique and different style, some were effective and some were not. The underlying effort by each one of them was that they were all keen in getting things done, but in different ways.

The primary motive of this article

is to encourage you to explore what moves you, and what makes you effective or ineffective. If the above three experiences inspire you and allow you to reflect, I think I have been successful...

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