Week 1 Influencing People
Types of power
- Referent - personal connection.
- Expert
- Information
- Legitimate - job title.
- Reward - ability give rewards or praise.
- Coercive - ability punish.
Power - Asymmetrical control over someone else’s outcome.
Benefits of power
- Power leads to proactivity and action.
- Power leads to risk taking.
Risks/Costs of power
- Over confidence.
- Reduced inclination to take advice.
- Formal leaders who feel more powerful compared to team members are not good for team performance.
Sources of power
- Personal
- Expertise
- Information
- Referent
- Structural - features of your position.
- Legitimate - Who is the boss? Who is in charge?
- Reward power
- Coercion
- Cognitive
- Priming - Do others make you feel powerful?
- Beliefs - Do you feel powerful?
Strategies for building power
- Structural
- Use symbols and artifacts to increase perception of your legitimate power. Such as medals, job titles, certificates and so on.
- Connections to higher powered positions.
- Use non monetary rewards such as - support, benefits, favors.
- Avoid coercion, short term gains, but costly over long term.
- Personal
- Acquire required expertise and make it public by using credentials, certificates, etc.
- Develop persuasion ability.
- Become a broker of information.
- Cognitive
- Open body posture.
- Remind of yourself that you have power.
People with strong moral identity will use power to enable.