Power Mapping: What It Is & How to Use It

The word “power" can have a negative connotation. It's often associated with corruption and abuse. Yet, power is necessary; it's what's used to influence others’ behavior and effect change within an organization.

When power is attainable for everyone and not just limited to those with the most resources and authority, employees can feel more agency in their work and invested in their company’s success.

Do you want to gain more power and influence within your organization? Tools such as power mapping can help you get a seat at the table.

Here's an overview of power mapping, its importance, and how to build one.

What Is Power Mapping?

Power is often described as something someone owns, which implies it's tangible. The reality, though, is that power can't exist outside of established relationships. People can't own power because it depends on how much they control resources others value.

To effect change in an organization, you must first identify individuals with the most power. This is accomplished by creating a “power map.”

Power mapping is a visual tool used to understand who has more or less power in a work environment to help navigate its politics. The most powerful⁠, or influential⁠, people are known as “central individuals.”

Who Are Central Individuals?

Central individuals are those within a network who are the main sources of information and advice. They don’t necessarily hold the greatest authority or most impressive job titles but have significant influence because of their control over company information.

Individuals with roles that bridge gaps between disconnected groups are also central because they're instrumental in helping others gain influence. They're often in control of information that flows between groups and can connect you with powerful people. When building your power map, it's important to identify them.

Whether others go to them for advice or they bridge the gap between disconnected groups, central individuals control access to valuable resources.

The Importance of Power Mapping

Power mapping is essential if you’re hoping to become a change-maker in your organization. Identifying the most powerful players in your workplace is crucial if you're trying to make a positive impact.

Power only exists within the dynamics of a relationship, so you must determine who's already close to powerful individuals, who's underappreciated but essential to your organization, and who has the most influence.

Power mapping is an effective way to diagnose your organization's political landscape. It allows you to identify its values by examining the behaviors it rewards. This can be particularly valuable if you’re just starting in your role. By identifying influential individuals, you can build your network, establish valuable relationships, determine what resources they value, and cultivate power and influence.

How to Build a Power Map

Effective power mappers have exceptional observation and social skills. This requires asking the right people the right questions.

To visualize your power map, here are two key questions to consider:

1. What do people value?
2. Who controls access to what people value?

To learn what an organization values, pay close attention to what behaviors are rewarded. Notice who gets promotions, special assignments, and raises. What behaviors, actions, or connections prompted those rewards?

Then, identify individuals who control valued resources. This information forms the foundation of your power map because the amount of influence people hold is largely impacted by the resources they control.

Once you've answered those questions, begin building your power map. To do so, you need the following information:

1. Central individuals: The names of those central to your network. When creating your power map, you can write full names or use initials or pseudonyms to save space.
2. The resources those individuals value: What resources do central individuals value? These can be tangible, such as financial resources, or intangible, such as experience, status, and affiliation.
3. The people with access to valued resources: Which of the organization's valued resources does each individual control access to?
4. The level of control central individuals have over valued resources: How much control does each individual possess over valued resources? Are they easily obtainable elsewhere, or can they only be obtained through a central individual?
5. What alliances exist between central individuals: What's the nature of the relationships between central individuals? Do any alliances or coalitions exist? What's the nature of those alliances?
6. The nature of your relationship with central individuals: What kind of relationship do you have with each central individual? Do you interact with them regularly or connect through someone else in your network?

Once you have this information, draw your power map in a way that makes sense to you; the goal is to visualize and discover connections between central individuals.

Common Power Map Mistakes

There are two common mistakes when building a power map: omission and commission.

• Omission: Neglecting to identify individuals who are as powerful when they're central and highly influential
• Commission: Assuming people are more powerful and influential than they actually are

These errors happen when assumptions are made about a person’s influence based on their position or status. It's easy to assume those higher in the organization's hierarchy are more powerful since people often conflate power and status.

To ensure you don't make those mistakes, closely observe your workplace’s social environment, its existing power dynamics, and its flow of information. Observe what people say and how they behave in meetings and regular interactions. Both verbal and nonverbal cues can greatly inform your power map.

Assessing Your Network Centrality

To determine how much power you already have, identify your “network centrality.” In other words, observe how many people in your group come to you for advice or whether you administer the flow of information between disconnected groups.

Power mapping helps identify key players in an informal network but doesn’t inherently help you gain influence and power. To do this, you must improve your network centrality using the findings from your developed map.

Another helpful resource is online courses, such as Power and Influence for Positive Impact, which can equip you with the tools needed to gain power in your organization and effect positive change.

Do you want to learn more about how gaining power and influence in an organization can help you make a positive difference? Explore Power and Influence for Positive Impact, one of our online courses related to business in society.