Effective leadership isn’t a fixed concept—it constantly evolves. Successful companies, therefore, need leaders prepared for change.
“Great leaders are defined less by enduring traits and more by their ability to recognize and adapt to the opportunities created by a particular moment,” writes Nitin Nohria, former dean of Harvard Business School, in the Harvard Business Review.
These moments—such as war, a global pandemic, and climate change—can significantly impact a company’s leadership. Prospective leaders who initially lack power in their organizations can take these junctures and create opportunities to use power in their favor.
If you want to gain power to make an impact, here’s everything you need to know about how to shift your business’s balance of power.
What’s the Source of Power in Business?
Organizations consist of individuals exercising varying degrees of power. Prospective leaders who want to make a difference need power to achieve their goals. While many feel power comes from promotions and higher salaries, several forms of it provide influence.
The three sources businesses leaders use to gain power are:
- Personal: Attributes such as admirable personality traits, advanced skills, and industry expertise
- Positional: Organizational hierarchies such as title, rank, and formal authority over a team
- Relational: A strong business network that ensures widespread influence
Understanding power sources is crucial for prospective leaders who want to make an impact on their organization. For example, power sources can inform power mapping, a visual tool that helps identify what groups have the most power in a business. Professionals interested in shifting power dynamics also need effective strategies that target power’s most important factor: resources.
Free E-Book: How to Be a Purpose-Driven, Global Business Professional
Access your free e-book today.
DOWNLOAD NOWHow to Shift the Power Balance in Your Business
Power relies on owning valuable organizational resources. Dynamics constantly change, so it isn’t surprising that power experiences volatility in business.
A shift in power may seem like a drastic change, but it frequently occurs in business. For example, you may know the phrase “moving up the corporate ladder.” This common saying refers to a prospective leader who’s taken the steps to gain influence and power within their organization. They typically achieve upward mobility with a well-crafted strategy that adheres to one of the four ways to shift the balance of power in a business relationship.
Attraction
Power largely depends on resources. Those who have access to the most resources often have more influence within their organizations. If you’re a prospective leader who’s lower on the corporate ladder, you may not have access to valuable assets.
The attraction strategy focuses on increasing your resources’ value in others’ eyes. It explores the question: Do you have something other people want?
For example, you can appear more attractive for leadership roles by using a personal source of power. Charisma and an admirable mission statement can majorly impact your organizational standing. These traits can be incredibly valuable to your company because people are more likely to follow leaders with well-articulated, meaningful missions.
Withdrawal
Sometimes, you don’t have the resources to effectively lead your team. In these instances, the withdrawal strategy is an excellent way to gain power.
It begs the question: Do other people have what you want? The central idea of this method is to decrease interest in others’ resources. By making the other party's resources less valuable, you reduce dependence on them.
If you aren’t reliant on others, you can gain influence within your organization by changing from a liability to a resource. You can have more power when others have few or no alternatives for accessing the resources you offer.
Consolidation
Instead of becoming a resource, you can shift access to resources within your business. Consolidation is one strategy that uses this ideology and can help decrease the number of alternative resources available to others.
Ask yourself: Do other people have an alternative source to get what they want? This creates a dependence that ultimately leads to power and influence.
While this might seem like an impossible feat, many leaders use this concept in every element of business. For example, companies that want to dominate a particular trade acquire a firm that offers similar services and products to consolidate market power. The same applies to people within an organization.
Expansion
While consolidation shifts resources away from other powerful entities, expansion ensures you don’t rely on them. Becoming less dependent on powerful people can, in turn, make you more influential within your organization.
This strategy is slightly different from withdrawal because it focuses on the question: Do you have an alternative to get what you want?
Increasing your alternatives eliminates any possible control that certain groups, people, and departments might have over you, providing the freedom to make a real difference.
Is Shifting Power in Business a Good Thing?
Power is a complicated concept. While some of these strategies can be abused, power shifts are necessary to succeed in business.
You can't influence others or make an impact without harnessing some form of power. By combining a compelling, authentic mission with opportunities for building stronger organizational relations, a shift in power balance can be highly beneficial.
To ensure you’re prepared for the demands of power and influence, consider taking an online course, such as Power and Influence for Positive Impact, which provides the tools to gain power in your organization and effect positive change.
Want to learn more about how to shift your organization’s power balance? Explore Power and Influence for Positive Impact—one of our online business in society courses—and download our free guide on becoming a purpose-driven, global business professional.
