Are you the leader that leads with power and/or authority? Leadership exudes power and authority to function, but the two ought to be balanced to produce the desired results. Power and authority are by no means the same. The use of these balancing acts defines the kind of leadership style, effectiveness and authenticity of the leader. Several research findings prove that many leaders misuse their power or authority when leading, and the effect is that it leaves their followers or those being managed quite mismanaged or poorly-treated.
Many leadership development topics discuss the careful balancing act that is often required for leaders. Leaders have power, but they also have responsibilities which must be managed. The leader’s authority is something that is designated by those higher up, and a personal quality based on influence and personal relationships.
The fundamental issue is that how leadership use power and authority has a great bearing on their success as leaders. These concepts of leadership, power and authority are often misconstrued to mean the same on one hand, and on the other hand it’s very difficult drawing the difference.
I believe that understanding differences between the two can help in understanding the roles and responsibilities of leaders, and how they ought to apply these for effective management and promotion of the organisation. The obvious question here is, how is the vested power and authority in leadership being managed and put to effective use? Let’s do the management of leadership power and authority.
How Power and Authority Differ
In a strict physical sense, power is a rate of transferring energy over a set period of time – like the electrical power you use to make your computer work. In terms of human relationships, it is an ability to force someone to do what you want, even if they don’t want to, because of your real or perceived might. Power can get things done, as any historical account of leadership shows; but it must be used judiciously and not abused.
Authority, on the other hand is more analogous to the electrical cables that get the power to your office. Those cables are authorised to bring power to your home for you to use as you see fit. In terms of leadership, authority is the glue that holds together the many promises of leadership. It has several key attributes of being decisive, accomplishment-oriented, being influential and offering inspiration. The question however is, how does power affect or influence the leadership function?
The Concept of Power in Leadership
The concepts of power and leadership are interconnected. While an individual may exert power without being a leader, an individual can’t be a leader without having power. It is obvious that when it comes to the distribution of leadership power and authority, there is always some level of tension. The critical point of how individuals and leaders can improve on how they use their authority and power is highly important to the organisation’s success.
The organisational trends lately, relative to power and leadership, suggest that while power isn’t typically misused by top leaders, it does tend to be concentrated on a few select individuals. However, flatter organisational structures and self-directed work teams are becoming more commonplace – which may increase the level of empowerment that employees experience in future years.
To consolidate the effective use of leadership power and authority means that organisations reward leaders who empower the people they lead, thereby encouraging overall employee empowerment. However, organisations can equally leverage fully the opportunities to teach leaders how to effectively use their power for the organisation’s greater good. This leaves the definition of appropriate and effective use of power largely up to individual leaders.
Sources of Leadership Power
When most people think about power, they immediately think about the control that high-level leaders exert from their positions atop the organisational hierarchy. But power extends far beyond the formal authority that comes from a title or from having a corner office with a view. Leaders at all levels have access to power, but that power often goes unrecognised or underutilised.
The power of position is the formal authority that is derived from a person’s title or position in a group or an organisation. The power of charisma is the influence that’s generated by a leader’s style or persona. The power of relationships is the influence that leaders gain through their formal and informal networks, both inside and outside their organisations. The power of information is the control that’s generated through the use of evidence deployed to make an argument. The power of expertise is the influence that comes from developing and communicating specialised knowledge or the perception of knowledge.
The power of punishment is the ability to sanction individuals for failure to comply with standards or expectations. The power to reward others is the ability to recognise or reward individuals for adhering to standards or expectations – and all these power sources can be abused if not managed well.
Leaders need both Power and Authority
As already intimated, leadership power is something simple, basic and good to have for enabling the leader to exercise his or her mandate. Arguably, power is often seen to be more effective in the shorter-term. Again, the exercise of power, not authority, is sometimes necessary and right. For instance, most of us would appropriately use our physical power to pull a child out of the path of an oncoming car, for example. There’s no question that sometimes the exercise of power is necessary, and as leaders the practice cannot be different.
Authority is also necessary for leadership. Authority speaks to decisiveness, accomplishment, establishing a track-record, the use of influence, courage and inspiration deployed by leaders other than force to accomplish great leadership tasks. Great leaders may have power, but they are more likely to hold it in reserve and rely on authority to lead. Nonetheless, outstanding leaders know that when circumstances necessitate the use of power, such leaders won’t hesitate to fire someone for misbehaviour or misconduct.
Excellent Leadership qualities reduce the need for use of sheer power
Whenever organisations want to hire a leader or key executive, they know what to look for: which normally has to be somebody with technical expertise, superior administrative skills, and a track-record of successfully managing people and resources. Strong leadership development programmes help leaders develop qualities that usually minimise their need to rely on sheer power to get things done. Rather, they help emerging leaders develop qualities that inspire others to do the right thing, work hard and engage with their task. Authority is ultimately a more efficient and effective manifestation of leadership than raw use of power is.
While the exercise of power is sometimes necessary, the leader who relies on power to get things done ultimately strains relationships and may drive good people away. Authority that is used in accordance with strong leadership qualities strengthens relationships and helps team-members develop the confidence to do work better. Legitimate leadership can be a wonderful thing, but unfortunately there will always be leaders who use their position to abuse power. And while they may make things happen in the short-term, they lose out over the long-term because of the bad relationships they built as a result of using sheer power.
Therefore, leadership development programmes can be used to teach leaders the qualities of meaningful authority more likely to turn out leaders who recognise the value of accomplishments, inspiration and effective leadership through the control of power and authority. Furthermore, leaders who recognise when power must be used and when it should be held in reserve are the ones that stand to accomplish most over the long-term.
How to Leverage Power and Authority in Leadership Effectively
All in all, research findings suggest that leaders can be more effective when they emphasise the power of relationships and power of information to develop their available bases of power. With this, it is necessary to note that leaders can learn these strategies for leveraging their power in leadership effectively:
Make relationships a priority
Your ability to use the power of relationships will be compromised if you’re not connecting with the right people. Therefore, the leader must identify the people with whom he or she needs to establish or develop a relationship and invest time and energy into this existing relationship. The leader should seek to understand others better, and acknowledge their need to build the social capital required to influence others now and in the future.
He or she must endeavour to repair damaged relationships and the image others may have of him or her. While the leader looks for ways to reestablish trust with others through face-to-face interaction and the sharing of honest feedback, there’s a need for him or her to be aware of how others perceive him or her is critically important, and he or she must look for ways to influence their perceptions by soliciting feedback from others he or she trusts.
Don’t overplay your personal agenda
While the power of relationships can be an effective method for promoting the leader’s own agenda, it also risks others perceiving him as self-serving rather than a ‘team player’. It’s important that leaders be aware of these negative perceptions to effectively leverage the power of relationships. By this, the leaders must ensure that advancing his own agenda is not perceived as a misuse of power.
Maximise your communication network
As a leader, you must think about the people you communicate with the most. Are they providing you with access to unique information or redundant information? Expand your own network to find people who may be untapped sources of information.
Be generous with information
If you are a leader who serves as a conduit of information, remember that keeping information to yourself can have negative consequences. Share information broadly and with integrity. You don’t want to be perceived as hoarding information for your personal gain. Of course, you also don’t want to make the opposite mistake and reveal confidential or personal information.
Make the most of your position
Research and experience suggest that authority doesn’t automatically accompany a formal leadership role. We can all think of peers who, despite their similarities in tenure and level, may have more or less power than we do. In other words, position doesn’t always mean power. You may want to find some subtle ways to communicate your formal authority: such as including your title in your email signature, communicating in meetings where you normally keep quiet, or modifying your style of dress so that you resemble people at the level above you. This is also a good example of effective self-promoting at work.
Develop your brand of leadership charisma
How would you feel as a leader if you were in an audience where your normally low-key boss ‘borrowed’ the style of an energetic motivational speaker? At best, you might be amused; at worst, you would see the boss as a pathetic impression of the real thing. Regardless of your level of charisma, the key thing is to make small changes in your leadership image while maintaining your authenticity. Maintain the characteristics that make you who you are, but try to identify some behaviors that might increase your ability to connect with others – such as making more eye-contact, smiling more often.
Be the expert
Perhaps the most interesting thing about power is that it’s generally in the eyes of the beholder. You can’t just have power de facto unless there are people willing to perceive you as having power. The same holds true for expert power. It comes from actual expertise such as an advanced degree or relevant experience, or the perception of expertise. Leaders are not expected to be shy about putting their credentials on their business cards, in email signatures, on social media, or talking about their experience and expertise.
Tailor your power to reward others
Many leaders mistakenly assume that leveraging reward-power only means giving people more money. While this option sounds attractive, it’s not always possible. Consider recognising and incentivising your team members in other ways.
Leaders may possibly ask their team members what they find rewarding. Some team members may find a group picnic or outing highly rewarding; others may find this tedious or tiring. Time off or flexible hours might work for some employees; others may not even take notice. Whatever the incentive, leaders must not make the mistake of assuming that one reward fits all.
Reward with words
Giving positive feedback often suggest that it helps the team live up to expectations. If they fail, too, it is expected of the leader to communicate and enforce standards; but be sure to provide support along the way. Also, the leader is expected to be explicit about consequences for behaviour or results that don’t meet expectations and follow through consistently.
Teach others
Lastly, leveraging the leader’s full power doesn’t mean hoarding it. If the leader wants to empower the people he or she leads, he or she needs to teach them how to use the power they also have available to them. The leader should think about the people he leads and establish those at top of the list they are doing better and are effective in the team. He equally should know what those at the bottom of the list be could doing and can do better.
The Exercise of Authority and Power in managing Teams and Organisations
What companies are really seeking are leaders with strong social skills who can manage any leadership portfolio. The need for leaders to have social skills is more critical now than before. The focus on use of social skills by leaders is especially evident and needed for teams’ survival or organisation building. Social skills are particularly important in settings where productivity hinges on effective communication.
This pattern is consistent with the view that in larger and more complex organisations, top managers are increasingly expected to coordinate disparate and specialised knowledge, match the organisation’s problems with people who can solve them, and effectively orchestrate internal communication. For great social skills tasks, leaders must be able to interact well with others without necessarily use cohesive force. The importance of social skills arises from more than just the complexity of leadership or organisational tasks. It reflects the web of critical relationships that leaders must cultivate and maintain with people in and out of the organisation to see it succeed.
When every major competitor in a market leverages the same suite of tools and leadership character, leaders need to distinguish themselves through superior management of their people. This requires them to be top-notch communicators in every regard, able both to devise the right messages and to deliver them with empathy.
In sum, as more tasks are now entrusted to technology, workers with superior social skills will be in demand at all levels and command a premium for leaders who know how to effectively evaluate the social skills and the effective use of their leadership power and authority wisely.
Frank is the CEO and Strategic Partner of AQUABEV Investment and Discovery Consulting Group. He is an Executive Director and the Lead Coach in Leadership Development and best Business Management practices for Discovery Leadership Masterclass.
Dr. Obuobi is the Lead Consultant on Cx. Leadership & SMEs, Country Chair, Ladies in Business.
