Power Hoarding

Power is addictive. Power is attractive. Power can corrupt. Power can destroy. Power can restore. Power is complex. Power, as it relates to white supremacy characteristics, is closely related to fear of open conflict and the right to comfort. John R. P. French and Bertram Raven in 1959, developed concepts of five different types of social power. Raven later added a sixth concept to the list. Those types of power are as followed:

1. Legitimate — The ability to exert influence through requests or demands deemed appropriate by virtue of their role and position. This can also lead to an expectation of others to be compliant and obedient.
2. Expert — The ability to control others through the power of skills and knowledge. This can be based on a person's high level of skills and knowledge.
3. Referent — The ability to influence others due to loyalty, respect, and admiration towards a person. This is a result of a person’s perceived attractiveness, worthiness, and respect from others.
4. Coercive — The ability to control others through the fear of punishment or the loss of valued outcomes. This comes from the belief that a person can punish others for noncompliance.
5. Reward — The ability to influence others due to one’s control over desired resources. This results from one person’s ability to compensate another for compliance.
6. Informational — The ability to alter behavior and outcomes by controlling the flow of information. This results from a person’s ability to control the information that others need to accomplish something.

As I set out to understand my relationship with power hoarding, I want to keep these six types of power in mind. It’s easy to say that I lack legitimate power therefore, I am always on the negative end of power hoarding. However, that is not realistic. At different moments I have different forms of power and I can wield that in negative ways despite my intentions to use power for good.

Power hoarding shows up as:

• little, if any, value around sharing power
• power seen as limited, only so much to go around
• those with power feel threatened when anyone suggests changes in how things should be done in the organization, often feeling suggestions for change are a reflection on their leadership
• those with power don’t see themselves as hoarding power or as feeling threatened
• those with power assume they have the best interests of the organization at
  heart and assume those wanting change are ill-informed (stupid), emotional, inexperienced; blaming the messenger rather than focusing on the message
• clinging and other emotional constriction that clouds our field of vision and catapults us back into our small self with its insatiable sense of anxiety and threat

Antidotes to power hoarding include:

• include power-sharing as an explicit organizational or community value
• discuss and define what good leadership looks like and include how a good leader develops the power and skills of others
• if you are a leader and/or hold power, understand that change is inevitable and challenges to your leadership are often healthy and productive; adopt the “tell me more” approach to challenges
• if you are a leader and/or hold power, avoid taking challenges personally and return to the principle of collective thinking and action; ask for help with your leadership, particularly when feeling highly defensive
• if you are a leader and/or hold power, realize your ability and responsibility to support others to hold power well and responsibly, to support others to be successful and to shine, to mentor and support others; realize your ability to support and help others grow reflects well on you (as opposed to attitudes and behaviors that stem from fear, desire to control and/or micro-manage)
• allow yourself to feel the joy in helping others grow, thrive, succeed, and even exceed you
• make sure the organization is focused on the vision, mission, and values rather than staying “in business” for the sake of staying in business
• lean into the racial equity principle of “know yourself” and develop strategies for making friends with your ego so that you are leading and/or acting from a place of integrity rather than fear or anxiety about your importance

Self-reflection activities

a. What does this look like when you act with power hoarding?

More often than not informational power is the type of power that I can hoard. I will obtain information and not even think about whether or not I should share the information with others. At times I may think that I am actually helping someone grow withholding information and letting them “learn a lesson” without the information. This can also come from legitimate power as I am a supervisor and this may happen with someone I supervise.

b. What feelings do you have when you act with power hoarding?

From the informational standpoint, I can feel like I worked hard to get the information I have and others should work just as hard and not “mooch” off of me. When it comes to legitimate power, I feel like I’m being benevolent and such a good supervisor to help those I lead to learn the “hard way” and become self-sufficient. In reality, I’m just feeling superior and blind to my arrogance.

c. What programs, rules, and/or practices does the community around you (work/neighborhood/organization) that reinforces or encourages power hoarding?

It’s hard for me to not think about the nature of politics in the US right now when I think about power hoarding. Whether we are talking about redistricting maps, voting rights, or the overwhelming amount of money in politics that does not seem to have a positive impact on the majority of Americans. These examples of power hoarding are replicated at school board meetings, within state government, and even something like youth sports.

d. What actions can you take to go from power hoarding to power-sharing?

I am fortunate to be in a supervisor role at work as well as a leader in the union and those both give me opportunities to address power-sharing. At work, I get an opportunity to work with fellow supervisors and push our assumptions and practices. With the union, I am co-chair of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Taskforce and will get to influence the process of a pay equity study and reviews of internal and external policies and practices.

e. What benefits do you think you would get from applying more of the replacement characteristics?

Justice is the keyword for me when I think about power-sharing. When you have more diverse people that are able to participate in the decision-making process will be able to ensure that diverse perspectives are shared and the potential for unintended consequences is lower.

Action Plan Statement
From now on when I feel the urge to act with power hoarding, I will leverage my supervisor role at work and my union role because it provides me with an opportunity to seek justice and power-sharing for a diverse set of people. I will also support my community power hoarding by addressing the nature and influence of politics. When I do act with power hoarding, I will give myself some grace, acknowledge the impact I had on others, and engage in repair work.