How to Talk About Power at Work
- Richard Bartlett
- Apr 7, 2021
- 1 min read
One of the crucial questions a self-managing team must address is: how do we distribute power?
Everyone in a team will have different experiences of power: people have more or less confidence, reputation, status, and sense of empowerment. Generally the teams we work with are trying to create more equality, but we've never met a group where everyone had the same level of influence.
Before we can devise creative strategies for shifting the power dynamics, first we need to be able to talk about it! Talking about power can be difficult, it can bring up a lot of emotion, tension and grievances. In many groups, there is a taboo that prevents us talking about power. So it takes a lot of preparation and care to create a safe and productive container for a group to talk about their power dynamics.
If you're ready to break the taboo, we're happy to share with you this facilitator's step-by-step guide for opening the conversation about power. We hope it will give you the confidence to open this crucial conversation.
It's not an easy conversation to have, but once the taboo is broken, then you can get on to the creative work of shifting how power operates in your team.
If you'd like to experience some of these concepts directly, join us on April 29th for a short workshop exploring Psychological Safety through the lens of Power & Privilege.
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I really appreciated the point about how even teams aiming for equality still have uneven influence—that’s so true in my experience. Creating that safe container to actually name the dynamics sounds like the hardest but most necessary step. By the way, I keep a free Zakat calculator I like to share: https://zakatestimator.com/
Talking about power dynamics at work is always so heavy and taboo. Honestly, I was just slacking off at my desk trying to play some quick puzzles on minigame to escape my own boss, and somehow stumbled upon this post. But it’s actually incredibly insightful! Shifting power instead of just ignoring it is so necessary.
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Addressing power dynamics in teams is crucial for fostering equality and collaboration. It’s essential to create open dialogues about these experiences to empower everyone involved. Also, check out this Gothic 1 Remake for a unique perspective on teamwork!