Your Five Main Points of Power

Simply stated, power is the ability to influence others. Most people consider power a negative word with connotations of control, manipulation or coercion. However, others know that power also has positive elements enabling them to have more freedom and independence.

As we work with employees in companies across the U.S. and abroad, we typically find that people underestimate the amount of their real-or potential-power.

Here are five main points of power:

1. Position Power comes from having a title or position giving you formal authority over people or money. You have position power when your business card has a title printed on it that indicates you have the power to manage people or resources.

Many people who don’t have position power assume that they are powerless. That simply is not the case. In almost every organization, people who don’t have position power have other types of power to compensate.

2. Task Power is associated with a task or particular job, such as that of the person who schedules the president’s calendar, or can repair or teach you how to use the computer, or approves expenses in accounting.

3. Personal Power comes from excellent communication skills, people skills, and leadership skills. This power emanates from strength of character, passion, inspiration and a personal vision of the future.

4. Relationship Power comes through friendship, personal understanding of a comrade, cultivation of a relationship, nepotism or reciprocity (i.e. someone “owes” you because of a favor you did him).

5. Knowledge Power comes from having valuable information or being deemed an expert on a certain topic, product or process. Knowledge power comes from experience, education, or having a specialized skill.

Assessing Your Points Of Power

Everyone has some degree of each of these forms of power, and typically the distribution is uneven. We find most employees have not stopped to think about which of these points of power they have. Fewer still have asked others for their perceptions. If they did, they would be surprised at how others view them and view their jobs, positions, personalities and abilities.

Take a few minutes and ask your coworkers what types of power they think you have. This will help you see where your perceived power bases are and how you can start to better use those points of power to your advantage.

You may find that you are taking some sources of power for granted and are oblivious to others that are available to you.

Building Your Points Of Power

To have the greatest power potential, develop a strategy to increase power in your weak power categories. For example, if you are low in personal power due to an inability to give effective presentations, take a class or ask someone to critique your presentations.

Here are some other ways you can strengthen a weak point of power by using your strong points of power:

You are high in task power but weak in relationship power. You need to present a recommendation to the head of your department. Your potential strategy: Ask a coworker who has the ear of the department head to give you feedback on how he or she thinks the department head will react.

You are high in knowledge power; you are an ace computer hacker. You have an awkward time meeting new people and developing relationships. Your potential strategy: Offer your services after work to teach people how to master a new software program and get to know them better in the process.

You have task power and are working on a very visible project. You have low position power that could make getting support difficult. Your potential strategy: Use your task power to solicit a sponsor or champion who will help promote your project-and your credibility-in the company.

You have personal power, but are weak in relationship power. Your potential strategy: Use your social skills to network, ask others for introductions, attend professional organizations, or schedule lunches to build relationships.

Putting Power To Use

As you develop new sources of power in your job and organization, start to use that power to help others, to get work done, and to benefit the organization. Use your power in a positive way to do more good for yourself and for those around you. As Baltasar Gracian has said, “The sole advantage of power is that you can do more good.”