Leadership and Power
Power and Leadership
Power is a natural process in organisational life (Haugaard & Clegg, 2012; McClelland & Burnham, 2003).
- The concepts of power and leadership are closely linked.
- Getting things done requires power (Pfeffer, 1993).
- Leaders use power as a means of attaining group goals.
- By learning how power operates, you become a more effective leader.
- Power is the ability to influence someone else (Nelson & Quick, 2012).
Vision plus Power
All great leaders have a vision to achieve large-scale ideas. They all have the personal power to enact it (Gibson et al., 2012).
Examples: Steve Jobs (Apple), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Jeff Bezos (Amazon). All had strong visions and were able to transform their visions into reality because they had acquired and used the necessary power.
Great leaders make things happen by utilising personal power (Pfeffer, 2011).
Power and leadership are often discussed separately, but they are closely linked. Vision without power is a dream. A leader without power can describe where she wants the school to go, but she cannot move it there. Understanding what power is, where it comes from, and how to use it well is central to effective school leadership.
Why power matters in leadership
The connection is direct. Power and leadership are closely linked. Getting things done requires power, and leaders use power as a means of attaining group goals.
A common misconception treats power as something a leader either has or does not have based on her position. The reality is more nuanced. Power is the ability to influence others. It comes from many sources and can be developed, lost, and shared.
A school principal who has the title but lacks influence has the position without the power. A senior teacher with no formal authority but deep influence over the staffroom has power without the position. Both situations are common.
The working definition
Power is the ability to influence someone else.
The definition is broad on purpose. Power is not just authority. It is not just coercion. It is the broader capacity to affect another’s behaviour, choices, or beliefs.
A teacher who can change her students’ attitude towards learning has power, even though she has no positional authority over them in any formal sense. A parent who can sway other parents has power. A senior teacher whose advice the principal listens to has power.
Why power is a natural process
Research supports the point: power is a natural process in organisational life (Haugaard & Clegg, 2012; McClelland & Burnham, 2003).
Power is not optional. In any organisation where humans interact, power dynamics exist. The question is not whether power is at work, but who has it, how it is used, and whether it serves the organisation’s goals or undermines them.
A school head who pretends power dynamics do not exist in her school is operating blindly. The dynamics continue regardless of whether she acknowledges them. A school head who reads the dynamics accurately can work with them.
Power without leadership
Pfeffer (1993) argued that getting things done requires power.
Jeffrey Pfeffer, a Stanford management scholar, has spent decades arguing that managers under-invest in power. They assume that good ideas and clear arguments will win on their own. They will not, often. A good idea without political support, allies, and the capacity to influence does not become policy.
For a school head, this is uncomfortable but useful. A principal who has the right ideas about her school but lacks the power to implement them will not implement them. Power is not a corruption of leadership; it is part of what makes leadership effective.
Vision and power together
Great leaders all have a vision for large-scale ideas, and they all have the personal power to enact it (Gibson et al., 2012). Steve Jobs at Apple, Bill Gates at Microsoft, Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, Jeff Bezos at Amazon: each had a strong vision of the future, and each acquired and used the power to turn it into reality.
The pattern is clear in the business examples and in school leadership too. The principals who have actually transformed their schools have done two things: held a vision, and acquired the power to make the vision real.
A vision without power is a frustrated leader. Power without vision is a manipulative one. The combination is what produces real change.
Pfeffer’s broader point
Pfeffer (2011) summarised the broader pattern: great leaders make things happen by using personal power.
The phrase “personal power” is important. Power has both positional sources (authority that comes with the role) and personal sources (influence that comes from the person).
Pfeffer’s research finds that the most effective leaders rely more on personal power than positional power. They use the authority that comes with their role, but they also build up expert power and referent power that come from who they are and what they do.
A new school principal has positional power from day one. She has the title, the office, the formal authority. She does not yet have personal power. That has to be built through expertise, integrity, and relationships over time.
Three implications for a school head
- Recognise power as legitimate. Power is not something to be ashamed of. Used well, it is how leaders serve their organisations.
- Build personal power, not just positional power. Position is given; personal power is earned.
- Read the power dynamics in your school. Know who has influence, formal and informal. The map of influence is often more useful than the map of positions.
The ability to influence someone else.
Power is broader than authority. It comes from many sources and is a natural process in any organisation.
Vision without power is a dream.
Leaders use power to turn vision into reality. Personal power (expert and referent) matters more than positional power; the most effective leaders rely on both.
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