Power

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Miki Kashtan on the three shifts needed for self-managing organisations to thrive

...nd she's perhaps best known for her work as a teacher and practitioner of Nonviolent Communication. She writes about and speaks about big topics like power, patriarchy, the gift economy. And more recently, I think she's becoming really influential as someone contributing to the discussion around what it ...more
...s humans and the systems that we're operating in, in order to collaborate in a self managing way. So it's a really deep conversation about navigating power, about mindset shifts, new levels of dialogue and self awareness. It's kind of impossible to do it justice in a summary, really. But Miki talks with ...more
...Lisa Gill: Something else that's connected to this, I guess, is this whole topic of power, and patriarchy, which I know is something that you've written about and explored at length as well. And, again, I think in self managing systems, th...more
...k in self managing systems, this is another total paradigm shift. And it's more complex I'm learning than just "let's change this manager-subordinate power dynamic." There's so many other power dynamics and relationships to power that are sort of invisible, I think, to many of us. So I know that you've w...more
...other total paradigm shift. And it's more complex I'm learning than just "let's change this manager-subordinate power dynamic." There's so many other power dynamics and relationships to power that are sort of invisible, I think, to many of us. So I know that you've written about, for example, these usefu...more
... more complex I'm learning than just "let's change this manager-subordinate power dynamic." There's so many other power dynamics and relationships to power that are sort of invisible, I think, to many of us. So I know that you've written about, for example, these useful terms of power over and power with...more
...nd relationships to power that are sort of invisible, I think, to many of us. So I know that you've written about, for example, these useful terms of power over and power with. And that's quite a helpful distinction, I think for this topic. Miki Kashtan: Yeah, first of all, I want to give credit to the w...more
...s to power that are sort of invisible, I think, to many of us. So I know that you've written about, for example, these useful terms of power over and power with. And that's quite a helpful distinction, I think for this topic. Miki Kashtan: Yeah, first of all, I want to give credit to the woman who invent...more
...up disappearing. So I'm trying to give her credit. She did this 100 years ago, she was talking about these things well before anyone else was. And so power over essentially, is about me, deciding what is going to happen without involving other people in the decision. It doesn't necessarily mean I don't c...more
...at what I'm doing is for your benefit, that for as long as you are not directly or indirectly participating in deciding things that impact you, it is power over in the sense that it is done to you. And I don't necessarily think that it is hermetically always in all conditions bad. You know, for example, ...more
...clare it necessary on the basis of fear that collaboration is just not workable, rather than on the basis of specific circumstances and criteria. And power with is essentially about honouring the autonomy and freedom of other people. It's not just caring about your needs, in general, it's about specifica...more
...end up having decisions that are less robust, less wise, that fall apart, but you then have to rethink. So that's this distinction that I see between power over and power with. And to make the shift, the shift has to happen in three different places. One is, in the person who holds the structural power, ...more
...ecisions that are less robust, less wise, that fall apart, but you then have to rethink. So that's this distinction that I see between power over and power with. And to make the shift, the shift has to happen in three different places. One is, in the person who holds the structural power, the person who ...more
...n power over and power with. And to make the shift, the shift has to happen in three different places. One is, in the person who holds the structural power, the person who has the possibility of using their power over others. We all have the habit of power over but we don't necessarily have the capacity ...more
...hift has to happen in three different places. One is, in the person who holds the structural power, the person who has the possibility of using their power over others. We all have the habit of power over but we don't necessarily have the capacity to do it if we don't have structural power. So I once wor...more
.... One is, in the person who holds the structural power, the person who has the possibility of using their power over others. We all have the habit of power over but we don't necessarily have the capacity to do it if we don't have structural power. So I once worked with a group of union activists and ther...more
...of using their power over others. We all have the habit of power over but we don't necessarily have the capacity to do it if we don't have structural power. So I once worked with a group of union activists and there was a very profound moment when they became willing to admit that if they had power, they...more
...tural power. So I once worked with a group of union activists and there was a very profound moment when they became willing to admit that if they had power, they would treat management as poorly as management was treating them. So the impulse to power over has been instilled in us, but the capacity is gi...more
...nt when they became willing to admit that if they had power, they would treat management as poorly as management was treating them. So the impulse to power over has been instilled in us, but the capacity is given to us by having structural power. So a person who has structural power needs to transform th...more
...s poorly as management was treating them. So the impulse to power over has been instilled in us, but the capacity is given to us by having structural power. So a person who has structural power needs to transform their habits in order to exercise power with, because otherwise, you will be caught in this ...more
...em. So the impulse to power over has been instilled in us, but the capacity is given to us by having structural power. So a person who has structural power needs to transform their habits in order to exercise power with, because otherwise, you will be caught in this very odd, painful contradiction of whe...more
...but the capacity is given to us by having structural power. So a person who has structural power needs to transform their habits in order to exercise power with, because otherwise, you will be caught in this very odd, painful contradiction of where you want collaboration, and you want things to go your w...more
...on what you want, but that through mutual influencing, something will change. That's the internal change on the part of the person who has structural power. The internal change on the part of the person who doesn't have structural power, is to overcome fear and habit of deference. And there is a risk be...more
...'s the internal change on the part of the person who has structural power. The internal change on the part of the person who doesn't have structural power, is to overcome fear and habit of deference. And there is a risk because if the person with power hasn't made the shift, standing up for what you kno...more
... the part of the person who doesn't have structural power, is to overcome fear and habit of deference. And there is a risk because if the person with power hasn't made the shift, standing up for what you know is true does carry risks. So ultimately, on an individual basis, changing it from below is the h...more
...anging it from below is the highest skill level necessary – to be able to collaborate with someone who isn't in a collaborative mindset, and also has power in relation to you. That is the biggest deal, that is where nonviolence really gets tested. So they're internal changes. There are also changes in th...more
... know, it's sort of free for all. And I think there are some parallels, I could see when I was reading about some of your writing around the myths of power with as well. What are some of these myths and misconceptions in your experience? And how can we address them and look about look at them in a more m...more
... at them in a more mindful way? Miki Kashtan: Yeah. So one of them I already addressed, which is the idea that unilateral decision making or or using power in this kind of way is fundamentally bad, which blocks things from being able to happen in the circumstances that we already talked about. Another on...more
... work out, especially if the sum total of how people want to use the resources that are within the organisation – which is not just money, it's human power, it's machinery, it's everything that is there – if the sum total of how people want to use it exceeds the sum total of the resources that exist, whi...more
...vial task. It's not something you can leave to chance, because if you leave it to chance, information will be clogged, because anyone with structural power will fall back on doing the information on an as needed basis, because of not trusting that people won't take advantage of information that they have...more
...ople won't take advantage of information that they have or in any event, they're not smart enough to be able to use it. And the people who don't have power will keep information to themselves, especially information that is challenging or complicated, because they will be afraid of the messenger being ki...more
...ough knowing what impact we have on others. So those are the five systems. And those systems can be set up, to be collaborative, to be supportive of 'power with', to be supportive of collaborative decision making, to be supportive of empowerment, to be supportive of support for everyone, to be supportive...more
... collaborative decision making, to be supportive of empowerment, to be supportive of support for everyone, to be supportive of attending to issues of power and privilege that come into the organisation from the outside, and are within the organisation, all of that. Or they can completely replicate the ex...more
...ication. We've talked a bit about structures and systems. You mentioned those three shifts that need to happen; within the people who have structural power, the people who don't, and then the system itself. In terms of those first two, in a quote unquote traditional organisation, it might be the managers...more
...ou have the entire universe of the problem. And you can do that when, if you are trying to work out something, and let's say you are in a position of power, and it would be easy to kind of like impose your will. Instead, really inquire as to what's important to everyone, and then you can start making pro...more
...n, then I'm willing to stretch more than if I just know what they want. And that's just how it is. So there's also a way in which if I want to be in 'power with', I need to find a way to let everyone know that they matter. Because that is what will support all of us in moving from digging our heels in ou...more
...ng to check for what's important to you, it's not going to be immediately focused on the solution. "Are you okay to go this way? Especially if I have power? The person will say yes, but if I say, what do you see as the obstacles to implementing this, the person will give me the information. And I'm just ...more

Alanna Irving on leadership, decisions and money in bossless organisations

... helped me to think it through. It basically just talks about the different levels at which leadership grows. The pre-requisite level is about shared power. If you're in an environment where you can't talk honestly about power dynamics and that's not an ongoing genuine curiosity that people are open abou...more
...rent levels at which leadership grows. The pre-requisite level is about shared power. If you're in an environment where you can't talk honestly about power dynamics and that's not an ongoing genuine curiosity that people are open about - if there isn't genuinely a desire for shared power - I think it's l...more
...k honestly about power dynamics and that's not an ongoing genuine curiosity that people are open about - if there isn't genuinely a desire for shared power - I think it's like pretty much a non starter. There's no point in trying to grow distributed leadership unless you have some of those prerequisites....more
...ools there are teaching about hierarchy - it's going to take a lot of unwinding and unpicking. There's something complex about our relationship with power dynamics, our relationship with taking responsibility for ourselves, our relationships with taking responsibility for each other in a conceptual, hea...more
...Lisa Gill: Yes. You've mentioned power dynamics and, and coercive power a few times. And I know through your experiences at Enspiral and beyond - and in the work that you're doing currentl...more
...Lisa Gill: Yes. You've mentioned power dynamics and, and coercive power a few times. And I know through your experiences at Enspiral and beyond - and in the work that you're doing currently - that's something that you loo...more
...our experiences at Enspiral and beyond - and in the work that you're doing currently - that's something that you look at. What have you learned about power and the nature of power and how we can start to become more aware of it and question it and call it out? Alanna Irving: I think power is some sort of...more
...ral and beyond - and in the work that you're doing currently - that's something that you look at. What have you learned about power and the nature of power and how we can start to become more aware of it and question it and call it out? Alanna Irving: I think power is some sort of law of nature. It's lik...more
...u learned about power and the nature of power and how we can start to become more aware of it and question it and call it out? Alanna Irving: I think power is some sort of law of nature. It's like, water - something that exists and has certain properties that you can observe. And sometimes you can channe...more
...ou can observe. And sometimes you can channel it and it tends to pool in certain areas, or it reacts in different ways to different environments. But power is not something that we can ever get rid of. Every human group inherently has power dynamics. So I think the question we then have to ask is how ar...more
...s, or it reacts in different ways to different environments. But power is not something that we can ever get rid of. Every human group inherently has power dynamics. So I think the question we then have to ask is how are we going to relate to that? What does that mean to us? What are we going to do with...more
...cs. So I think the question we then have to ask is how are we going to relate to that? What does that mean to us? What are we going to do with those power dynamics? How are we going increase our skills for observing them, understanding them and talking about them - and figuring out if they're working fo...more
...g for us the way we want them to, and how we might go about changing them or improving them. There is sometimes a knee-jerk reaction - a rejection of power itself. But I think that's a little bit self defeating, because it's inescapable. In fact, if we try to escape it or avoid it - or don't want to look...more
...it self defeating, because it's inescapable. In fact, if we try to escape it or avoid it - or don't want to look at it or talk about it - that's when power can get extremely dangerous and quite dark in ways that we don't always intend. That's when you can get these unspoken rules, hidden hierarchies and ...more
...et extremely dangerous and quite dark in ways that we don't always intend. That's when you can get these unspoken rules, hidden hierarchies and weird power dynamics. I think everybody's probably had that experience and it just feels really uncomfortable. And you're not sure what's going on, or you know t...more
...hat experience and it just feels really uncomfortable. And you're not sure what's going on, or you know that somehow you don't have access to certain power, and you can't talk about it because it's not explicit. So I just think it's a constant process of surfacing - 'what's going on with our power dynami...more
...ertain power, and you can't talk about it because it's not explicit. So I just think it's a constant process of surfacing - 'what's going on with our power dynamics?' or 'is it working for us?', is almost the best you can do. And from there you can build certain processes and try to make certain things e...more
...tion and self awareness and other awareness, and just being in relationship and constantly reflecting is the only way I have found to really approach power that feels genuine....more
...ost charismatic communicator every time who makes the decision? Or are we defaulting to unanimity? When actually what we should be doing is devolving power so that certain people are able to run ahead without everybody agreeing? I think that's a useful skill and vocabulary to develop....more
...ke, 'Can this company just give money to this other company?' And they said 'Oh, no, generosity is not in the text'. So out of that I really felt the power of money. I think a lot of people feel like money is very powerful. But it's kind of like 'money's out there and it's having power over me' sort of f...more
... I really felt the power of money. I think a lot of people feel like money is very powerful. But it's kind of like 'money's out there and it's having power over me' sort of feeling. I tasted an inverting of that - like, 'Oh, money, we can control how we want to use it, we get to say what the dynamics of...more
...bout how they might approach money in that sense? How can you open the kimono?What are your thoughts? Alanna Irving: Money has a lot of psychological power for many people in positive and negative ways. Talking about money is somehow this massive shortcut to talking about all of these very deep, importan...more

Gary Hamel on busting bureaucracy for good

... on that problem. I think the hardest one though is that any alternative to bureaucracy requires a pretty radical redefinition and redistribution of power. And if you spend your entire life playing this massive multiplayer game we call bureaucracy and learning how to accumulate and use bureaucratic powe...more
...ower. And if you spend your entire life playing this massive multiplayer game we call bureaucracy and learning how to accumulate and use bureaucratic power, and then one day someone says to you, well, now we're going to change the game. Well, that's like saying to LeBron James - a basketball player - tha...more
...as an organisation- that you need a personal migration path to think through. Well, what does it mean to succeed as a leader in an organisation where power now is almost entirely divorced from position? Those three things - once the motivation is there (which I think in many cases it is), a lack of a mod...more
...ality, and the hardest thing for them was not understanding statistical process control or pareto analysis. And the hardest thing was they had pushed power from supervisors down into front level employees, given these people the ability to stop, production lines and to become problem solvers. That was a...more
...t level employees, given these people the ability to stop, production lines and to become problem solvers. That was an enormous step - to yield your power. In a way, the job description of every manager is to control - that's the synonym, to manage means to control. And your value is demonstrated by mor...more
...better way - there's no two or three EVPs SVPs, or somebody else who can say like, we're not going to do that. And so you're really consolidating the power of people who in most organisations have very little power, but when you put them together, they have enough. I love that idea of not starting or ins...more
... else who can say like, we're not going to do that. And so you're really consolidating the power of people who in most organisations have very little power, but when you put them together, they have enough. I love that idea of not starting or installing practices first, but looking at principles and expl...more
...ations. Because the only way you can be sure you're having a conversation about leadership is to start with an assumption that you have no positional power. You have no authority, you have no title, you have no resources, and you have no power to sanction. And if you start with that, then you can ask - a...more
...ip is to start with an assumption that you have no positional power. You have no authority, you have no title, you have no resources, and you have no power to sanction. And if you start with that, then you can ask - alright, what can you get done? Because now we're talking about your capacity to lead, to...more
...bring a coalition together, to vision cast or whatever you need to do to move a group of people from A to B. But as long as you confuse bureaucratic power with leadership, it's very difficult to know, are we having a conversation about your capability as a leader or your ability to wield the big stick o...more
...p, it's very difficult to know, are we having a conversation about your capability as a leader or your ability to wield the big stick of bureaucratic power? As anybody can tell you who's been in organisations at all, there are a lot of people in leadership positions who are really not leaders. And they w...more
...e only way you really know whether there's a leader in this job is whether people get to tell you that or not. Otherwise, you'll have people who have power, but really have never developed the skills of leading. So I think we're going to have to rethink our leadership curriculum. It's just ironic to me ...more
...arning to do from an employee perspective, because we've been so trained to be sort of passive and compliant. Gary Hamel: Everybody says I want more power. But I'm not sure that's always the case - because with power comes accountability. So I think of - for example - this Chinese company, Haier - where...more
...so trained to be sort of passive and compliant. Gary Hamel: Everybody says I want more power. But I'm not sure that's always the case - because with power comes accountability. So I think of - for example - this Chinese company, Haier - where they take an organisation of 70,000 people, and they divided ...more
...lity is that under the right conditions, I think it is true for most people. Because most of us in our private lives are not willing to give a lot of power to somebody else. We don't let somebody else choose what clothes we wear, or what cars we drive, or what movies we see. And couples and partners will...more
...y, all of this is important. Otherwise, you may say you're free and people are going to say, I'm not so sure. You meet people who are willing to give power away. And you also need people who are willing to pick up that power. Now, there's a very interesting experiment that's been going on over the last c...more
...eople are going to say, I'm not so sure. You meet people who are willing to give power away. And you also need people who are willing to pick up that power. Now, there's a very interesting experiment that's been going on over the last couple of years at Michelin - you know, the 100 year old industrial co...more
...ple who might have 10 to 20 people working for them - and he said, 'would you be willing to do a year long experiment where you're going to give your power away?' And he found 39 individuals who said, 'yeah, let's try that'. And purposely, they didn't start out with some very detailed model. It wasn't a...more
...hat's now spread. They're doing it at a much larger level. But it started with learning on both sides - the individuals saying yeah, we can take this power. And if we sometimes screw it up, that's fine - we're going to learn our ways with this. And same with the leaders themselves. So, in any organisatio...more

Peter Koenig on source, money and consciousness

...e person come back with an initiative, where the people aren't in some sort of situation claiming to be co-founders but are not really fully in their power, I would say, the general response I get from people who would like to believe it, and would like to bring some kind of evidence. But I'm still waiti...more
...stical and it's actually not bad at all but it's not the end of the journey, of course. Because with the red Ferrari or the Porsche and running after power, looks a bit like red, but it's not red anymore. But you like the nice things in life, etc., that comes to a limit at some point also. And then we tu...more
...t and we don't quite know how to create a culture of accountability that doesn't look like the things that we're trying to reject, we don't know what power or authority or leadership looks like, if not the things that we're trying to move away from. And so, there's a lot of people feeling stuck and confi...more
...ottom-up' transformation, (if I can say that way, which is also a little bit outdated). But in a sense, the people who have had traditional roles of power, like managers, yes, there's some inner work for them to do in terms of being open to other perspectives and taking responsibility for their power. B...more
...of power, like managers, yes, there's some inner work for them to do in terms of being open to other perspectives and taking responsibility for their power. But there's also a huge piece of work for people who haven't traditionally had power to do in terms of learning and practicing to make decisions, to...more
... open to other perspectives and taking responsibility for their power. But there's also a huge piece of work for people who haven't traditionally had power to do in terms of learning and practicing to make decisions, to ask for when I need, to challenge things, to question things, to create proposals, to...more
...directions happen can you have a truly self-managing organisation or a truly teal organisation. That shift needs to happen in both of those different power dynamics, I think. Yes, again, totally agree with you....more
...ls, there must be somebody holding this energy, holding this field now. And who is it? And then who, who are the people? What is the line in terms of power or authority and responsibility in this particular body? And who are the people there? And very often, these people are not necessarily in these mana...more
...el is extremely dangerous for the people that are working in it because it tends to lead to a compromise where everybody is compromising on their own power and authority and responsibility for the sake of what we would like to believe could be shared, but I have lots of evidence to show now that you can'...more
...of evidence to show now that you can't really share these aspects. But it's dangerous because people tend to as I say, lose themselves and lose their power to what I would now call, 'a phantom', which is in their own minds, and in a sort of collective mind but has no basis on the ground in reality. So I ...more
...fterwards, I'm the first one to say, "Well, okay, I'll ditch my story, we'll go with a better one." So as I say, if shared responsibility in terms of power, authority and responsibility, if somebody comes with the evidence, this is working, and their story is working better than the source work, I'll be...more
... create elsewhere. So the decision making; you're 100% responsible for what you have sourced so on the other side, you have this 100% decision making power. It's the other side of the same coin. Now, coming to sociocracy and so-called 'joint decision making', I have a different context of what's happeni...more
...on't gush through anybody else, because they're related to you having created this particular thing. So that's why I say you can't then delegate this power or share this power with somebody else, because then nobody else is getting the information and the information to actually be able to take a decisio...more
...ybody else, because they're related to you having created this particular thing. So that's why I say you can't then delegate this power or share this power with somebody else, because then nobody else is getting the information and the information to actually be able to take a decision. And I have so muc...more

Bernadette Wesley on bridging inner and outer transformation

...amount to me. So that's where I spend a lot of time as well - focusing on that, so that I can co-create the world that I want to see. That's where my power lies. When we talk about power with structures like sociocracy, they really will only work to the extent that someone can feel power within themselv...more
...spend a lot of time as well - focusing on that, so that I can co-create the world that I want to see. That's where my power lies. When we talk about power with structures like sociocracy, they really will only work to the extent that someone can feel power within themselves and the world that they're cr...more
...That's where my power lies. When we talk about power with structures like sociocracy, they really will only work to the extent that someone can feel power within themselves and the world that they're creating. If they even do have that understanding that they have influence over the world that they're c...more
...Lisa Gill: There is so much that I want to unpack in what you've just said. But I'm going to go with what's current, which is this nature of power. Many people don't like the word empower or empowerment, because it seems to imply that someone can choose to give it and they can choose to take it ...more
... of course. But I remember when I saw you speaking at the sociocracy conference that was one of the things I wrote down when you said you cannot have power with without power within. I wonder if you could unpack that for us a little bit more because I find that this relationship to power and self and oth...more
...emember when I saw you speaking at the sociocracy conference that was one of the things I wrote down when you said you cannot have power with without power within. I wonder if you could unpack that for us a little bit more because I find that this relationship to power and self and others is so, so trick...more
... you cannot have power with without power within. I wonder if you could unpack that for us a little bit more because I find that this relationship to power and self and others is so, so tricky, and deep and challenging, and I feel like it is a real learning edge for me. Bernadette Wesley: That is a big q...more
...g? How is that still holding me back from really taking a stand for what is mine to steward and connecting it with purpose? That, for me is where our power lies. It's the two steps of clearing the things that are blocking us and holding us back in really effective ways. Not just affirmations, or trying ...more
...pigenetics, saying that the internal and external environment can determine what genes turn on and off. In The Biology of Belief, he talks about this power of thought and how that influences what we're creating. And what is the cost? He says that 95% of our actions and behaviors are dictated by the subc...more
...s drop in, let's drop into the heart'. And what would happen then. If nothing else to create that field of safety in my own body, bring me back to my power so that where I have choice to be in my power, I prefer that. I want to create a world in which that's real. And that's happening more and more. So I...more
...t would happen then. If nothing else to create that field of safety in my own body, bring me back to my power so that where I have choice to be in my power, I prefer that. I want to create a world in which that's real. And that's happening more and more. So I want to use this for myself as much as possib...more
... with those parts and help them find a new job. This is part of the shift that I'm seeing and part of the work to be done, and that comes back to our power. When we understand our own internal system, our own internal complexity, I call it VUCA squared. We are a VUCA system - ourselves as a human being ...more
...le in this new world that I want to live in. Well, then my self with a capital S can be in charge of the whole system, and then I'm in my co-creative power. And that's where I want to be. ...more

Bill Fischer and Simone Cicero on Haier and the entrepreneurial organisation

...ant thing for him. It’s really about knowing about the work of others, and engaging with ideas. He’s not there to make more money or to exercise more power. When you’re there it feels like you should be there reading books, instead of managing a company. So, I think this kind of cultural approach, it’s ...more
... organisation. But at the same time, it’s really about this idea that we are all in the same space, we can engage with ideas, we can have the special power to discover this all together, and I think this is really remarkable. ...more
...s. **And so, you know, I think in a sense, Zhang Ruimin really plays that role very well, because he is self-confident. And he certainly has a lot of power within the organisation. I think he’s used that power to, as Simone says, build an organisational architecture and style, that really expects people...more
... really plays that role very well, because he is self-confident. And he certainly has a lot of power within the organisation. I think he’s used that power to, as Simone says, build an organisational architecture and style, that really expects people to step into the entrepreneurial void at the frontline...more
.... And, and also like people like Jan Carlzon from Scandinavian Airlines back in the 80s and 90s, saying, “The people closest to the customer need the power to make decisions” and so on. And it never really took off. And so, perhaps, it will be an example like Haier — this kind of Chinese, incredible sort...more
...h that trouble. But I think that the other thing that has happened at Haier is that Haier has not only changed the organisational structure, and the power within the organisation, but they’ve also changed the distribution of wealth. So at Haier the way that value is distributed makes it economically wor...more
...I had on the podcast, and she talked about that as well as structural shifts, there -needs to be two shifts within. And one is in the people who have power — or have previously had power — in this case managers. And the other is in people who don’t have power — or historically haven’t had power — you kno...more
...alked about that as well as structural shifts, there -needs to be two shifts within. And one is in the people who have power — or have previously had power — in this case managers. And the other is in people who don’t have power — or historically haven’t had power — you know, employees. So like you said...more
...fts within. And one is in the people who have power — or have previously had power — in this case managers. And the other is in people who don’t have power — or historically haven’t had power — you know, employees. So like you said in that in that example, if employees — which is an outdated word even i...more
... who have power — or have previously had power — in this case managers. And the other is in people who don’t have power — or historically haven’t had power — you know, employees. So like you said in that in that example, if employees — which is an outdated word even in itself — but you can give permissi...more

Michael Y. Lee on lessons from researching self-managing organisations

... authority'. So there's many different ways that organisations can decentralise authority and incremental ways to give individuals and employees more power, more authority to go about and do their work. So just as some examples: organisations could give employees a vote in various types of organisational...more
...erarchical, superior, subordinate relationship that exists in your traditional hierarchical structures. So fundamentally, it's about eliminating that power, or power-relationship, such that all individuals, all employees have some well-defined basis and source of authority and source of power in the orga...more
..., superior, subordinate relationship that exists in your traditional hierarchical structures. So fundamentally, it's about eliminating that power, or power-relationship, such that all individuals, all employees have some well-defined basis and source of authority and source of power in the organisation t...more
...nating that power, or power-relationship, such that all individuals, all employees have some well-defined basis and source of authority and source of power in the organisation that cannot be superseded or trumped by another individual simply because they are higher in rank or higher in the organisational...more
...ples of self-management, and reinforce the shift in authority. Because I think what we do know from research in organiaations and management is that, power, even once it's been formally decentralised, has a very very natural and strong tendency to recentralise informally or formally. So, you see that in ...more
...ion that's trying to adopt a self-managing structure. And so these structures and processes can also help to reinforce and mitigate that tendency for power to recentralise....more
... was holacracy which is obviously a self-management system designed to help create those structures and processes so that we don't slip back into all power hierarchies. But we'll come back to holacracy in a moment, because I wanted to talk about leadership as well, because I saw that you have been leadin...more
...because they had a role that was responsible for that), versus cultural values. So the organisation I studied, culture was a very prominent source of power before such that, that guided many people's day to day work. So, doing what's right for the customer, it led people to feel like, "okay, we're going ...more
... to do this because it's right for the customer". But after they adopted holacracy, the feeling was that those cultural values lost salience and lost power in the organisation, because the formal roles really became the kind of primary source of attention and authority in the organisation. So just to say...more
...face - these interactions could happen over long distances and in relatively short periods of time. I think there's research that has highlighted the power of site visits and face to face interactions for facilitating these types of dynamics, which, of course, I think can be very powerful, and so we're n...more

Edwin Jansen on how people adopt self-management at Fitzii

...yone that's a manager and transitioning into being a Teal leader, or self-managing contributor, you have to be proactive in addressing your perceived power and authority: you got to make fun of yourself, you have to admit every mistake that you do, you have to be the most vulnerable person in the room, y...more
...rson in the room, you have to speak last, if at all, not first, you have to undo this tendency that the dynamic people have with you, for you to have power over. And it's very difficult to change your dynamic with people, so I found it helpful to just talk about it, and to put it out there. But it's been...more
... managers haven't gone through that emotional, Heart stage and seen what triggers them, and what they're really afraid of, and why they want to wield power, you're gonna have some problems....more
...mping up against the business challenges or fears that business just brings up in people in hitting performance targets or whatever that is. And then power over people or we approach a situation from fear that creates negative feedback, and then if they're afraid to give that feedback or have that conver...more
...in control. And so my interest in moving into self-management was actually addressing the scariest thing for me, which is to give up my control on my power to the collective. But then whenever I see someone even theoretically subverting or challenging these Teal practices, I get triggered, and I get afra...more
...hierarchical, caste type system for many generations. So the deference that generally the people in India have for their parents and for controlling power structures is very different than we have here in North America. So yeah, it's very different and I think India's version of Teal will be a different...more
...ssing the collective intelligence, and as long as those really strong voices realise like me: "Okay, I've got to tone it down. I've got to subvert my power. I've got to be careful about people who give me too much authority." As long as that collective intelligence comes to the surface, we can't make any...more
...hing we can do: we can teach people equal talking time we can, we can create an environment of psychological safety, we can encourage people who have power over to tone it down, and we can encourage people who experienced power under to step up and to create safety for them when they do that an expectati...more
...eate an environment of psychological safety, we can encourage people who have power over to tone it down, and we can encourage people who experienced power under to step up and to create safety for them when they do that an expectation for them to do that - that we can do. And then what happens in these ...more

Margaret Wheatley on leadership and Warriors for the Human Spirit

...hich is my interest, what it takes to change them is not good ideas. There's much more going on - many more dynamics at play, most of them are called power and greed and lust and grasping after things. But just having a great idea, unfortunately, it's the saddest thing I can say, does not affect change. ...more
...bout restoring leadership as a noble profession. And I'm finding great resonance with people who think - oh, I could use my position, my influence my power, to do meaningful work again, it's just different work. It's not about changing our systems. It's about being present for what needs to be done havin...more
...manisation of work. And we are in the grips of a period of time, which historically always happens at the end of a civilization. When the elites take power to themselves, they destroy the common people. These large bureaucracies - it was really interesting for me in studying anthropology and history - wh...more
...it was really interesting for me in studying anthropology and history - wherever humans have been, we first start as self organised communities where power is distributed, women are, you know, in power, but there's no sense that it's a matriarchy, because power is so distributed. And the moment - well, a...more
...nthropology and history - wherever humans have been, we first start as self organised communities where power is distributed, women are, you know, in power, but there's no sense that it's a matriarchy, because power is so distributed. And the moment - well, after some time, when we shift into a, when the...more
...t start as self organised communities where power is distributed, women are, you know, in power, but there's no sense that it's a matriarchy, because power is so distributed. And the moment - well, after some time, when we shift into a, when there's more of us, we're more static. So we're not nomadic, an...more
...ur DNA. Not necessarily the people's DNA, but the the progress of a civilization always leads to increased hierarchy, increased bureaucracy, and then power going more and more into fewer and fewer hands. And then periods of destruction follow that. And fundamentalists arise. And fundamentalism is part of...more
...e into fewer and fewer hands. And then periods of destruction follow that. And fundamentalists arise. And fundamentalism is part of that also. So all power is given to the gods, whoever, whatever they are. And then they're petitioned to save us with enormous levels of sacrifice of people, usually. So I t...more
...e are still dividing themselves. I mean, the other thing to identity politics is organisational identities, which people still want to hold on to the power and status of their own organisation, rather than just work together. But, that's, those are all the negative dynamics. But the positive dynamics are...more

Margaret Heffernan on how to act our way out of the status quo trap

...r the change that's going to come with decentralisation. For me your work was so helpful, because it represents the business case for why traditional power hierarchies can be so problematic - because we're sort of invisible. And yet these hierarchies shape our brains and our ability to think creatively o...more
...ies shape our brains and our ability to think creatively or differently. Margaret Heffernan: Well, I don't think they are that invisible. Because the power hierarchies are typically illustrated in org charts. And they are pretty visible. I think the difficulty is people think that because they have alway...more
...afety and security and comfort in being both the parent role or the child role, to a certain extent. And what you have just spoken about there is the power that comes from realising that we have choice. We can speak up and say something. We can call attention to something that's not working. One of the ...more
...ense of learned helplessness or powerlessness that people often feel - it's the same challenge, right? How do we help people to see that they do have power, that they do have choice? Margaret Heffernan: The answer is, we don't help them. We find ways to work with them. Because nobody trusts us anymore. ...more
...ry empowering place to end. Margaret Heffernan: Well, I hope so. It's very hard. I'm not even sure I believe in empowering people. I think they have power. I think all of us have power. The question is deciding to use it....more
...argaret Heffernan: Well, I hope so. It's very hard. I'm not even sure I believe in empowering people. I think they have power. I think all of us have power. The question is deciding to use it....more

Nand Kishore Chaudhary from Jaipur Rugs on love, collective consciousness and self-management

...ire. To support the rapid growth of the business I had to hire experienced professionals but all that put me upside down. I learned that knowledge is power. But too much knowledge and knowledge gained without practice doubles ego. Practitioners sometime get their skills without having the knowledge to br...more
...l lead to a further stage of co-creation. In 2019, Raj Sisodia in his book 'The Healing Organisation' published a case study on Jaipur Rugs about the power of innocence. I believe that innocence could be the future of the business. Innocent people, just like children have the power to see and understand ...more
... Jaipur Rugs about the power of innocence. I believe that innocence could be the future of the business. Innocent people, just like children have the power to see and understand things others can't. And this will transform the business around the world. Jaipur Rugs has become a business ashram, a place f...more
... was getting more consciousness and now I'm happy to say that I have developed a level of consciousness where I can see what I do. So now I have more power to choose. Now I am a good listener. And I became more responsive. And it changed my behaviour so much, that it became easier for me to bring the res...more
...of putting it: to separate identity and role. Because I think that's what many people are afraid of, as you say, to sort of let go of having ultimate power, to let go of being the hero, if you're the CEO is scary and feels like a loss for people sometimes I think. But if you keep role and identity separa...more

Frederic Laloux with an invitation to reclaim integrity and aliveness

...pills and, and even the Holocaust, and how because of the way our brains are wired, certain things help to keep us in that cognitive dissonance. And power structures and hierarchies is one of the things that keeps that in place. So there’s an example of nurses in an experiment who are given instructions...more
...ed about it, it’s only afterwards that they realise, “Yeah, why did I do that? I’m trained I should have known.” But we don’t question because of the power structure. F Laloux: It’s interesting because I almost take self-management for a given now. And so, I’m really curious, even in the absence of any ...more
... structure. F Laloux: It’s interesting because I almost take self-management for a given now. And so, I’m really curious, even in the absence of any power structure that makes us fearful, you know, how could we engage with these questions? And, and to me, these are really juicy questions. And I believe ...more
...makes us fearful, you know, how could we engage with these questions? And, and to me, these are really juicy questions. And I believe that beyond the power structures, some of the things that that hold us back are, for one, the sense that we need to have an answer. When I engaged these these 15 CEOs, on...more
... Gill: Yeah, and I’m curious: what is your sense of what’s needed in order for us to be able to sit with that question? Because I agree with you that power structures is only one piece of it, but I think even in self-managing organisations… sometimes it seems almost like we need guardrails, you know, thi...more

Lisa Gill and Mark Eddleston celebrate 50 episodes of Leadermorphosis

...t lots more feedback from my colleagues in terms of how I'm showing up and the impact that I'm having. And if I'm a manager, having to let go of that power or influence or stepping in, and if I'm non-manager, or someone who has hasn't had power before then stepping up. And that's scary and risky and I'm ...more
...t I'm having. And if I'm a manager, having to let go of that power or influence or stepping in, and if I'm non-manager, or someone who has hasn't had power before then stepping up. And that's scary and risky and I'm not used to doing that I'm not used to having decision-making authority. So that heart st...more
...y sparked by Simon Mont's work around - it's not enough to just change our structures and processes, we need to go much deeper to like our relational power dynamics and how those are really ingrained, and how those imbalances and to really talk about that and do that work as well - I think really started...more
...er around: what's your personal purpose? Why is this interesting and important to you? And I also think if you aren't someone who has decision-making power, if you're in the middle of an organisation, I still think that you have some power and agency to do some trojan mice experiments, and that's why I l...more
...u? And I also think if you aren't someone who has decision-making power, if you're in the middle of an organisation, I still think that you have some power and agency to do some trojan mice experiments, and that's why I love Liberating Structures; that you can always influence things and be intrapreneuri...more

Pasteur Byabeza on transitioning to self-management at Davis College

...hifting to self management, and information is being distributed. So suddenly, everyone has much more transparent access to information, and also the power to take part in and influence decisions that affect them. And this shift, as you describe it from having almost two jobs - my actual job, and my job...more
...one to tell them what to do. You would see a situation where people are empowered by their structure, but they did not really seem to exercise their power to the fullest. And there is that tendency to want to seek consent, or approval from some individuals - mostly former managers. You see, part of this...more
...bout yielding to authority and seeing all subordinates yielding to authority. You look at the African chiefs - traditional leaders who have absolute power - and I would say sometimes they're totalitarians, using the tools to manage and control people sometimes. I would say it was not totally counter pro...more

Aaron Dignan on being complexity conscious and people positive

...or distributed authority or empowerment or agency or they'll have a word for it. They'll have an idea of like, how do you give teams at the edge more power? How do you share power? And so that becomes the authority space, right? And it's not to say that there's a right answer or a wrong answer in the fra...more
... or empowerment or agency or they'll have a word for it. They'll have an idea of like, how do you give teams at the edge more power? How do you share power? And so that becomes the authority space, right? And it's not to say that there's a right answer or a wrong answer in the frame. The OS Canvas is jus...more
... think it is a chicken and egg problem. In many cases, you can't start the work until a leader has had some awakening and realise they want to share power. And that often comes from personal work from a walkabout or some personal crisis. So that's there. But I think from our perspective, if we can chang...more

Jos de Blok on Buurtzorg and the virtues of humanising, not protocolising

...s: if you create the environment, does everything else follow? Or is there also something else about how people are being, especially people who have power, or have had power in the past? Because I find that that can so easily sabotage and even the most beautifully set up environment of autonomous teams ...more
...e environment, does everything else follow? Or is there also something else about how people are being, especially people who have power, or have had power in the past? Because I find that that can so easily sabotage and even the most beautifully set up environment of autonomous teams and things like tha...more

Ruth, Taryn and Philippa from Mayden, a health tech company that’s Made Without Managers

...ity. It's recognising how to prioritise, and how to really make the most of the opportunities in front of us. As Taryn will often say to me, it's the power of a positive "no". So yeah, that's something that I found, and I wonder as well, Ruth and I have often had conversations - so Ruth and I worked qui...more

Jorge Silva on horizontal structures and participatory culture at 10Pines

...t imagine working in a company or leading a company or leading a team in another way compared to what is happening right now. I really believe in the power of the crowd, the wisdom of the crowd. I really believe in that. And sometimes I think that I can't do this alone - I need to validate my ideas and t...more