How to use power appropriately
All managers have power. It comes with the position. Some use it well; some use it poorly; and some let it slip from their grasp. The challenge for managers is how to use power to enhance the organisation they serve and their own reputations as well. If they abuse their power, the odds are that they and the organisation will suffer. Power used well, however, can lead to growth, better service, greater efficiency, higher quality - and more power...
1. Know how you feel personally about using power.
If you seek power, then you must know why you want it and what you're going to do with it. Determine your motives for wanting power: only by analysing and understanding these motives can you develop a positive and clear picture of what it means to you. Most importantly, decide whether you're prepared to use it appropriately.
2. Be aware of the darker side of power.
Sometimes power is perceived as evil, and is associated with self-seeking and scheming individuals. This dark side of power is apparent when someone uses such tactics as:
- withholding information from others who need it
- empire-building
- pursuing personal vendettas
- blocking other people's legitimate work plans and proposals for one's own benefit
- inventing new rules and procedures to obstruct other people
- passing off other people's ideas as one's own
- blackmail, sabotage, slanderous gossip, even threats of violence
- forming cliques, and fostering a climate of 'us' and 'them'
- pursuing personal advancement unfairly or at the expense of the organisation and others.
3. Stay within acceptable limits of fair play.
Remember Watergate. Driving ambition and the quest for power that ignores the greater good can be self-destructive. Outfox and outmanoeuvre other people by all means; but avoid cheating, lying, or breaking your word. In power struggles, chickens have an uncanny tendency to come home to roost.
