Three Models of Power that Break Through Traditional Barriers (Part 1 of 7)

December 2, 2019 Mira Brancu

by Mira Brancu, PhD

[This is Part 1 of a 7-Part series on leading with knowledge-based power]

While there are numerous systemic barriers that impede gender equity progress in the leadership pipeline, I believe that women can break through some of the traditional social power barriers in several ways.

One of the ways women can break through is related to how they access and apply knowledge to develop the social power needed to lead others. In this post, I will first describe three types of social power that might work well for women who value learning, high achievement, and social connectivity. That will lay the foundation. Then the next set of posts will describe five ways to access and apply knowledge, beyond traditional methods, to develop these types of social power.

Types of Power

Power and leadership are not the same. But developing certain types of social power can help you develop different types of leadership styles.

Coercive, Reward, and Legitimate social power are the most common and traditional ways we often see others gain power in order to serve in leadership positions. With these types of power, leaders are supported and followed because of their title or the potential for reward or punishment.

Expert, Referent, and Informational power, on the other hand, can be magical in their impact when used appropriately. They go beyond holding a position and in my opinion allow more people the opportunity for access, and often through thoughtful and ethical means. I’ve spoken before about how to apply these models to engage in honest organizational politics and in developing smart network systems. Many women I have worked with who value learning, high achievement, and social connectivity find these models to be a natural fit.

Informational Power

Originally, informational power was used to describe people who already had some kind of status or influence and also had special access to information others didn’t have. This combination lets them control whether and to whom they shared the special information.

The problem is this kind of power can be used to manipulate and coerce others in ways that can negatively affect trust and respect.

I prefer to think about informational power in a different way as it applies to leadership: gaining access to information to help other people apply the best knowledge to get the job done most effectively and efficiently.

I will talk more about how to gain this access to information through 5 learning methods in Parts 3 through 7 of this blog series. But for now, here is a reverse-engineering exercise to start applying it right now at work.

Exercise:

Write down one problem at work that causing kinks in the workflow or struggles in decision-making.
List out what knowledge or information is missing that could help improve that workflow or decision-making process.
For each of the missing pieces of information, start brainstorming (ideally with a team of people) where to get that information: A specific person? A policy? Research articles? Models others have used?
Identify one or two of these options and start pulling that information together.
Bring it back to the group. Can you create a new policy, procedure, or method that will improve the problem? Try it out.

Referent Power

Referent social power is basically when people see you as being “in” because the people you associate with are “in”. There is a certain status in that.

The downside to seeking or having this type of social power is that it can come into question if the people you associate with making bad decisions. So, depending on how you use it, it can feel a little middle-school-ish.

But I prefer to think about this model of social power in a different way when considering leadership: gaining “knowledge status” by being mentored and working with high-caliber knowledgeable experts who can guide you.

When you seek out knowledge and training from people who have achieved the success you seek, you are not only learning, you are also achieving referent social power by association. This only happens if you do your part to learn with integrity, of course – it’s just an added bonus for seeking to learn.

Example:

Here’s an example from my own journey to becoming a thought leader.

When I made the decision that I wanted to support emerging women leaders through my women’s leadership company, there really wasn’t a clear educational path. People come to this work in many ways.

One of the decisions I first made was to develop my foundational knowledge by reading and learning about what was already out there. When I came across authors, researchers, and leaders in this area that I really admired, I reached out to them to ask more questions and get their feedback on my own thinking.

Interestingly and completely unexpectedly, some of those experts became mentors and colleagues. I did not plan for that. It was not my aim.

But seeking knowledge from people you admire naturally leads to some relationship building if you end up having mutual interests. It often also leads to additional opportunities to collaborate, which further strengthens the bond.

Over time, if you are discerning and thoughtful about who you choose to seek to learn from, and what you provide also proves to be mutually valuable to the other person, referent power can develop fairly naturally, ethically, and with integrity – which is the only way I promote it as an option.

Expert Power

Expert power is based on the knowledge, experience, and special talents you’ve developed. This one is fairly straightforward. If you become an expert in a field, people will often naturally look to you for the answers, leading to yet another type of social power through knowledge.

Like the others, there is a downside to relying too heavily on this one as well. It requires constant maintenance and tending to. You need to keep up to date continuously. You also need to be careful about assuming your expertise in one area makes you an expert in a related area.

When it comes to leadership, I like to think about this model of social power like this: You don’t automatically become a leader by getting a traditional educational degree and assuming people will support your work or believe in you.

You develop leadership expertise in addition to content expertise. Some research indicates that women tend to overeducate themselves to gain more leadership opportunities. However, traditional education doesn’t guarantee all types of opportunities (trust me, this is coming from someone who loves to overeducate herself).

Some examples of leadership expertise include managing and engaging people well and creating and communicating an inspirational vision. The best leaders become experts in these areas through multiple types of learning experiences beyond the traditional initial scholarly degree. I will talk about what those are later.

Putting it All Together

Relying too heavily or inappropriately on applying any type of power can be problematic, of course. But when applied well, Expert, Referent and Informational power are great non-traditional models for women who value learning, high achievement, and social connectivity and are seeking to break through traditional leadership power structures.

In the next set of blog posts, I will walk you through how you can achieve these types of social power to support your leadership journey. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, are you a leader who has done this? I’d love to hear your success stories!