Decision-Making for Shared Power
5 Lessons with Kelah Raymond
“Participation in decision-making is power.”
Decisions are agreements about future action. They shift power from the present to the future.
- When decisions are exclusive, they shift inequity forward.
- When decisions are inclusive, they shift equity forward.
The people affected by the decision are called stakeholders.
- In an exclusive decision, the ability to determine a group’s future is held by an individual or small group that doesn’t represent stakeholders.
- In an inclusive decision, the ability to determine a group’s future is held by all stakeholders, with those most impacted by the decision at the center.
In The Power Manual, Cyndi Suarez writes that “participation in decision-making is power.”
Power-sharing fears block inclusive decisions.
Despite the logic of including those affected by a decision in making the decision, many shy away from inclusive decision-making. Fears about power-sharing block organizations from moving forward on an inclusive path.
Fears about power-sharing block organizations….
Do Big Good is in the business of changing that. We help organizations make inclusive decisions. To better understand fears of power-sharing, how they block inclusive decisions, how to overcome them, I talked with Kelah Raymond, Senior Director of People & Talent at Buzzer.
Kelah is a trailblazing thought leader and advocate for people in the workplace. With nearly two decades of HR experience, she helps organizations create inclusive cultures, equitable workplaces, and people strategies that positively profit.
Let’s define power.
Kelah and I began our conversation by defining power. We started with a definition from equity design nonprofit Creative Reaction Lab:
- Power: Capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events
We then added scholar John Gaventa’s multi-part definition:
- Power Over: Ability to affect the actions (authority) or thoughts (influence) of others
- Power To: Capacity to act (agency)
- Power Within: Self-dignity that enables agency (self-worth)
- Power With: Synergy of collective action through social mobilization and alliance-building (social capital)
1. If you rely on others, you’re already sharing power.
Now that we’ve defined power, let’s talk about sharing it.
First, we’d like to propose something rather counter-intuitive. Power-sharing isn’t a future action under consideration. It’s already happening.
Power-sharing isn’t a future action under consideration. It’s already happening.
Even though power over (authority) is only be held by a limited number of people at your organization, power to (capacity to act) is already jointly held by all members.
The logic of shared power to is intuitive. To undertake organizational action — implement programs, ship product, deliver services — all employees are needed. (If they weren’t, they’d have no role at the organization.)
Even managers who have a lot of power over rely on the rest of the team to realize the organization’s mission and get sh*t done. As Kelah reminded me, “None of us can go it alone.”
[P]ower to and power with are already shared. We still need to expand power over.
Furthermore, when team members move together, the organization is more than the sum of its parts. It evinces power with, the synergy of collective action.
This doesn’t mean our power-sharing work is done, of course. It just means it’s already begun, because power to and power with are already shared. We still need to expand power over.
2. Power-sharing anxiety emerges from past harm.
Leaders already share power with and power to with everyone in their organization. But what about sharing power over? What about sharing control over the actions of others?
[P]ast experiences where you lacked control and were harmed as a result…
If the idea of giving up control makes you nervous, it may be because you have past experiences where you lacked control and were harmed as a result. (If sharing power over doesn’t make you nervous, go straight on #5. However, if it does make you nervous, that’s okay. We’re here for you. Let’s dig into those feelings.)
Sometimes we remember a specific incident where we lacked the power to defend ourselves or assert our needs. Quite often, however, we don’t have memories of specific incidents where we lacked power and were harmed. When we lack specific memories, we likely experienced that harm when all of us were powerless — in our childhoods.
When we lack specific memories, we likely experienced that harm… in our childhoods.
As you can imagine, there’s a lot to unpack there. For our present purposes, it’s sufficient to realize that as an adult you are never going to be powerless like that again.
When you feel that tightness of fear and anxiety around sharing power, take a breath and remind yourself that you are fully able to defend yourself now. Remind yourself that you have power to, power with, and power within. Remind yourself that the colleagues you would share power with are here to help, not harm.
[S]haring power over increases your power by increasing your capacity.
Also realize that sharing power over doesn’t diminish your power. Rather, sharing power over increases your power by increasing your capacity.
3. Shared decisions = accurate decisions.
When sharing power feels scary, another underlying assumption is that power is scarce. We believe that if we give power to someone else, we will have less power for ourselves.
When sharing power feels scary, another underlying assumption is that power is scarce.
However, we’ve defined power as a capacity, not a resource. More people exercising power means more capacity, not less.
How does this additive nature of power play out in organizations?
First, there’s less pressure on a leader to have all the answers or all the information. Instead, there’s an expectation that the team will provide insights to both understand problems and propose solutions through the decision-making process.
More people exercising power means more capacity…. [and] less pressure on a leader to have all the answers….
To visualize the information value of shared decision-making and shared power over the future, try this thought experiment. Look at the photo below and reflect on where you’d like to stand to fully see the landscape.
Did you choose to stand where the figure is standing, on the road? Did you choose the top of one of the peaks? Maybe you want to fly overhead.
There’s no place where a single individual can see the full landscape.
You may also have realized this is a bit of a trick question. There’s no place where a single individual can see the full landscape. It’s only by having eyes in multiple locations (up high for scope, down low for granular detail, etc.) that you can fully see.
[L]ived experiences can’t be transferred to a spreadsheet.
When you include diverse stakeholders in a decision, you’re not only gaining data they have acquired in their professional roles. You’re also gaining different perspectives on the problem and its solution based on their diverse lived experiences.
Those lived experiences can’t be transferred to a spreadsheet. They exist only within the individuals who have lived them.
4. Sharing power doesn’t diminish your power.
More information is all well and good, but does sharing decision-making power really increase your power, rather than diminish it?
Sharing power by relying on the perspectives of multiple people does diminish your power over, because you’re making decisions with your team, rather than for them.
[I]nclusive decision-making increases your power with… It also increases your power to…
However, inclusive decision-making increases your power with, because you’re acting together. It also increases your power to. As detailed in the previous section, this is because your capacity to take innovative and insightful action increases as the information you have access to increases.
Control will feel less important.
As you share power, the value of power over will likely also decrease. Control will feel less important.
This is because the alternative to power over is collaboration, is relationship. Not only will you have more information to make strong decisions with your team, you’re also likely to feel more connected to one another.
[T]he alternative to power over is collaboration, is relationship.
This is because you’ve created an environment of greater trust, respect, and psychological safety. Your team will feel it and you’ll feel it too. You’re engaging one another as humans. You’re holding each other accountable.
5. To start sharing power, try this thought exercise.
Now you’re ready to share more power. How will you go about doing that?
Actually, you already know. As Kelah noted during our conversation, “People know how to operate with shared power. They just do it selectively.”
“People know how to operate with shared power. They just do it selectively.”
One easy thought exercise to tap into your intuition on shared power is to simply imagine how you’d make a decision if the other person had the same power over (authority) as you.
As an example, Kelah suggested a scenario in which a direct report has shown up late for multiple Zoom meetings without giving a reason. Without power over, what would you do? How would you decide how to solve the problem if the person showing up late was a fellow manager?
[I]magine how you’d make a decision if the other person had the same power over (authority) as you.
You’d probably engage them relationally, assume good intentions, and look for a shared solution, rather than blaming, shaming, or pressuring. Here’s an example dialogue of how this interpersonal inclusive decision could look:
- YOU: Alex, is everything okay? I noticed you missed the beginning of standup yesterday and Thursday.
- ALEX: Oh yeah, I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again.
- YOU: Is there any way I could help? I know we’re all under a lot of stress….
- ALEX: Oh, thanks for asking… actually, our babysitter has COVID and it’s taking me longer than expected to get Teresa ready for school in the morning.
- YOU: Okay… hmmm… I could schedule your shares for later in the meeting so you’ll have time to take care of those responsibilities until your sitter recovers. How does that sound?
- ALEX: Oh wow, yeah, that would help so much. I really am sorry for being late. It’s just so stressful and I didn’t want to burden you or the rest of the team with my problems.
- YOU: That’s okay. I was sure we could figure out a solution together. Hope your sitter is back soon. And next time, let me know if you need to talk through a task or meeting role.
- ALEX: Okay, I appreciate that. Thanks.
In this example, you’ve gained information from your co-worker (their sitter is sick) and made a decision about what to do (temporarily change the meeting lineup) while also increasing connection and psychological safety.
As a result, you’ve also decreased the likelihood that the same or a similar problem will happen again because Alex now trusts you to make decisions about their work in a collaborative power with way.
Talking about power may sound big and overwhelming, but it comes down to small daily interactions. We all have the power to make change.
Mer Joyce is Founder and Principal at Do Big Good, a Seattle-based firm that helps private, public, and social sector clients make inclusive decisions. Learn more at dobiggood.com or email her at mer AT dobiggood DOT com.
