Power & Influence

A key in any incentive, reward and recognition program is the need to communicate to the audience they can achieve a goal - they are powerful and have control over the outcomes.  When designed correctly incentive programs put the onus for success squarely on the participants shoulders.  We have to communicate to the participant they CAN do this!

Influencing your participants is a form of power.  This article on Ed Batista's blog talks about power - specifically, interpersonal power.  He mentions that his MBA students prefer the use of the word "influence" (so do I) to make it seem a bit more palatable since power has a negative connotation.

Ed's post highlights some thoughts on interpersonal power and references three things that "disempower" people:

• The first is the belief that power is determined primarily by factors outside our influence or control.
• The second is believing our view of the world is the same thing as external reality.
• And third, the belief that power is a fixed commodity, a limited resource for which we must compete.  The more I have, the less you have, and vice-versa.

I'm sure this information was never intended to be used in the way I'm using it but...I think any incentive program should:

• Show participants they have control (dispel belief #1)
• Show participants where success has occurred (dispel belief#2)
• Show participants how everyone comes out on top (dispel belief #3)

If we do those things in an incentive, reward and recognition program then we will have participants who believe they have the power to succeed.

This also reminded me of a quote by Marianne Williamson, that has been used in a couple of movies (Coach Carter, Akeelah and the Bee) - and if you read it - it does the same thing - dispels the three  beliefs that reduce our power as individuals.

My deepest fear is not that I am inadequate.
My deepest fear is that I am powerful beyond measure.

It is my light, not my darkness, that most frightens me.
I ask myself, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who am I NOT to be?

I am a child of God.
My playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about my shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around me.
I was born to make manifest the glory of God that is within me.

It is not just in me - it is in everyone.
And as I let my own Light shine, I unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As I am liberated from my own fear, my presence automatically liberates others.

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Below is the clip from Coach Carter via YouTube: WARNING one mature word at the beginning.  Also, it doesn't match the above quote to the word - but the majority is the same.

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My 14 year old son knows it by heart (without any prompting from me) - I hope he believes it and lives it.

Do your audience members feel powerful?  Do they think they can influence their world?  Are you helping them?

Comments

[Ann Bares]

Paul:

I like the theme here - viewing, and helping your audience see, incentives as empowerment. When done the right way for the right reasons, that is what they are all about. Cool!

[Ed Batista]

Hi Paul,
I'm glad you found my post thought-provoking, and I think the connection you make between empowerment and incentive systems makes perfect sense. I also want to highlight that I first encountered those three disempowering beliefs about power in the work of Patricia Day Williams, who really inspired me to look beyond "how influence works" and think further about "how I support or undermine my efforts to be influential."

Finally, to your point on language, I believe it's important to have both "influence" and "power" in our vocabularies. I didn't mean to suggest that "power" was preferable--but I do think it conveys something different (and more POWERFUL) than "influence," and the desire of some students to substitute "influence" when we're really talking about "power" suggests to me a lack of comfort with power itself (which leads me back to Patricia's concepts.)

At any rate, thanks for the opportunity to think further about all this.

Ed

[Paul Hebert]

Thanks for the comment Ed. I'm finding your current posts on influence and power very interesting.

I also agree that we need both words - power and influence. I do think that it is interesting that we don't have a problem applying the word "power" to ourselves ie: "I have power over myself and my actions." But we have a problem when we apply the word to others and then substitute "influence."

I think power denotes a one way thing - you change because I made you and you didn't have a choice - influence seems to convey that it is a collaboration - maybe that is the core issue with the words.

In an event I do find this area interesting and am somewhat of a Cialdini fan.

Also, the books, Change or Die and Influencer have some basic and interesting information about influencing/changing behaviors - using some of the techniques and points you are making in your recent posts.

Appreciate the comments!

[Ed Batista]

Thanks for the book recommendations, Paul--I'll check them out.

Your comment reminds me of an exercise I've seen David Bradford conduct with a class of MBA students:

First he asks how many of them are comfortable saying to themselves, "I am powerful." Then he asks how many are comfortable telling another person, "I am powerful." Finally he asks how many are comfortable having someone else tell them, "You are powerful."

The number of people comfortable with those three statements starts high and drops off quickly. And that's the paradox that ultimately led me to Patricia Day Williams' paper: We want power, but we're very uncomfortable with being perceived as wanting power--and that tends to get in the way of our ability to actually wield power.

Great exchange--thanks!

Ed