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| The Power Base Model |
Personal Power Bases
When considering getting noticed at work it might be useful to make sure that you are tapping into your personal power in the most effective way.
Boss Boots:
This is about the power vested in you by the organisation to do the job. With the job role comes access to all sorts of information and people along with the responsibility to make it happen. Whilst accepting a small slice of power resides here this is not your most positively compelling power base.
The Mortar Board Hat:
This represents your expert knowledge around the work you do. Have you ever had an encounter with an “expert” and left it feeling dazed and confused? Not really understanding at all what you’ve been told and how it fits to your role. Recently I was at a conference and the opening address was by an academic from a leading business school which shall definitely remain nameless. It was apparent by the introduction this man had more qualifications than I’ve had hot dinners as his topic was “Leadership” I assumed we were in for a really inspirational session. Especially as in the audience we had many great leaders from British business. What a chance to tap into all that wisdom. As the talk started I was rather struck by the fact that there was an OHP projector on the stage ( I hadn’t seem one for years) and a vast pile of slides beside it. The gist of the talk was about the statistical analysis of leadership behaviours most specifically concerning organisations in the Asia Pacific rim. By the time we got to slide 29 we were into pie charts and graphs and words the like mean, mode, medium were being banded around. By the time we got to slide 86 I noted that many of the audience were in a deep state of trance that Paul McKenna himself would have been proud. The final slide no 110 brought us to the end of the presentation. As we were getting up to leave I overheard the gentleman next to me (who himself was a hugely successful leader) whisper to his colleague “What the **** was that all about?”
How do you share your expertise? In a way where people get the relevance, in a way that it makes senses and adds value. Is it clear and concise? Have you found a way to make the complex simple?.How can you use you expertise to make life easier and clearer for people.
The ability to do this up getting noticed significantly..
The address book:
Think of your address books as a personal information super highway. The World Wide Web will tell you things about your organisation and industry. Who you know tells you what the talk at the water cooler is! It gives you a finger on the pulse of the organisation and industry you are in. As well as being a source of information “in” it is a route to raising your reputation and visibility. The biggest and best address books I’ve ever seen in business are those owned by people who are focused on making the pie bigger for everyone or as one of my clients describes it “networking is all about how to help and support each other to deliver value to key stakeholders”. Or put another great address books come out of giving and helping much more that getting and taking.
Your Map
What does your role exist to do? How does it fit into the bigger map of the organisation? What levels of clarity do you have around where you and your team are heading to? Is everyone going in the same direction in your organisation?
Another way to think about this is thus:
Imagine you are strolling around Westminster in the 13th Century and you see a man making something with his hands. You stop pass the time of day and inquiry as to what he is doing He replies I’m making a brick. You wish him a good day and move on. A little further along you meet another man. It appears that he is doing the same thing. You stop, pass the time of day with him and inquire as to what he is doing. He replies I’m building a wall. Further on again you meet another man making what looks to be the same as the other two. You stop, pass the time of day with him and inquire as to what he is doing. “Building Westminster Cathedral” comes the reply.
Are you building making a brick, wall or a Cathedral?
Your map gives you the big picture and the detail of the organisation. Both are core to getting noticed.
Your cloak of behaviour:
What shape is your cloak of behaviour in? Is it something you’ve been clinging onto for the last ten years? “I’ve always done it like this. All this learning about understanding others and myself is a load of old rot. All that matters is delivering my tasks. Doesn’t matter how”
Or perhaps your cloak is more Harry Potter like. Growing and developing. Trying things on, perfecting things ever open to learning and growing.
A frequently asked question at interview is “What have you done in the last year to invest in your personal development”. This is really an inquiry into you cloak of behaviour.
Which one of you power bases if you were to improve it would make the biggest difference? What action do you need to take?
Here’s to you success,
Hilary
