Power Moves You Must Know As a Leader | Leadership Coach Joanna Howes

0:00Power. How does that make you feel in leadership?

0:04Joanna Howes:Does it make you rise? Does it make you feel like you've got impact? You can have a positive influence with people? Or does the word power make you shrink, make you feel like it could be toxic or negative or treated badly? Because power in leadership isn't talked about enough. So in this episode today, I'm going to talk about power within specifically an executive team. because it's one of those things that can actually make or break how a team operates and the business the success can have. And whether we like it or not, power is in every executive meeting. It comes up in terms of who speaks first, whose opinion is going to carry more weight, what will actually get challenged, especially in front of each other, and what actually gets quietly parked and not addressed.

0:51Joanna Howes:and how power is used at the top always shows everywhere else in the business. So think for a moment, how is power used in your company? The thing is, power isn't the problem. Avoiding it or not understanding how it's being used is. And being a leader comes with power. You can't avoid it, but it can very quickly be either helpful or harmful. Now, I had a massive breakthrough moment on this when I read Brené Brown's book Grounded Confidence. And she talks about the four ways power shows up. And I want to use this episode to take you through those four so you can recognize how power is maybe being used in your leadership, maybe within your executive team and across the company.

1:39Joanna Howes:So the first one is power over. And this is actually where I had my light bulb moment because this is the one that shows up the most at the exec level. It causes so many problems and it's the one that execs bring to me in their coaching sessions where they need help the most. It looks like one voice continually set in the direction again and again. The decision being made before the meeting. Speed being used to shut things down and to stop things being challenged. And it sounds like, oh, sorry, sorry, we just don't have time for this. Oh, let's just move on. Let's keep going. Oh, come on. We've already aligned on this.

2:21Joanna Howes:Let's just move on to the next agenda point. Power being used to shut things down and get their own way. The problem is other executives get so tired of trying to input. So they just stop and then the dominance has won. So power over is the fastest way to stop a team being able to work as a collective. And what power over leaders do to remind you of their power is that they will have periods of time of being very cruel. Because we as humans can actually become quite numb to this power over and people being quite toxic. But what they do is they'll have moments where they're very, very nasty and cruel to remind you of the power they have and to keep you in your place.

3:08Joanna Howes:So when that heat is turned up, they know that they can keep their power. And the sad thing I see is so many CEOs end up tolerating this behavior from their exec because they just find it too exhausting to keep challenging them. And the reason it doesn't get dealt with a lot is because potentially this leader is performing, is bringing results in. so it's even more difficult to challenge them because the business is doing well from their performance but their behavior is unacceptable and it takes a collective to come together to address somebody who's using power over in their leadership then unfortunately what happens is the executives go to the next one and that one is power under i see this time and time again It's quieter.

3:58Joanna Howes:It's very human. It's when execs hold back challenging. They over-adapt and accommodate to their CEO or the dominant voice. And they keep smoothing tension over just to keep things comfortable because it's much easier. It sounds like, it's fine, don't worry. We'll just go with this this time. I'll go with the group. Look, it's just not worth pushing right now. and the meeting looks like you're all aligned, but then you've realized that actually priorities are not clear and your own teams are now confused on where they should be performing and what they should be focusing on because the exec team isn't aligned.

4:38Joanna Howes:It's just the power over has put the execs into power under and you're leaving meetings really not knowing where you should be moving forward. So the third one, and this is where you want to be, is power with. Now, power with creates a very, very strong executive team. And this is when you can work as a collective. What it looks like is real debate, shared thinking, collective responsibility. You're here. Let's pressure test this. What are we missing? Who else needs to be in this? And just to be clear, this isn't consensus on everything. Someone still needs to make a decision, but everyone thinks and inputs.

5:23Joanna Howes:And it's in an environment where it feels very safe to do so. And then we've got the last one, which is crucial and matters actually the most, is power within. Power within is what allows everything else to work. It's self-trust, emotional steadiness, not needing to win the room. Execs with power within, they don't dominate. They're self-confident within them. They don't disappear and hide and shrink and they don't take challenge personally. Each executive needs to take the personal responsibility on building their own emotional fitness to work in a power within environment. This is the power as a leader you have the most control on, how you choose to show up.

6:08And I see this pattern again and again. Under pressure, CEOs or the more dominant leader often go into power over. The other senior leaders then slip into power under as it's just easier because you've got so much to do and you're under pressure.

6:23Joanna Howes:And then power with completely disappears. Then the exec team asks, looking around the company, why aren't people stepping up in this company or speaking up in meetings? What they're not seeing is the system that they've created for how they are behaving as an exec team. Here are three simple shifts for every exec team to make. Number one, just start by noticing how is power showing up. After a meeting, ask yourself who spoke the most, who spoke the least and why. No judgment. Just start getting awareness of how power is being used in your company. Number two, separate authority from contribution.

7:03Authority means someone decides. Contribution means everyone thinks. Strong exec teams protect both. If you're moving fast, ask, have we generally heard the different perspectives and views? And then lastly, number three, strengthen power within. I can't stress this one enough. This is individual work, just a simple check-in. How do I react when I'm challenged? Do I go defensive? Am I dismissive? Am I withdrawn? That reaction shapes what is possible as a team more than you realize. And so a final thought, the quality of an exec team isn't about how quickly it agrees.

7:42Joanna Howes:It's about how it handles tension, how it uses power and how safe it feels to tell the truth. If power over runs the room at the top, don't be surprised when trust goes. So take a moment after this to think about your last exec meeting and ask yourself, how was power really used in the room? That question alone can change how you lead. I hope this has been helpful and I'll see you soon. If you've been enjoying the Courageous leaders podcast we'd love it if you'd subscribe to our youtube channel your support helps us keep creating quality content and reaching more leaders like you who are ready to grow and make a real impact we fund this podcast ourselves so every subscription truly makes a difference and allows us to support courageous leaders like you thank you for being part of the journey