Editor’s note: This is the second article of SoJoGo’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Thought leadership series. This second post is a deeper dive about thoughtfully and strategically wielding and sharing power as a core commitment to DEIB centered leadership.
Part 2 (this post!)
In the first post in this series, I shared my experiences and perspectives about DEIB centered leadership and the required commitment to proactively and openly engage in conversations about privilege and power with the people and teams we lead. DEIB centered executives and leaders can commit to and make it a practice to continuously explore and assess how they are doing in terms of distributing, redistributing, and/or sharing power among a team or at various levels of an organization – a concept known as organizational equity.
As a leader – whether you’re in the C-Suite, a site director, program manager, or other senior leader with a supervisory role – organizational equity (i.e. sharing power) has become a DEIB leadership competency and commitment because of (as I shared in part one) our responsibility as leaders “to positively shape people’s experiences including their professional growth, opportunity for advancement, and most importantly, their need to feel seen, respected, and valued for exactly who they are.”
In this article I offer practical ways for senior leaders to share power and to hold themselves accountable for continuously doing so as one of their leadership practices. Before we dive in, here’s a recap of privilege and power from part one that you may find useful as a foundation.
What Are Privilege and Power in DEIB Centered Leadership?
In part one, I shared these definitions for privilege and power:
Privilege: unearned benefits, advantages, and power afforded to an individual or group of individuals based primarily on factors specific to their identity (gender, race, etc.) and/or status.
Power: the ability to direct and influence behavior, events, and allocation of resources.
Personal power: stems from an individual’s personal qualities, as well as their actions and follow through.
Positional power: originates from a person’s title, rank, and hierarchy within an organized system - e.g., a corporation or business entity.
Now that we recapped those key definitions, let’s dive into part two and explore the practical applications of sharing power as a leader.
When to Share or Not Share Power
First, it’s important to note that as a leader, sharing power is one of many privileges and/or responsibilities that come with our roles as leaders. As with many other leadership privileges, the sharing and distribution of power is not a comprehensive practice, but instead a strategic tool and option, meaning that personal and/or positional power is not always shared to the same degree nor in the same way with everyone or in all situations. Rather, sharing power requires discernment. Although you may already have ideas on when to – and when not to – share power, here are a few ideas that you may find useful:
Examples of When to Share Power:
When you’re developing people who report into you, sharing power can help them grow as leaders
When your direct reports are strengthening their ability to share power, encourage and guide them to share power with others
When the team’s full commitment is essential to a successful outcome, sharing power with one or more team members can drive a sense of ownership and pride with the end result (and perhaps an even better outcome than otherwise could have been achieved!)
Examples of When Not to Share Power:
When the the topic or decision-making process directly relates to matters related to corporate or business compliance (human resources, liability issues) because leaders are ultimately held accountable for these decisions and their outcomes
When someone isn’t a direct stakeholder (if you can’t identify them as a direct stakeholder, there’s no need to take the time to assess and share power with them)
When it's important that there are no mixed messages being conveyed among one or more leaders. For example, when several staff members on a team directly report to another peer leader, conversations about if/when/how to share power need to take this dynamic into account.
The leveraging, distribution, and sharing power can be an incredibly valuable leadership practice in many scenarios. However, when you as the leader are the sole person to be held accountable, be strategic, mindful, and conservative about power relationships. Having examined some examples of when to and when not to share power as a leader, let’s look at practical ways to share power when the situation calls for it.
4 Practical Ways to Share Power as a DEIB Centered Leader
1 - Communicate When You Are Sharing or Redistributing Power
Although it may seem a bit obvious or redundant, it is important that leaders specifically communicate to the people or teams we lead when and/or how our leveraged power is being shared or redistributed power. Staff and teams with less organizational or positional power should not have to (and most likely wouldn’t) assume if/when additional power is being shared with them. Simply put, it is not fair to the people/teams we lead to make assumptions about what additional power is being granted and shared while also expecting them to be accountable for the execution and outcome of a decision, event, or project we asked them to run with and lead. An effective DEI centered leader will effectively answer and communicate answers to questions that a staff/team member may or may not know to ask about:
What level and scope of power is being shared (and/or not shared)? What decision making areas/topics does it include? Does it go beyond just decision making? Is there a specific time frame or scope of work that corresponds with this additional privilege/responsibility?
Why is additional power being shared and offered to them? Is it primarily to support their professional growth and leadership development? Is it because of a specific skill set they possess? Is it both?
How will you (their supervisor and leader) provide support, accessibility, and guidance when things get complicated and/or complex - as they often do when internal power dynamics are shifted in some way?
Having these kinds of intentional and comprehensive conversations about privilege and power (to generate ideas, draw conclusions, make decisions, create/execute a plan, etc.) underscores the “equity” and “belonging” part of DEIB.
2 - Hold Ourselves Accountable to Sharing Power
It’s one thing to say you would like to share power, and it’s another thing to practice it. Identify a handful of ways to keep yourself accountable or check in with yourself on how you are doing with that as a leadership practice. Whatever internal processes or practices we follow in order to hold ourselves accountable, as DEI centered leaders who want to be able to routinely affirm the three following questions about our leadership style, practices, and/or actions:
Is my discernment process for when/how to share or redistribute consistent and thorough?
Do I communicate the scope, duration, and purpose for why power has been shared?
Can the staff/team member effectively articulate why and how power is being shared with them?
Did I consistently cede/yield to the power I shared with others, and participate as a member of the team in those cases (vs the decision maker)?
3 - Get into the Practice of Being a Participant in Meetings
Get into the practice of being a participant in meetings or events that are routinely led by staff and/or direct reports. Being a participant means that we commit to following and abiding by the same guidelines that any other participant would. One important note here – because you hold a position of power, it’s your responsibility in the meeting to be clear when you’re speaking as a participant and your comment or question is not being offered as your decision. It is incumbent upon the DEI centered leader to clarify and communicate if/when a comment we offer is actually a decision being made or even contemplated and therefore not on equal footing with everyone else on that particular topic/decision; or when what you’re sharing is a decision you’re making as a leader. That said, those moments or situations are rare exceptions and not a DEI practice.
4 - Take Inspiration from Leaders Who Shared Power with You
Challenge and deepen your DEI centered commitment to thoughtfully sharing power by engaging in occasional self inventory and/or identify ways that other leaders have shared power with you along your DEI leadership trajectory. What activities have other leaders done to share power with you in the past? Were they successful? What would you tune up or tweak to make it your own? Your own personal past experiences can serve as prompts or examples in terms of ways to share power on the job.
Conclusion & What’s Next
Thoughtfully and strategically sharing power as a DEI centered leader is both a responsibility and effective leadership/management practice. It directly supports and advances others’ ability and capacity to professionally grow, feel and know that they are valued for who they are, and ultimately helps set up all parties to succeed and thrive. I’ve shared a handful of practical ways to share, distribute and/or redistribute power as a DEIB centered leader. What other practical ways come to mind for you and your leadership style?
Next steps:
If you would like to learn more about DEI Centered Leadership Development for you or your team, contact us to set up a free 30-min conversation.
If you’d like to stay in touch, follow us on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date with DEIB trends and best practices.
"Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.” – John Maxwell
About the Author:
Oscar Gomez is the Founder and CEO of SoJoGo - a DEIB strategic consulting and leadership development firm. The three syllables in the company name are a nod and tribute to Oscar’s parents, Socorro y Jose Gomez. Oscar has a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from Pepperdine University. Prior to pursuing his passion and commitment to DEIB, he had a 25-year career in community and public health - 17 of those years as Chief Executive Officer of a national capacity building, training, and workforce development organization committed to expanding access to care and advancing health and racial equity. Oscar’s leadership and executive experience are supplemented by his HealthCare Executive Certification from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He was also identified and listed in Conscious Company Magazine's 20 Game-Changing Founders of Color.