Power over leadership stifles human potential: Erin Clark

The author and a managing director with Deloitte Consulting tells us why we need to shift away from the legacy paradigm that prioritises control over people

By Anitha Moosath

Published: Oct 16, 2024 04:35:21 PM IST

Updated: Oct 16, 2024 04:38:17 PM IST

Erin E Clark is a Author and Managing director with Deloitte Consulting, Human Capital

Erin E Clark is a managing director with Deloitte Consulting, Human Capital and the co-author of Leading Through: Activating the Soul, Heart, and Mind of Leadership. In an interview with Forbes India, she talks about a new leadership model that creates value by permeating the entire organisation and harnessing the power within people. Edited excerpts:

Q. What’s the thinking that guides the Power Over paradigm? Why has it lasted so long?

Power Over is so common that it has become like breathing—automatic, and happening beyond our conscious awareness. It has become so deeply embedded and represents ‘the way things are’ due to three factors that have shaped it.

The first is human tendencies with respect to power—put simply, when granted, we tend to use it over others. Second, in its earliest forms, the proponents of Power Over co-opted the critics, establishing new forms of bureaucracy and control in the name of overcoming its flaws. They made its practices less dangerous but have not fundamentally changed its nature or character. More recently, the prevalence of well-being initiatives is a good example of this—they address valid needs and concerns, but often with additional layers of bureaucracy and control.

Finally, two communities have, and continue to, reinforced the paradigm and its use—the community of executives whose experiences and perceptions have been entirely formed and informed by Power Over and the community of educators and educational institutions that are steeped in Power Over constructs, models, and approaches.

Q. How limiting is it in terms of creating value?

The goal of Leading Through is thriving people and thriving organisations—for long-term vitality and viability. I have met many executives and managers who defend their Power Over tendencies as necessary to ‘get the most out of the people’ they are working with. To them, Power Over isn’t limiting, it’s the key to productivity.

And for good reason, in fact it works to create certain types of value (economic, financial), often a lot of it for those in positions where power is consolidated. It is also true that it works to limit and even destroy other types of value (relational, health, well-being), often a lot of it for those doing the bulk of the work. That’s the primary limitation of Power Over— its stifling of human potential—and we have a tendency to revert to it, even in the face of the full hope and promise of a different way.

Q. From Power Over to Power Through—what does this shift entail for leadership?

Leadership is the work of mobilising people in a process of action, learning, and change to improve the long-term viability and vitality of the organisation in three ways—people find more meaning in their work and lives; purpose is more fully realised; productivity is strengthened. It is achieved both through and for the benefit of people. This casts the work of leadership as both deeply human and personal, and business success (productivity) as an outcome of having first taken care to help people thrive in their work and their lives.

Bob Chapman and the story of Barry-Wehmiller (BW) is a good example of this in action. It started with a re-frame of how they measured success: From the focus on the bottom line to the impact the organisation is having on people’s lives—the lives of everyone the organisation touches, from team members and customers to vendors and bankers. To reinforce this shift, Bob Chapman, BW CEO, embraced a concept called THL—Truly Human Leadership—and established two flagship learning and development programmes to teach it to the entire organisation. The result is an approach to leadership that has transformed the organisation and enabled the people it touches and the organization itself to thrive.

Q. Soul, heart, mind—how do these personal dimensions come into play in this framework?

We chose the metaphors of the soul, heart, and mind to reinforce that leadership is fundamentally about people. The metaphor of the soul reminds us that leadership is about doing good and making things better. That of the heart reminds us that leadership is about helping people thrive. The metaphor of the mind reminds us that leadership is about enabling freedom of action, innovation and initiative—as close to the work as possible.

Also read: Why creativity is important for success in business

Q. What are the principles of ‘modularity’?

The principle of modularity allows a system to be organised into components (“modules”) that work well as a whole but can be designed independently. We each carry a modular system with us in our pockets—our smart phones (system) and the apps (modules) we use on them are the perfect example. Modularity is valuable because it makes freedom of action—initiative, innovation—within groups working on modules possible while at the same time ensuring that defined and visible specifications for modular integration ensure a cohesive whole. In this way, modularity is a principle of both freedom of action and unity.

Q. How does it help in building teams that enjoy both freedom and unity?

Teams are the ‘modules’ in the system and serve to structure how work is organised. They are supported by a flat, enabling hierarchy whose entire aim and focus is to support autonomy and decentralised decision-making. In this way, as part of a team (module), everyone is encouraged and expected to take initiative to address issues or pursue opportunities when they observe them. And they have the freedom of action to do so because unity is achieved through access to visible information.

Q. Empathy, employee engagement, productivity—how would you connect the three?

Leadership empathy is a key driver of actions that strengthen employee engagement, which, in turn, is a key driver of actions that improve productivity. We identify empathy as one of the leadership touchpoints or outcomes of the Leading Through paradigm—in this case, the heart of leadership. What this means is that where you have empathy in the lived, felt experiences of the workforce in your organisation, you can have some confidence that the heart of leadership is well activated. But it is only one of the eight touchpoints; empathy alone does not indicate that you have made the shift. It is nonetheless a strong indicator, and progress with respect to empathy (or any of the other leadership touchpoints) typically leads to progress in other areas of the paradigm as well.

Q. How does the thrust on ‘personal agency’ foster creativity and innovation?

A defining characteristic of Leading Through is the prevalence of initiative undertaken across the organisation—proactive, creative work aimed at solving or preventing problems and capturing opportunities to make things better. This requires tapping into our innate capacity to innovate and create. In fact, fuelling this capacity is something we highlight in the LIVE framework. L is for love (connection, belonging); I is for inspiration (learning, growing, becoming); V is for vitality (personal energy that energizes others); and E is for expression (voice and creativity). Expression represents our fundamental human need for creativity and when animated through the lens of the other elements, innovation through initiative is possible. But only insofar as we can exercise the freedom of action to do so—our personal agency. This freedom is key to unlocking our full capacity and potential.

Q. How crucial is ‘purpose’ in the context of conscious consumption and changing employee mindsets?

I think purpose is deeply relevant, in the first case, to position an organisation to compete in the context of conscious consumption. But, all the more so, it serves to engage and connect the workforce as partners in its stewardship of this cause.

In Leading Through, purpose is a core element of the soul of leadership. And it defines the ultimate ends of the organisation—its reason for being. When clearly articulated with specific aspirational aims, it has the power to create a powerful community of people—employees, customers, neighbours, etc.—who feel a deep sense of connection to it and who are motivated to act in its service.