Power and Influence

Power and influence are intangible and ephemeral concepts but at the same time very real and important in any leadership/followership role. As indicated in Yukl's text "Leadership in Organization" power stems from many sources such as legitimate power, reward power, coercive power, referent power, expert power, information power, ecological power, lastly position and personal power. This is a lot of different types of power and, while it is strictly my opinion, I don't see leaders sitting around picking a type of power and then applying it to a situation. I do think that good leaders use different types of influence when called for, and a good leader may understand that referent power can be lost if the target loses affection for the agent. Good leaders may also know that coercive power may breed resentment. Other types of power such as expert and information stem from more technical prowess and information knowledge. These types of power are very handy but they may not be enough to gain promotion or additional responsibility. I believe that referent power coupled with expert power would be a winning combination for any leader. Add in a dash of charisma and I think one could be a great leader.


Power is used for many reasons such as achieving a unit goal or pursuing a strategic direction and it is expressed in many different ways. Power, in and of itself, is neutral it is how it is used that determines the "good" or "bad" of power. However, no matter what the end result of an application of power is; theory says that power is expressed through channels such as rational persuasion, apprising, and pressure. There are others and the underlying point of this post isn't to list them all but to illustrate that power has a type and a channel. The target of power will react to the type of power used, and also the channel through which it is channeled. Leaders need to be aware of the affects both can have.


As both leader and a follower I have experienced and used power and influence. As a non-commissioned officer I had positional and legitimate power but as a subject matter expert I also used expert power. However, as younger NCO I wasn't always the best at using power and as I grew as a leader I became better and gained more referent power. I had much better success with that type of power and I wish I had learned a few lessons faster than I had. Now I have clients that count on my expert power to help them get over barriers to employment. I have to say that I am a bit intimidated at times at the trust some of them place in me and I assure anyone reading this that I do not meant that in an egotistical way. It is actually quite humbling. I don't have any sort of legitimate power over the clients and in a way this is worse I have to rely only my skill and ability to persuade. You might say that I use rational persuasion quite a bit as a coach....and you would be incorrect. Many of my clients are immune to logic. Instead I have to find other motivational techniques to encourage them to reach goals.


Power and influence work two ways as well. I influence my boss to a certain extent as she trusts my work product as well as my knowledge. My clients also influence me in that I try to learn from each one of them and I often find myself learning new ways to approach the next client. I listen and change my approach based on what they are telling me. It is challenging and rewarding work.

A511.2.4.RB - Reflection Blog: Leadership Analysis

Take the opportunity to reflect specifically on Yukl's material on pages 63 through 72, Supportive Behavior.
Assuming that these leadership behaviors are appropriate at all levels of organizations, do you use these behaviors in your work with others? Subordinates? If so, how are they effective in producing results? If not, could they be added to your personal repertoire of leadership behaviors?

Supportive leadership is something that I find highly useful when case managing my clients. Many of them have, or have had, things that are holding them back from achieving goals. Specifically, I am there to help them gain meaningful employment but to do so I often have to help them with other issues as well.

For the most part, no one winds up at my desk if everything in their life is going peachy. They typically are seeking help and they've exhausted any other option; or never had other options. Either way, they come to me for some sort of guidance. In a way, I do become a mentor and a leader. I try to establish trust over a couple of meetings and then see where I can be of help. In a way I use Yukls' guidelines for supportive leadership with great frequency. A list of the most common guidelines I use would be:


1. Show concern for each person's development
2. Help the person find ways to improve performance
3. Be patient and helpful when providing coaching
4. Provide helpful career advice
5. Provide opportunities to learn from experience

These five guidelines are taken from Gary Yukl's Leadership in Organizations 8th Edition and are very useful to me in my daily activities.

No offense to Gary, but I was doing this before I read his book and I learned the hard way about negative leadership traits. As a new NCO I wasn't as supportive as I should have been and I created a bit of animosity between myself and subordinates. After not getting the results I needed I went back and re-evaluated my leadership style and found out that I was not very effective so I took the opposite tack. What I came up with was similar to Yukl's guidelines and I have had much better results. I think supportive leadership is a great way to let subordinates know that their needs and desires are important to you. By doing this they stay engaged in the developmental process.

A511.1.5.RB Leadership Reflection

The discussion of the intersection between leadership and management is one worth having. I argue that one cannot have one without the other. The two are not the same in that managers tend to deal with more work-a-day issues such as scheduling, conflict resolution, and other such tasks while leaders deal with more strategic vision and long-term goals and plans. I think in order to be a good manager one must be a good leader. Leadership, as a concept, has never been empirically defined. If that were the case there wouldn't be entire academic bodies of work all attempting to define leadership with no two agreeing with each other. This is all well and good, leadership is as much art as science and a guy can go nuts trying to pin down Dali's "Persistence of Time" why should leadership be any different? However, as a student of leadership I must have metrics, and terms, and things to group together and analyze. Determining between managers and leaders seems to me to separation for the sake of separation. Leaders that are poor managers never last very long. Adolf Hitler, the internet's favorite dictator, is a perfect example of a leader lacking managerial skills. On the other end of the spectrum you have managers that lack leadership skills. These rarely make it to the history books as their careers aren't noteworthy of study. I would wager that most of us have come across managers that aren't leaders. I know I've worked for a few. It is important to note that managers and leaders have different connotations but I think that they are two sides of the same coin. Leaders may inspire and motivate but they also have to manage, if only on a strategic level. I understand that there are differing schools of thought on this subject but my goal here is to reflect on my view of managers versus leaders. I prefer the view manager/leader. In this Ted Talk http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html the topic of Southwest Airline is discussed. One of the concepts regarding leadership was inspiring people to work even though at the outset pay at Southwest was lower than the competition. This is true, a leader needs to inspire towards a common goal and a shared vision. Here's the rub: people that can't pay their rent aren't interested in vision. People, at a certain level, take jobs because they like to eat every day. A gate agent for Southwest might receive less wages than one for Delta but it beats being homeless. As you move up the professional ladder the importance of vision and motivation becomes more important for retaining talent but once again, it only goes so far. MANAGERS understand job satisfaction relies on more than just being committed to a vision. This is why I argue you can't have one without the other and be successful. Leadership and managerial functions are intertwined. It looks great to say a leader hires managers to implement his vision, and that's true, but it takes managerial skills to manage the managers.