3.3 Using Power Well Responses

Joshua Burkman posted

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“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (New International Version, 20022018, James 4:10). Humility is the greatest strength a leader can have, in my opinion. Northouse (2021) speaks about the five power bases: referent, expert, legitimate, reward, and coercive in his book Introduction to Leadership (p.317). Referent power is the type closely related to humility and the one that I strive to gain the most in my leadership journey. Sowards (2019) lists his four ways to build referent power as having a proven track record, modeling good behavior, demonstrating strong personal skills, and having a reputation for being fair (par. 6-9).

I can recall, once when I was a young airman, my supervisor had no humility about himself and often used coercive power and used it to intimidate new troops. Pup (my supervisor’s call sign) would consistently tell new airmen that he could discharge them for even the most minor infractions. On one occasion, I was loading ordinance (bombs) on an F-16c aircraft and was going to install a pin to lock it to the aircraft, but the pin would not go through the designed hole. In school, they informed us this was a common problem, and a ball socket was jammed, so we were advised to tap the back of the pin with a hammer. I grabbed a brass, NON-SPARKING, hammer from the toolbox and proceeded to seat the pin. Pup came out of nowhere screaming at me for using a brass hammer because I could damage it, and I needed to get a malleable (sparking) hammer. He took the hammer from my hands, and after looking, I informed him that there was not another hammer in the toolkit. After cussing me, he used the brass hammer himself and punched the pin in place. When we returned to the shop, he pulled me into the Chief’s office and reprimanded me for using the “wrong hammer,” and expressed that I should be kicked out of the military for being stupid. The Chief informed him I was correct, and he cussed, leaving the room, never apologizing for the altercation. This scenario was just one of many instances he used coercive power to fearfully make airmen do as he instructed regardless of being correct.

Pup’s leadership caused everyone to be on edge, and no one would admit to mistakes because they were afraid of his “power” over them. Bennis (2009) explains that “It is our most important obligation as followers to speak truth to power” (p. 225). However, my supervisor had stifled any desire to speak that truth needed. He could have established a referent power for himself if he had used more humility. He already had the position of authority, so he could have used legitimate power to influence others. Coercive power should be used rarely to punish someone for a significant infraction instead of often and as a threat.  

References

Bennis, W. (2009). On Becoming a Leader. Basic Books. http://www.mcs.gov.kh/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/On-Becoming-a-Leader_BOOK.pdf

The Maxwell Leadership Bible, New International Version. (2018). Thomas Nelson.

Northouse, P. G. (2021). Introduction to leadership (5th ed.). SAGE.

Sowards, M. (2019, October 4). How Do You Build ‘Referent Power’ Leaders In Your Business? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/10/04/how-do-you-build-referent-power-leaders-in-your-business/?sh=7573447b7a36

3.3 Using Power Well Responses

Scott Scherer posted

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Power is something I think many of us take for granted. Sometimes it can be easy to get, and other times it can be hard to get. Mr. Rick Miller said, "Power is available to everyone, no matter their position or title" (Miller,2018). I have seen people at the bottom of the hierarchy be more powerful than those at the top because of how they used their position or stand on something to motivate others to follow them.

            I worked at UPS loading the brown trucks. It was a normal warehouse kind of job being dirty and busy. There wasn't much leadership, but the manager we had was known to write people up if you didn't follow the rules he had. He used his coercive power to get done what he wanted to get done. The one rule that he was very admitted about was writing the truck's name on every box to help not load a box into the wrong vehicle. When you're first learning how to pack everything, that worked well, but once you were off training, the number of packages you had to load was too many to write on. One day a guy that had been there a little longer than I started not writing on the boxes. He said he had been off training long enough that he did not need to do that. He knew where each box needed to go. The manager, of course, did not like that, and in short, after a few conversations. That guy was able to develop an idea that keeps track of how many boxes you load and how many missed loads you had. Someone as low ranking as a pre-loader for loading the trucks was able to change a policy and implement a new way of doing things.

            Murphy, M. (2017, March 20). You Need To Know The 7 Types Of Power If You Want To Succeed. Forbes. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2017/03/19/you-need-to-know-the-7-types-of-power-if-you-want-to-succeed/

Miller, R. (2021, December 10). What Is Power, Really? Forbes. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickmiller/2018/10/25/what-is-power-really/?sh=3fcaa64f42a7