The Power Parallel: How to increase your leadership power

Power is vital to our everyday lives and society at large. Yet we rarely think about how power works or how it is generated. We flick on a switch, we have light. We plug in our phones, we have the world in our hands. The only time we think beyond this is if the power goes out for a minute, but it always comes back on. If we look behind the scenes at how electrical power is generated and delivered to our homes and businesses, we find that there is a highly complex system - with many moving parts - to ensuring that power is available when we need it.

You might be wondering… what does this have to do with leadership?

From working in the power industry for the past 15 years and learning all about electricity, I’ve come to believe that leaders can maximize their performance and grow their influence (aka “leadership power”) in much the same way as we create electricity. This is what I call the “Power Parallel”. To better understand where your personal and professional power comes from, and how to increase your power as a leader, we can look at how power – in the electrical form – is generated.

In simple terms, power plants generate electricity from a primary energy source. Power plants have a generator that is used to transform this primary energy into electricity. Power plants are interconnected to an electrical grid (power lines) where the electricity generated is then delivered to end use customers.

In real terms, this process of generating and transmitting electrical energy is highly complex and constantly evolving. Similarly, complexity and evolution are inherent to leadership. Notwithstanding, it is by looking at the basics of power generation that you can learn how to increase your success and effectiveness as a leader.

Energy Source

All power has a source. People get energy from the information and experiences they take in from the world around them. Much like there are different types of energy sources for power plants (including coal, natural gas, hydro, wind, solar, etc.), everyone has unique energy sources that are optimal for them to thrive.

It is important for leaders to understand what these optimal energy sources are. What do you love doing? What leaves you feeling drained? By simply bringing more awareness to the things that light you up, and bringing more of that energy into your life, you will begin to feel more energized and ready to tackle the challenges that come your way.

In my coaching practice, I often have my clients complete an “Energy Assessment” and track how they spend their time and energy in 15-minute increments for one week. I will admit this can feel like a tedious task for many busy professionals, but I promise it is worth it. Once you have a record of how you are spending your time and what leaves you feeling energized, you can assess what activities you would like to a) start, b) stop, or c) continue doing. Note, you likely will not be able to stop doing all activities that don’t exactly light you up (we all have obligations as adults and leaders), but the goal is to shift to spending more time on these activities. With this shift, you will notice an increase in your overall energy (that will help you generate power!).

Generator

Having optimized your energy coming in, you can then look at how you’re using that energy. Like a generator in a power plant, we each have a generating system - thoughts, beliefs, and skills - that processes our energy into power. The amount of power that a person can generate depends largely upon their mindset. When we let go and change the things that are not serving us, we step into a world filled with opportunities and possibilities. Like in a power plant, our generating system is critical to our performance and requires routine maintenance to avoid catastrophic failure.

A first step to increasing your power generation capacity is to assess your current state. What are your strengths that can propel you forward? What are the limiting beliefs that are holding you back?

Completing a leadership assessment can be extremely valuable in helping you to answer these questions. There are many online assessments available in the marketplace today including (but not limited to) Myers-Briggs, DiSC, and Leadership Circle. One assessment that I recommend for all my clients is the Positive Intelligence - Saboteurs Assessment which is a free online assessment that provides insight on how your thoughts and patterns may be sabotaging your performance, wellbeing, and relationships. 

Once you better understand your current generating system, you can identify specific areas to develop. You may wish to seek formal training or leadership coaching to help build your skills, transform your mindset, and increase your power.  

Interconnection

Now that you’ve generated more power, it’s time to bring your power to the people! This is all about communication and connection with the people around you (your audience, your customers, your team, etc.). When we look at the interconnection of power plants to the electrical grid, the most important factors include safety and reliability. These are critical for leadership as well.

Safety - With electrical power, physical safety is paramount. With leadership power, psychological safety is key. Psychological safety refers to feeling safe to speak up, make mistakes, and be oneself without fear of punishment, judgement, or consequence from others. People need to feel psychologically safe before they can reach their full potential and be effectively influenced. You can help ensure psychological safety as a leader by practicing both empathy and authenticity in your interactions.

Reliability – As electricity consumers, we expect reliable power first and foremost. We expect reliability from our leaders as well. We want to know that they will be there when we need them and we don’t want any surprises along the way. One way to enhance your reliability (besides meeting your commitments) is to have a clear vision and a set of core values to guide your decisions.

With these strategies, inspired by electricity, you can begin to increase your leadership power and light up the world!