Event review by Alicia Schulz, ODA Member
It was great to welcome Julie Diamond PhD, back to ODA as our September special guest. Julie is an international speaker, author, and leadership consultant whose knowledge and passion for Power Intelligence is clear. Now based in Oregon in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, Julie has a great passion for Australia, spending many years visiting and previously living in Wollongong. She gave kudos to Australia for leading the way with Occupational Health & Safety legislation that holds people in power in organisations accountable for workplace behaviour.
Using Power Intelligence®, her framework for understanding how power operates and how it affects us, Julie shared how power, the most defined concept in social science, can both influence and derail us. It’s not just what leaders do, what they don’t do has an impact and with power there are side-effects. People can doubt their perceptions, be afraid to speak up, play it safe, be more agreeable and accommodating.
When someone becomes a leader, people typically change towards them, consciously or unconsciously. So newly promoted leaders may not receive accurate feedback; they may consider silence means agreement resulting in them working with the blind spot of power and leaving them vulnerable.
What’s clear is the power of great leaders lies in their capacity to build great teams. Teams that consider performance, reputation, keeping the right people, fostering development opportunities, creating robust, transparent, and enforceable policies and a ‘speak up’ culture. There is power in designing systems that move us in the right direction and trigger the right behaviours – the habitat of power.
It was a thought-provoking session that had us reflecting on how the principles of Power Intelligence play out in workplaces and other systems we are part of, and the impacts, both positive and negative, of the behaviours of people in power have.
The good news is our Power Intelligence is a set of learnable competencies that we can use to use power ethically and effectively, unleashing the intelligence and engagement of the organisations we’re in.
And the co-conspirator of power – the habitat of systems that shape our behaviour exemplified by the chocolate bar I am often tempted to reach for just as I’m about to pay at the supermarket checkout… well, this left me curious about what other things in my environment shape my behaviour (consumer and otherwise). Now armed with the concept of Power Intelligence, I will be more conscious of how I can leverage the power of designing systems that move myself and others in the right direction and trigger desired behaviours (that don’t involve buying (too much) chocolate!).
ODA members, note: A recording of Julie’s session is available to you via the membership portal; just log on to the ODA website. Another great reason to be an ODA member! Join now!