Dominance Displays: Subtle to the Not-So-Subtle

In Australia, it’s the season of grand finals of two major football codes. Because I grew up in a part of the country where Australian Rules Football is popular, that’s the code I follow. Last Saturday afternoon I settled in to enjoy the grand final of the premier competition. There were two remarkable features of the game. The first was the game itself with a nail-biting finish. The second remarkable feature was the primal male dominance display when the winning players received their victory medals. ?

Collingwood won the game. After the game, the victorious 23 players were called in-turn up to the stage to receive their winners’ medal. Immediately upon having their medal and lanyard hung around their neck, more than half the players turned to the adoring crowd and gave a primal physical dominance display. You know the one: legs shoulder-width apart with knees slightly bent, upper body angled forward, fists clenched in front of the midriff, elbows out with biceps bristling, mouth wide open with teeth bared and the bellowing of an indecipherable roar. I know the players’ joy must have been immense and the release of pressure that comes with victory hard to contain, but why show it in this way? And why on stage half-hour after the game finished as against when the siren sounded to end the game and the unrestrained joy triggered at that moment?

Apart from male sporting events, the last time I witnessed such a display was watching male chimpanzees at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo as they contested for dominance – with the flipside of dominance being submission.

In fact, there’s a third remarkable element of the situation. To accompany this newsletter I tried to find an image of one of the Collingwood players receiving their medal. The photos never made it to the Internet. My hypothesis is that the powers that be at the Australia Football League headquarters decided the players’ display was ugly and unfavourable to the cosmetics of the game. The media manager probably instructed the press not to use the photos. Given that at an event of 100,000 people there must have been tens of photographers, it’s remarkable that not one image of the medal display was used. Any outlet that used the image might have risked having their privileges revoked next time.

What’s the relevance of this to workplaces? There is a suite of basic human behaviour that shows itself, sometimes subtly. There was nothing subtle about the Collingwood players’ behaviour, but at work the displays are generally contained. But nevertheless they are there and they signal superiority and power. Dominance displays at workplaces include who sits at the head of the table? Who gets the corner office, or indeed any office at all? Who gets into the lift first? Who interrupts others when they speak? Who bangs the desk? Who points their finger? Who sends the curt email? Who reveals frustration and anger versus containing such emotional displays? Who intrudes on other people’s space? Who leans back in their chair with fingers clasped behind their head (worse if shirt underarms are discoloured)? The purpose of a power display is to dominate the other person or the group.

Knowing about dominance displays helps a person read the signals for what they are. It helps avoid being disoriented by the behaviour. If we read others’ behaviour then we can make our own choices from a position of control. Sometimes it’s appropriate to avoid a contest; sometimes not. The point also, for those people in high-power positions, is to avoid dominance displays that serve to intimidate others.

The nearest image to one that I wanted to use for this newsletter was the display by Collingwood player, Billy Frampton (pictured). Billy’s display was muted, like a boy’s imitation of the real thing. Maybe that’s because Billy is a fringe member of the squad and had been called into the team in the final week to substitute for an injured player. Maybe it’s because Billy, while he kept his opponent quiet, didn’t feature greatly in the game so he didn’t have a valid claim to display. ?