Transforming How Power Works

The greatest distinction between centralized, top-down hierarchies and self-managed, peer-to-peer networks is the way power works in these markedly different organizational models. That’s because these two different models tap into radically different aspects of power. In hierarchies, power belongs to those in charge. Thus, the capacity to take action belongs to an elite few who are invested with command-and-control authority over subordinates who are expected to follow the direction and orders of their supervisors.

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The integral dynamic for how power works in top-down organizations is coercive power, which means bosses can legitimately exercise force to cause employees to behave in ways they would otherwise not choose. Accordingly, coercive power uses fear and control to keep employees compliant. When power over people is the prevailing practice for getting things done, it fosters a work environment where the small number at the top feel powerful, and the vast majority of workers see themselves as powerless. Perhaps this explains why, according to the Deloitte Shift Index, 80 percent of people are dissatisfied with their jobs.

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On the other hand, in self-managed networks, power belongs to the connected. The more people you are connected to, the more powerful you are, and the more connections there are among team members, the more powerful the team is. In networks, because there are no bosses or subordinates, everyone is considered a contributor and has the capacity to take action. Without bosses, the voices of all participants on a team matter. Everyone can share their ideas on how to organize and perform their work, and the distribution of tasks is mutually agreed upon by all team members.

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In self-managed networks, the exercise of coercive power is nonexistent because no single individual has power over another. The source of power in networks is derived from a very different aspect of power. Rather than employing force to get things done, the source of power in networks is energy.

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In physics, energy is the ability to do work. In self-managed networks, the ability to do work is accomplished through the emergent energy that flows from the interaction of teams of collegial contributors who combine the best of their ideas and skills to achieve extraordinary performance. This emergent energy is synergistic power. When organizations fully invest in power with people by honoring all voices, encouraging diversity of opinion, and leveraging the collective intelligence of everyone on their various teams to solve the problems and paradoxes of delivering the business, they create a powerful enterprise far greater than the sum of its parts.

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Organizations that leverage synergistic power have a distinct competitive advantage in the marketplace. That’s because self-managed networks are designed to engage in the iterative discovery that enables team members to rise above their innate biases and learn from each other. This knowledge enables organizational networks to adapt more quickly to changing circumstances than their hierarchical counterparts, whose employees are often powerless to change course because unconscious biases blind a stubborn individual leader.

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Because synergistic power is energy, it cannot be confined to certain individuals or levels. All voices matter, and all relationships are collegial. According to Margaret Wheatley, author of Leadership and the New Science, “When power is shared in such workplace designs as participative management and self-managed teams, positive creative power abounds.” This positive energy is what makes synergistic power far more effective than coercive power for accomplishing the work of an organization.

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It's important to note that engaging in synergistic power does not mean you always get what you want. However, it does mean you will always have a voice, and your voice will be heard. There is no censorship or manipulation of information in peer-to-peer networks. Unlike top-down hierarchies that silence dissenting voices to promote uniformity of thought to "get everybody on the same page,” networks welcome diversity of opinion because it’s a far more effective path to mutual agreements that will work. Even though you may not get your way after you’ve been heard, as long as the group’s solution works, most people will agree to go along.

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To learn more about creating more powerful organizations, see my new book Nobody Is Smarter Than Everybody: Why Self-Managed Teams Make Better Decisions and Deliver Extraordinary Results.