Our fourth tip for successful collaboration, from the book Tools to Save Our Home Planet, published by Patagonia.
Revisit Tip #3 here
Tip #4 - Manage Power Dynamics
Collaborations bring together groups with diverse histories, perspectives, priorities, and resources. Those histories include differences in power in relation to one another. Things that influence an entity’s power or status might include:
- The level at which they work (local, state, regional, national).
- The size of their budget (no budget, small budget, large budget).
- Whether they have access to others with power (a relationship with a decision-maker, a source of funding, or other large institutions).
- The size of their staff or volunteer base.
Likewise, the individuals who participate bring their own intersectional identities that have been influenced by the way society attributes power based on gender, race and ethnicity, age, economic class, or professional position.
Regional multi-use trail collaboration, participant observation:
“I think we don’t do as good a job of listening. Some of our leadership can be more forceful- they set a position and stick to it. When one does that, the emphasis is not on finding a course that works for everyone but on having everyone agree with your vision. The truth is that when people are more willing to trust, to give in, and to not be the authority on everything, we develop much better solutions as a coalition. Also, once people are willing to let others step up as leaders, then you’re building capacity and leadership.”
As leaders in collaborations, we can model ways to talk about power. We recommend that you name it, claim it, and develop systems to manage power well at each phase of the group’s development.
Actions to Address Power Dynamics:
- The first step for leaders is to pay attention to who is or is not using their personal influence and power. For example, who is speaking and how much time are they taking compared to others? Is there any pattern to who talks first or talks most, and does it correlate with people’s individual identities such as gender, race/ethnicity, age, position, or educational status? These patterns in society tend to show up in any group; stay observant about them so you can acknowledge them in one-on-one and group interactions, and shift strategies to better equalize engagement.
- Acknowledge the power dynamics that exist in your collaboration; effective leaders do this in a way that is nonjudgmental but helps everyone understand dynamics that may get in the way of progress. For example, naming power dynamics might sound like this: I’ve observed that the larger groups in our collaboration have been ~ more vocal in the last ten minutes of this discussion. Let’s take some time to go around the group and hear from everyone.
- Openly recognize that each organization has different levels and types of resources and create systems to use resources equitably. Likewise, be systematic about expecting all groups to share resources in a way that is commensurate with their ability.
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