With Allies (High Agreement/High Trust)

Affirm both the relationship and your agreement about the school.  Discuss shared doubts and vulnerabilities and ask for advice and support.

With Opponents (High Trust/Low Agreement)

Affirm the relationship, and state your own position on the school issue.  Check out your perception of their differing position.  See if you can find a way to problem-solve together.

With Bedfellows (High Agreement/Low Trust)

Affirm the agreement on the school issue.  Acknowledge that reasons for caution exist, and then try to be as clear as possible about what you’d want from your bedfellow in terms of working together.  Ask what (s)he wants from you.  See if you can reach agreement.

With Fence-Sitters (Low Trust/Unknown Agreement)

State your position on the school issue and ask where the fence-sitter stands.  Press gently for an answer if they delay.  Ask the fence-sitter to let you know what it would take for him/her to support your position and work with you.

With Adversaries (Low Agreement/Low Trust)

State your position on the school issue.  Check out your understanding of their position.  Own up to your own contribution to the disagreement.  Let the adversary know your plans and end the meeting with no demand.

 Here it is - A key to the success of 'Teacher Leadership" - Leaders who have little or no 'Positional Authority'

SYNOPSIS OF “DEVELOPING ANTIDOTES FOR BUREAUCRACY”

(Chapter 3 from The Empowered Manager by Peter Block)

Please read the original if these ideas intrigue you!

Think of politics as the pursuit of power (to get what you want to happen).  How much you have is a function of both  1) position in the hierarchy, and     2) your state of mind.  Though positional power is real, it is routinely overrated, while the impact of state of mind is underrated.

Positional Power

To illustrate how people at the top of a hierarchy can feel as powerless as those at the bottom, Block tells of a personal experience in which he discovered that every supervisor in a corporation’s chain of command, up to and including the CEO, felt frustrated and blocked from getting what he wanted – by each other.  Educators may recognize the school equivalent if we think of parents who blame teachers, teachers who feel powerless with the principal, principals who would do the right thing if the central office allowed them to and superintendents who are threatened by public opinion.  In reality, Block says, the apparent power of those at the top is much less than absolute.  What they can do from the top down depends on the will and whim of those below.  While they can use their authority to tighten up or limit the organization, the only way they have to encourage an organization to open up, invent or learn/evolve is to coax people below to assume leadership. 

State-of-Mind Power

The state of mind which multiplies power (at any position in the hierarchy) is an entrepreneurial one:  it involves deliberately and systematically countering the feelings of vulnerability, helplessness and loss of control that bureaucracies arouse.  It rests on three assumptions:

1)   Our survival is in our own hands.  We take full responsibility for our situation.  No one else is to blame.

2)   We have a purpose (larger than paying the mortgage).  The meaning we make of our lives matters.

3)   We commit ourselves to achieving that purpose, not just wishing for or talking about it.

Changing The “Deal” We Make With Our Employer

When we take these assumptions seriously, we re-negotiate (unilaterally) the bureaucratic “contract” we have with our organizations.  Instead of seeing our job as submitting to authority, we choose to be our own authority, assuming that each person in an organization has an obligation to make choices that are best for the school.  We still need to connect with, get information from and explain our choices to our bosses, but we assume that we were hired to use our judgment.  Secondly, instead of limiting what we can say to the party line, we choose to put into words our real thoughts and feelings.  We still need to do that in a spirit of respect, curiosity and dialogue, but we won’t shy away from what looks like a truth from our point of view because it will put us or someone else on the spot, or create a fuss.  And finally, we choose to make voluntary commitments to do what we believe in, instead of taking whatever we think we can get.  This minimizes the hidden bargains involved when someone subordinates what they want or need now, presumably in exchange for future benefits (usually unstated and often the source of bitterness and disappointment).  These propositions sound breathtaking or dangerous, but Block makes a convincing case for the argument that, far from blowing an organization apart or getting oneself fired instantly, done reflectively they can re-introduce meaning, integrity, passion, real connections and mastery into our work lives.

The External Payoff

Claiming our power through this “entrepreneurial” state-of-mind positions us (wherever we stand in the hierarchy) to use authentic tactics to ask for what we need (on behalf of our mission) from whomever can give it to us.  It means we can “manage upwards”  by treating our boss as a sort of banker or board member, to whom we take proposals on behalf of our own entrepreneurial “business” that we’re responsible for.  We think what (s)he needs and see what we can offer, within our own commitments, while asking directly and openly for what we need.  We’re willing to risk hearing the real answer.