HR Influencers: Unlocking the Power Within
‘Kola Otekalu
Awesome. So, thank you, very kind introduction, that one, but it’s my absolute privilege really just to share with you my insights on HR influencers and unlocking the collective power that we have.
It’s my hope that we will get a bit more comfortable with power as we go along, so starting with a few reflections around what power means in terms of having power versus being in power, exploring power as a source of leadership influence and the role of context and culture in all of that.
So, a few assumptions about power are natural to all of us. Many people believe that power is this outside in phenomenon that is granted onto someone from the outside as a form of supremacy, but that view is very problematic because real power is influenced, so HR has to have more of it.
Some insights. Power does not simply derive from a position or title. Power is very much situational, we have to unlock it by identifying and understanding the sources of power, and then fostering self-awareness to effectively deploy power.
So, what are the sources of power? What are the different types? Primarily direct, also known as positional and indirect, also known as personal powers. So my goal tonight is to help you get a better understanding, expand your knowledge, and we’re going to try to unpack that in detail.
So, positional power is also referred to as direct power because it relates directly to the organization and its hierarchy. So, the power sources in this category are legitimate power, which HR has, reward power, which we have, coercive power.
Legitimate power really derives from the belief that individuals have the right to enforce rules and expect compliance from other people, so this is the type of power base that you see in elections, social hierarchies, but it’s a very unstable source of power because it goes away.
Reward power is based on a system that compensates people for their ability to comply and follow instructions, so there’s a positive exchange there between compliance and rewards and the two types are tangible and intangible rewards.
Singalong. Tangible rewards, as the name implies, can be seen through salary increases and bonuses and promotions and all the things we do, but that’s very vulnerable because you can’t reward that way indefinitely. Intangible rewards, on the other hand, are unseen, praise, recognition, encouragement, and all that.
Coercive power is one of the more negative bases of power because it manifests from the belief that people get punished or manipulated for lack of compliance, so this can be abused, but used right, even this can be used to regulate damaging behaviors and culture in organizations.
And the two types are direct coercion, which is very much deliberate like the threat of punishment or indirect coercion, which is a bit more insidious and what people see power as, generally speaking, right?
So, let’s move to number two, the other type of personal power, which is indirect power. Here, the organization does not directly grant that power legitimately to someone, rather other people on the outside confer it to someone through their character, their values, or their actions.
The first type here is referent power. Referent power is role model power. Think of celebrities and influencers. Think of how much power their fans ascribe to them. So, HR and women in particular have been found to spend so much time using referent powers, so think about that for a minute.
Expert power is next up. It’s the use of expertise and knowledge to get other people to follow instructions, and the strength of that power source comes from high knowledge, high skill, but the limitation here is because expertise does evolve and it gets shared.
Last up, information power. It arises when someone is in possession of and controls information that is needed by other people. In HR, needless to say, we have plenty of informational power, which can be used for good or manipulated depending on the context.
So, outside of direct and indirect powers, we have all the types of power sources such as connection power. That relates closely to the power of networking and relationship building. Resource power is typically held by executives and leaders who have the power to allocate resources within their teams.
Also, person power, which is not to be confused with personal power because this relates to physical attributes like gender or height, nationality and such like, and presence power, which is the ability for someone to simply make themselves noticed or seen.
So, a few final thoughts. How do you derive power? Remember that you may have position or title, but still lack the ability to influence people around you, so influential HR goes beyond that and sees power as a platform to uplift organizations and its people. But understanding and diagnosing your organizational or cultural context is central to the effective deployment of power, but HR has this unique and privileged position to actually be able to access all of those power sources and harness and combine them.
So, finally, call to action, that power is influence, HR as agents of change in these times of global macro shifts and transformational trends that we see globally must embrace the full spectrum of these power sources to optimize and unlock the influence that we have. Thank you so much.
Watch ‘Kola delivering her session in the video on Vimeo >>>> DisruptHR Aberdeen 2.0 – April 24 2025 on Vimeo
