Personal power denotes the capability to influence or modify a result. From where does one obtain such power? Personal power does not imply how physically powerful one feels but the application of ideas, knowledge, and sentiments to perform in a manner that will ensure the satisfaction of own needs positively. In brief, one’s followers establish personal power. The self-worth of a person is directly associated with the ability to satisfy his/her needs positively or negatively. Personal power does not entail giving commands, issuing threats, or employing an excessive authority to coerce an individual to work in a certain way. Furthermore, it does not involve offering fuzzy directives where the words state one thing, but the conducts are very different.
To be triumphant in one’s workplace, one requires having the capability to control other individuals. This entails the development of personal power. On this note, one will desire thinking positively regarding what he/she does, listens, accepts, and carries out as planned. This could encompass swaying another person to provide one with an occupation or promotion, presenting a major project where the contribution or assistance of others is paramount, or even advocating one’s proficiencies and abilities to other more high-ranking individuals. Little can be attained devoid of personal power as it gives one the capacity to influence others for enhanced success.
Amid the major means of promoting higher influence is concentrating on the creation of one’s personal power. Personal power does not entail politics; thus, one does not need to be a politician to develop more power into his/her place of work, and one does not require betraying his/her uprightness. Powerful individuals easily sway others. Such people can stimulate achievement, get followers, and develop into leaders devoid of seizing a title. Personal power is different from an authority, which hails from the position one has in a group. Every person exercises power, but some do it in a more superior way. If a person desires to enhance his/her power, he/she has to identify that it occurs in dissimilar aspects. There are dissimilar kinds of power that an individual could hold.
One example of personal power is expert power. Individuals having expert power hold expertise and proficiencies that others may desire to apply or imitate. A skillful employee that understands all the oddities of the tools holds expert power. New employees offer respect to such a skillful worker and follow his/her guidance. The people in the executive positions may also depend on the expert to the point of seeking guidance. For example, a professional on the acculturation of an organization may be a precious consultant to the executive directors that are too far detached to comprehend the culture of the organization.
The second example is referent power. This power is associated with an individual’s likeability, personal appeal, or attributes. In the workplace, employees desire is linked to the employee that his referent power. An employee that has referent power could set the manner of conduct since others desire to share in the power. The other employees might act like the power-possessor and respond in the manner that they believe the power-possessor might. In this regard, the employee with referent power has a position that acts as an influence.
The third and fourth examples are the reward and coercive powers. Reward power is generated when an individual provides awards to his/her followers for the successful completion of undertakings. Such an occurrence could be when a worker exceeds the sales target and wins cash prizes or gets acknowledgment at the organization’s meeting. On this note, reward power requires followers to believe that they will be awarded and make efforts to obtain the awards.
Coercive power appears contrary to reward power. When an individual holds this kind of power, they will enforce a fine if their followers fail to perform as intended. A good instance could be when a worker fails to reach the sales target and is compelled to work each Saturday for a given period. Similarly, coercive power requires followers that will believe that they will be penalized and put efforts to escape the penalty.
These two kinds of powers are characteristically grouped as operations of authority in the place of work where the manager applies the powers though other directors and employees could employ them as personal power. For example, peer influence in the workplace could be a coercive power. Moreover, the organization’s secretary could exercise these kinds of powers through refusing or allowing access to the director.
In conclusion, concentrating on one’s improvement in creating increasing rates of personal power will mean that, with time, one will turn less reliant on the application of force and seek to generate influence for success in the workplace. People with personal power do not require being excessively commanding, although they could, at times, do. The key to personal power is recognizing one’s capabilities or expertise and having the confidence to sway others in the workplace. This makes everyone gain while strengthening success in the workplace.