Building Trauma Informed Workplaces — Collaboration
Effective collaboration is a non-negotiable in today’s workplace- being able to work well with others to achieve a goal is central to everyone’s role in an organization. However, effective collaboration so often alludes organizations and teams, and more often than not- it comes down to design.
Of course, interpersonal and relationship-based actions we can each take to approach collaboration more effectively are important. Still, because so much effective collaboration is hindered by structures, we will be focusing here for this article.
This is part four of the series on building Trauma Informed workplaces; if you haven’t read the introductory article, you can read it here.
As we build trauma informed workplace cultures, we are focusing on seven foundational principles based on work created by SAMSHA for trauma informed care.
These principles are as follows: Safety, Trust & Transparency, Community, Collaboration, Empowerment, Humility & Responsiveness, and Cultural, Historical, & Gender issues.
An imbalance of power is inherent to the traditional organizational design and most organizations follow some type of traditional hierarchical design. Power dynamics out of balance work against effective collaboration.
Addressing issues of power imbalance in an organization can be tricky, but it is imperative to build a trauma informed workplace culture. Traumatic experiences have an imbalance of power at play, thus addressing power dynamics is important as we seek to avoid triggering or retraumatizing survivors.
Understanding Power Dynamics in the Workplace
Power shows up in many places in our lives, and imbalances of power are at the heart of many challenging or unacceptable situations. Because power is ubiquitous, it is unsurprising it comes to play in the workplace.
It is also important to call out that the nature of the workplace itself creates power dynamics that complicate interactions and for that reason alone, addressing power dynamics is key to building a strong culture.
Unaddressed issues of power within an organization are a likely culprit when it comes to a toxic work environment because power shows up in many ways within organizations and often its effects are stealthy.
Positional Power
Positional power refers to the influence and authority based on an individual’s position or role. It is the ability to exercise control, make decisions, and direct the activities of others by virtue of their formal authority and organizational structure. Positional power is derived from a person’s position in the hierarchy rather than their personal qualities or expertise. It plays a significant role in shaping the dynamics of the workplace and impacting the behavior and performance of employees.
Anyone who’s ever worked with me has most likely heard me talk about positional power. Why? Well because it comes up in just about every interaction, even if it is subtle. Where there is a power imbalance, those who hold the greater power tend to overlook this fact- not out of malice, but a lack of awareness.
It’s difficult to recognize your own position of power in interactions. This is specifically challenging for new managers and leaders who may go from being peers to becoming leaders and the same actions and behaviors they took in prior roles now have much wider and new ramifications for them and their teams in the new roles.
Positional power is the most obvious and organizational structure-driven source of power within organizations, but there are many others that are also important for us to address.
Relational Power
Relational or connection power is derived from an individual’s relationships, networks, or alliances within or outside the organization. Having influential connections can provide access to resources, information, and opportunities, which can be used to influence others or achieve personal and organizational goals.
Think of that guy in marketing who’s married to the CFO’s sister- this is a great example of connection or relationships giving someone power. It could also show up as favoritism by a leader- note that open displays of favoritism are considered a dysfunctional power dynamic.
Reward Power
Reward power stems from an individual’s ability to provide incentives, rewards, or benefits to others.
One might think of an HR professional in this scenario as they have power related to pay and or bonuses to some extent in organizations. It could also be an assistant who has the power to provide access to the CEO’s calendar.
Coercive Power
Coercive power is the opposite of reward power and is based on an individual’s ability to impose negative consequences.
This could be someone you need to partner with refusing to collaborate with you unless it’s on your terms.
Power Derived from Expertise or Information
Individuals in certain positions may possess specialized knowledge, skills, or experience that gives them expert power. This power comes from others recognizing and valuing their expertise and seeking their guidance or advice. Access to valuable or critical information that others need or seek can also give individuals the power to influence decisions, shape opinions, or control the flow of information.
This list is not all-encompassing, and power imbalances can show up in a myriad of ways in work and beyond. These forms of power are often interrelated and can be used in combination to influence others and achieve desired outcomes.
Remember power itself is not bad, nor is it possible to completely eliminate these dynamics. The key is to ensure awareness of power dynamics and to ensure power is not being misused.
Power Dynamics have become even more complex in recent years with the increases in hybrid and remote workplaces. Consider, we tend to pay more attention to the person who is right in front of us and form connections more naturally in person. For that reason, leaders in hybrid or multi-office environments should pay special attention to how these dynamics can play into overall power dynamics and potential dysfunction on the team.
Tools to Mitigate the Effects of Power Dynamics
Reflect on Your Own Power
When it comes to tackling the negative side of organizational power dynamics, the best thing we can do individually is take time to reflect on our power within the organization and within our relationships at work.
Regardless of your role or level in the organization, I encourage you to take time to reflect here. Obvious positions of power, like being the CEO, are clear and therefore are easier to recognize. However, organizational power dynamics are complex and subtle imbalances of power can have a great effect on someone’s workplace experience.
If you are a manager or leader, you should absolutely make time to do this and I would encourage you to also seek feedback from trusted partners within your organization as well. We all have blind spots and as our power increases within an organization we move from making ripples to waves- having trusted feedback or a 360 can help you better understand your
You can also use this brief assessment from Harvard Business Review on your current relationship and awareness to your own power and if it is unknowingly corrupting you — HBR — Assessment Tool.
Practice Empathetic Leadership
Showcasing your humanity and leading with empathy is a great way to negate the effects of power imbalances. Make sure and be open and vocal about your humanity and fallibility. Model acts of vulnerability to the team and set an example. Engage your team with warmth and curiosity.
Ensure you are listening more than you speak and when you do speak, start by asking questions to stimulate discussions. As soon as you make your opinion clear, dissent will fall off and you may lose out on important discussion. When you do come to a decision or offer feedback, be as specific as possible, leaving no room for interpretation — which will likely be misinterpreted.
While it may be obvious that you should temper your disapproval or disappointment, the same is just as true for your approval. Be thoughtful about praise and avoid creating favoritism unintentionally. It is also important to make sure and reign in big personalities on your team that may overpower others’ voices- as the leader- make sure everyone’s voice is heard.
The chart below from Harvard Business Review is also a great tool for reframing power dynamics as a leader.
Minimize the Visibility of Your Power
When you have the most power in a room, most people know or figure it out quickly. That power can work against getting the best out of the team because they might be worrying too much about you or they’re making a good impression in front of you.
While not a panacea, minimizing the visibility of your power can help minimize this. Here are a few ways you can reduce the visibility of your power in a meaningful way:
- If you are in a meeting, have someone else lead or facilitate the agenda or conversation. This is handy for strategic or brainstorming sessions. I am a huge advocate for using an impartial facilitator for the most important discussions.
- Watch where you sit or position yourself in the room — not at the head of the table or the front of the room if you aren’t presenting. Even better- mix it up and make sure you are sitting by someone different or in a different spot often.
- Stay visibly engaged in any meeting or presentation you are in. This can be tough, but checking email or a notification on your watch in a position of power can be received as you’ve just yelled “THIS ISN’T IMPORTANT” in a megaphone.
Employee Listening & Voice
Forty-eight percent of surveyed team members said lack of involvement in decisions contributed to stress in the workplace. Ensuring all members of your team have an opportunity to contribute their thoughts to feedback and that the feedback is heard is key to creating an organization that prioritizes meaningful collaboration.
There are a variety of ways that you can ensure employees can speak up and be heard- coffee chats with leaders, anonymous surveys, feedback or grievance processes. The world is your oyster, design a way to hear from your employees that works best for your organizational culture.
That said, you must make sure you include two important pieces in this strategy. The first is equity- everyone has to have an equal voice. If you ignore some opinions or prioritize others- you’ve only reinforced the negative impacts of power dynamics.
Second- you absolutely have to do something with the feedback. Really. I’m serious.
Even if you simply acknowledge the feedback and that action cannot be taken (and I’d encourage a thoughtfully transparent ‘why’). When employees offer thoughtful feedback, and they feel like it just goes into a ‘black hole’ you risk more harm than good with soliciting feedback. Even if you are taking action but you don’t communicate and loop back, you are missing out here.
Organizational Design
Organizational structures all have their own sets of pros and cons and carefully selecting and crafting the correct structure for your organization is a significant undertaking with a lot to consider, beyond just ensuring that you are creating a trauma informed workplace culture.
Nevertheless, because organizational design plays directly into shaping power dynamics at work, we should discuss. I’ll outline a few structural options as they related to collaboration, but please note, organizational design is complex and nuanced, this is not an exhaustive list of options.
Traditional hierarchical structures push power to the top; the higher you are in the organization, the more power you have. These are among the most common structures in most industries.
There is also some nuance here as it gets to the role you play in the organization- operational roles or roles that make the organization significant profits tend to higher levels of power than other support-focused functions. However, this dynamic can vary widely from organization to organization.
With increasing complexity in the environment, more and more organizations have shifted to a matrix-style structure. While it still has a hierarchical power structure, it is a much more interconnected structure valuing relationships and requiring enhanced collaboration.
This type of structure requires a lot of support and clear expectations to work well, but it does a beautiful job of enhancing collaboration and minimizing power dynamics if executed well. For more complex organizations, this is an excellent structure to leverage to help build a trauma informed culture.
The structure least prone to complex power dynamics is a flat structure. This structure removes most hierarchy and focuses individuals or teams on important specialized work all rolling up to the CEO. This structure is incredibly difficult to scale as the CEO’s span of control can get quite out of hand. For smaller organizations, this can be a great place to start but could be prohibitive for larger or more complex organizations.
Despite the pros and cons of structure, there are ways to enhance collaboration and build trauma informed culture in any type of structure, it may just look different as power dynamics are appropriately addressed in each.
Collaborative organizations stand to benefit from a host of better results. Collaboration is also key to a trauma informed culture, importantly tackling the challenge of power imbalances and how those imbalances can be misused to harm or even traumatize others. By acknowledging and addressing power, you create a much better environment for everyone on your team.
Next week, we will be discussing one of the most important principles to building a trauma informed workplace culture- empowerment. Make sure to hit follow so you don’t miss it or the other articles.
