Leadership Ripples with Leah Fink

42 - Operating in a Flattened Hierarchy

• Leah Fink • Season 1 • Episode 42

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What if rethinking power dynamics could transform your workplace? Join us as we dive into the fascinating world of managing teams within organizations aiming for flattened hierarchies. Together, we unpack the deeply rooted nature of hierarchical structures in society and explore the pivotal role of power dynamics in professional relationships. Come learn the importance of understanding and ethically navigating power, in order to best support your team, and create meaningful change.

Can you navigate the tricky waters of trying to flatten hierarchy while being in a leadership position?

If you want to understand how to best support your team while decreasing power differentials, this is the episode for you!

To have your questions answered on the show, submit your story here: https://allthrive.ca/share-your-story

Leadership Ripples with Leah Fink is live every week at 12:00pm MST.  Please join us to get answers to your leadership questions! https://www.linkedin.com/in/leah-fink-all-thrive/

Speaker 1:

Every action you take as a leader has a ripple effect, starting with your team, going out to the organization and even out into people's personal lives. Here we offer you the chance to learn from real-life stories of leadership so you can gain a deeper understanding and level up your own skills From communication to culture, to power and equity, to feedback, to resolving conflict and more. Join us and make sure you're creating the ripples you want. Welcome to Leadership Ripples with Leah Fink.

Speaker 2:

Hello and welcome to Leadership Ripples with Leah Fink. Today we are going to be discussing how you can manage your team when you're trying to move away from a hierarchical structure. Rp shares their story with us. I work for a small non-for-profit as a supervisor. Our organization prides itself on not being overly hierarchical. They talk about how everyone on the team is equal and important to the organization running properly. I don't disagree that everyone is important, but I'm having a hard time with the idea of I'm still supposed to be a supervisor, but I'm also supposed to treat my employees like they're on the same level as me. I feel like I get judged by my manager if I do anything that has me being authority figure to my staff, but also I'm still supposed to be guiding my team. It's wearing me down and I think my staff are also frustrated by it. What can I do down, and I think my staff are also frustrated by it. What can I do? Rp, thank you so much for sharing your story and I can certainly see how this would be a frustrating or tiring situation. You're highlighting a challenge that I think a lot of leaders are going through right now, which is how to balance this kind of flattening of a hierarchy, while still having some sort of organizational structure. And you may not realize it, hierarchy is just so ingrained in our society, and especially in our view of jobs and the positions that we take on, and part of the reason for that is because power is so present in all our lives, all our relationships, and we are not always aware of how that's operating.

Speaker 2:

And you may have noticed if you've listened to the show before, I talk a lot about power, and a lot of my perspective is based on the right use of power. So I want to give them a shout out If you have not looked them up yet. If you search for the Right Use of Power Institute, you can learn a lot more. For me, this was a way of looking at the world that completely shifted how I approached people. A way of looking at the world that completely shifted how I approached people, how I did my work and understanding the impact that power has on relationships was just revolutionary. So I very much encourage you to go and learn a little bit more about them and support them, because it is truly a phenomenal way of looking at the world. That's what I do in my work with leaders and teams. That's why we talk about power so much, and power is just the ability to influence or create some sort of change. So it's not good or bad, but there's different levels of ability to influence in all our relationships and that's what basically creates these power dynamics that we live in.

Speaker 2:

Now, of course, there's different types of power that we can have, and so it can be complex to look at the interplay of how this all appears in our lives and relationships, personally and professionally. And the problem is, when we look at a story like today is when you talk about flattening hierarchy but you don't understand this power, you don't understand this complexity, it can often end up with a negative impact or an impact that we didn't hope for, because a lot of people, when they look at flattening hierarchy, they don't actually look at how they're going to dismantle and recreate the systems of power that are in the workplace, let alone some of these societal pieces of power dynamic that are very present in our lives and how we see the world. So, rp, let's look at your organization, and I'm going to make an assumption based on this question, that they're not 100% done with figuring out this work solely for the fact that your question exists. There's still some confusion here and if you're speaking about having a manager who might be judging you on how you interact with your staff, there's at least already a couple levels of power dynamic that exist in this organization. It's not fully flat, they're just working to flatten, be less hierarchical in how they operate. So you're operating still in a system where you have to report to someone, as it were, that has more power and influence than you and you have people that you have more power influence than and that probably that part probably feels comfortable to us, because that's the kind of system you probably came from in the workplace and many other workplaces operate on and, once again, it's not a bad thing to have that and it's not a bad thing to want to shift how this looks in the workplace. We want to change that dynamic maybe and the challenge really comes in based on the reasons and how we execute this.

Speaker 2:

So there could be some uncomfortability with power. A lot of people actually are very uncomfortable with power and that's very understandable If you look at all the misuses and abuses of power that we see in the media every day and you think of all the responsibility that and abuses of power that we see in the media every day and you think of all the responsibility that you have to take on when you're in a position of power, when you have this influence over someone else in some part of their life. That can be really daunting, of course it is, but when we're daunted and uncomfortable and worried about abusing power, the last thing we need to do is a little bit of sticking our head in the sand and trying to pretend that the power just doesn't exist, like if we ignore it or try to not interact with it, that'll just go away. That's not what happens at all, and so, even though it's not our intention, that's usually what happens when people try to flatten the hierarchies or distribute power. They're not actually fully conscious of everything that's going on, so they just end up kind of ignoring, and it ends up in this limbo that it sounds like you're experiencing a little bit of RP and RP. Of course you're not the head of your organization. Obviously there are layers of dynamic above you, and so there are big pieces of this that you're not able to change. You're looking at how you can operate in the system where they want equity and equality, but there is not full equality.

Speaker 2:

But let's look at a couple things that you can do from your position of first. Focus on what resources you have already. So what was introduced to you when you first started with the organization? Was there any specific training or support around creating an equal workplace that was given to you or that you still have an access? Maybe and what does your job description say? Do you have a good sense of kind of what's outlined, what the expectations are, because these are all great places where you can start asking questions from when you have as much information as you can possibly have now you're going to seek out other resources for that.

Speaker 2:

So let's say, for example, you have a great job description. It gives you some of the requirements of your job. So it tells you what tasks you need to accomplish as a supervisor specifically. So, for example, maybe you are responsible in some way for your team's performance or their outcomes or their development. That would be a good example where there is an expectation that you use the power that's inherent in your role and, once again, this doesn't have to be a bad thing if we're interacting with it in a conscious, healthy way. So now that you have this, there's a couple things you can do with this information. You could speak to your manager and ask how they uphold this equal dynamic while also supporting staff performance. Maybe they actually have already had this discussion with other people in the organization and they have some suggestions on how to do this in a way that feels really equal to them, and you can do this with all parts of your role.

Speaker 2:

As you start to look, you can continue to question how they can be handled in more equal ways, and even if you have a good relationship with your manager and you think they might be open to this, you can point out maybe some of these inconsistencies of. I've been told that I need to create an equal environment and I've also been told that I need to fulfill these certain requirements, and you can talk to them about what that looks like and see how they respond. And you can even mention, of course, that your staff seem to be confused or frustrated by a little bit of this dichotomy or inconsistency that's happening. Maybe there's even specific behaviors that they would know about that are more or less helpful to create a sense of equality. And now just be careful when you hear about behavior. Sometimes that can be about really actually being helpful in creating this equal space and distributing power in a healthier way, or they can be about masking the power that still exists. So I'll leave that up to you to look at that balance.

Speaker 2:

But you may get to make a decision on how deep in this discussion you get to go with your manager or other people that support you. Remember there is still a power dynamic, so you still have that vulnerability that this person is your leader. So you get to decide how deep and how willing you are to engage in a discussion like this. But we've identified this power exists in the workplace. We've used the information and the resources we have, like our supervisor, to try to understand it better, to question some things. And now let's go to looking at our team and how you can be supporting them, no matter what you're getting from your organization, because even though there may not be fully equal relationships in the organization, there are ways to work with your team to lessen the power dynamic in a healthy way and hopefully not frustrate them at the same time.

Speaker 2:

Now I like to think about this using more or less power, kind of like an elastic, and there are times you might need to stretch the elastic and use a lot of your power, overuse your power. Maybe there's an emergency in the office and your team looks to you for what to do and you're just going to tell them very directly and they're going to do it. That's a great use of power, right? And that's a time you certainly would want to use your power like that, and there are other times when you really want to flatten that elastic as much as it can possibly go and try to create a very small power dynamic, and that's what we're talking about here. So let's look at some of the places you can be doing that.

Speaker 2:

Are there decisions that can be handed off to individual team members or the team that you don't need to be a part of? That? You don't even need to give your input. Now, don't give them a decision to make that you do need to have an input in, or that you do have something in mind or a certain thing that they have to do. It's no, they have to have be able to have full autonomy over that. Then, once that happened, you have to trust them and let it go. Are there tasks that you can fully assign to someone and that you don't even need to confirm that the task is done or give them feedback about it. Maybe another team member does.

Speaker 2:

Or even to our earlier example if you're looking at staff performance, where you do have to give feedback, how could you create a power dynamic? That's less. You could ask them for specific feedback. Maybe you're everyone's giving each other feedback, right? There are different systems where we can take this from a very strong I am a leader giving you feedback to. Okay, this is an opportunity for both of us to give each other feedback. Maybe the team to give each other feedback, for both of us to give each other feedback. Maybe the team to give each other feedback. So those are again lessening those power structures, while not denying they exist and not pretending like they don't impact us at all.

Speaker 2:

And, of course, you can find spaces where you can give this influence and ability to create change to anyone on your team. And, like I said, then the important part is you need to step back and you need to trust them and ensure there's no part of this that you're still holding on to as the leader and that you're holding on to the power in the situation. And if this is another place where you need to approach your manager and say, I think I might be responsible for this outcome, but to create this more equal space, I want to try giving this employee that ability. You get that, go ahead. You have extra support that might really help out as well. So here's where your role as a supervisor can become about providing clear instructions, about providing the structure. Make sure everything is really clear and understood for them and then back off so they can operate more autonomously from you.

Speaker 2:

Now this is a challenging place to try to create this kind of change from the middle of an organization.

Speaker 2:

You're responsible for taking care of your team and managing the dynamics as they exist in the best way for them, but you may not have the ability to change some of the larger pieces in the organization that do impact them, and in that way, your role is similar to so many other middle managers who are trying to create change and trying to support their teams and not getting everything that they need from their management.

Speaker 2:

Hopefully, if your organization is one that's trying to approach this from a really healthy place of caring and supporting staff, that they will be open to having some more of these conversations about what that really looks like, maybe you challenging a little bit about how this hierarchy exists and how you can work within that while still acknowledging the power, and that, hopefully, will have a better result for you.

Speaker 2:

Now, rp, I hope this gives you some ideas and I am really looking forward to our discussion, because this is a really complex thing to try to discuss on a short show. We definitely need some time to dive into it further and if you are listening any other leaders who are listening and you want to talk and dive into this further, I'd be happy to connect. There are links for that down below and please feel free to do that because I would be happy to. And, as a reminder to all our listeners, if you have a story you want to share with us or a question you want to ask, please do so. You'll find the link for that in the description and I do hope you reach out. I would love to have some of these could look in your workplace to really being able to explore some of this power that's inherent in all our lives and, as we close, remember to ask yourself what kind of ripples are you going to create this week?

Speaker 1:

We hope you enjoyed the episode. Make sure to subscribe, comment and connect with Leah at meetleahca.