Power Dynamics

This blog entry is the beginning of what I hope to be a longer article or perhaps a pamphlet on something with which church leaders need to start grappling: power dynamics.

Many things have recently set my mind on thinking about this but I will use David Letterman’s recent admission to having sex with employees as the doorway into this subject. Of course, Letterman was a victim of extortion and this is awful, but what about a boss having intimate relations with those in his employ? Did the women initiate the relationships? Did he initiate them? How did his position impact their decisions to engage in these illicit relations? This is not something that men in positions of authority think much about, but women are very aware of it.

We all have experiences with a boss who was intimidating and most of us resolve never to be that kind of boss. When we enter positions of authority, we take special measure to insure we aren’t “that kind of boss.” We will never be “the man.” We may even ask our employs to *not* refer to us as “the boss.” The thing is, if you are in a position of authority over someone, then you are “the man” whether you like it or not. Your authority brings with it power over others. Living in the sinful world we live in and given the innate insecurity we all have at some level, people will have fears about those in power over them. Which means, if you are in a position of authority, people have fears about you! Fears that may make them very compliant or very resentful.

“But people don’t need to be afraid of me.” “I’m not that kind of boss.” “I want to create a consensus atmosphere.” “I don’t like the distance created in the boss-employee model so I don’t act like that.” I have heard lots of lots of responses. This does one of two things in the minds of employees: (1) makes them even more insecure because you seem not to acknowledge the power you have over them and therefore more likely to hurt them, just as an older brother is unaware of his strength while wrestling with his little brother, or (2) create a false sense of equality that will evaporate when the employee oversteps his or her bounds, fails in the job or hurts the boss in some other way. The boss usually and suddenly remembers his or her power in that instant leaving the employee disciplined or fired and certainly disillusioned.

If you are a person in authority over another… serving on a committee overseeing someone’s work, fulfilling a supervisory role at work… stop pretending that you are *not* “the boss.” Parents often try to be their children’s friends instead of an authority figure. This has disastrous results. The same is true if you fail to recognize the authority you have. You must recognize the power you wield and then consciously use it for the good of those who serve under you. If not, you will find yourself using it unconsciously in your own self-interest.