If you’re like most information technology professionals, it is likely that you don’t spend much time thinking about the power dynamics in your organization. Yet, there is nothing more demoralizing than feeling you have a creative idea or a unique skill to help solve a significant problem and then encountering resistance to your ideas from individuals within your organization. You might even be someone who has become disillusioned and cynical about the realities of how managers and peers improperly use their power in ways that negatively affect you.
What is power? Power is the potential of an individual (or group) to influence another individual or group. Influence, in turn, is the exercise of power to change the behavior, attitudes, and/or values of that individual or group. It is easier to change behavior than attitudes, and in turn, it is easier to change attitudes than values. Power and influence are always at work within organizations. For example, most organizations experience conflict over resources, schedules, or personnel. These conflicts are inevitable and their resolutions often require the intervention of someone with influence and power. Organizations consist of individuals and groups with divergent interests who must figure out how to reconcile these interests.
Power comes from several sources within an organization, and those sources are as follows:
Formal authority. Formal authority refers to a person’s position in the organization hierarchy. The higher in the corporate hierarchy or the greater the scope and scale of responsibilities, the more power that person will have. Most workers today don’t respond well to the raw use of formal authority.
Relevance. Relevance refers to a person’s ability to align work activities with corporate priorities. The more relevant a person is in his or her job, the more powerful that person will be. For example, in a company that focuses on innovation, the vice president of research and development will likely yield power and influence that is beyond her stated job description.
Centrality. Those occupying central positions in important networks in organizations tend to have power because others in the organization must depend on them for access to resources or for help in getting critical tasks accomplished. Hence, a person’s position in the workflow can yield power or influence beyond a stated job description or place in the organizational chart.
Autonomy. The greater one’s ability to exercise discretion or freedom in his position, the more power and influence that person will have within the organization. These people generally do not need to seek out approval from a superior. Tasks that tend to be novel or highly technical tend to have considerable autonomy, since it is difficult to develop guidelines or rules on how the work should be done.
Visibility. Those whose job activities tend to be highly visible to other powerful people within the organization will tend to have more power than those whose job performance is less obvious.
Expertise. Those who possess technical expertise or hard-to-find skills typically are people who are in a position to influence the opinions and behavior of others. This is because others need to rely on their expertise or skills to accomplish their own goals and objectives.
What are the implications of all this for a SharePoint Server 2007 deployment? First, you need to understand who your "champions" are for your SharePoint Server 2007 implementation. The more influence your champions have at the enterprise level of your corporation, the more likely it is that your deployment will be successful. As part of your pre-deployment planning, be sure to assess your current situation and ensure you have champions outside of your IT department who also hold positions of influence and power in your organization. Second, as part of your cultural assessment, be sure to understand the power dynamics in your organization by asking and answering these questions:
Who are the relevant stakeholders in this SharePoint Server 2007 deployment?
Who is dependent on whom and for what?
In which areas do we need our stakeholders to cooperate?
What is the source of power or influence in our stakeholders?
What are the common goals or values among our stakeholders?
What are the divergent goals or values among our stakeholders?
As a result of these divergent goals or values, what tradeoffs can we expect to make to realize a successful SharePoint Server 2007 deployment?
If conflict arises during the deployment, how are the key stakeholders likely to react?
What can we do now to help ensure these conflicts have as little impact as possible?
What power do we on the SharePoint Server 2007 deployment team have within our organization?
How can we use our power effectively to influence the broader culture of this organization to accept and use SharePoint Server 2007 on a daily basis?
There are two main activities where you can exercise influence within your organization while also furthering your SharePoint Server 2007 deployment to a successful outcome. First, you need to be willing to empower those on whom you are dependent. For example, if you’re dependent on a particular manager’s approval of your deployment because that manager is an opinion leader within your organization, then you should proactively work with that manager to help her understand the benefits and advantages of using SharePoint Server 2007. If she is particularly opposed to a SharePoint Server 2007 implementation, then working with those who have influence on her job, as well as maintaining a connection with her, will provide the best opportunity to change her opinion.
Second, you need to cultivate relationships within your organization’s networks. As you align your tasks with the organization’s goals and develop solid relationships with other influencers in your organization, those relationships can help you achieve a successful SharePoint Server 2007 deployment as well as success in other IT initiatives. If those in the network see your efforts as a one-time appearance for a SharePoint Server 2007 deployment, you won’t get very far. They need to see that you’re working with them to help achieve the organization’s goals and objectives.