Consider these terms – power and politics – in the context of your work. Although you are likely to acknowledge that they exist, you will probably view them as negative forces to avoid. In fact, many leaders I work with take pride in the fact that they don’t use power in their roles and that they successfully “rise above” politics. I would argue this perspective is flawed and the opposite is true. For your tenure as a leader to be truly impactful, paying attention to power and politics is essential.
It is important to underscore a truth here. Leadership occurs within systems shaped by power and politics. Ignoring these forces doesn’t make them disappear; rather, it leaves leaders vulnerable and impedes their ability to reach their potential.
Let’s explore further.
Power
Julie Diamond, author of Power: A User’s Guide (2016), notes an interesting irony. She describes that, of all the misuses of power she has observed in her research, almost all originate from a leader’s feeling of powerlessness. Let’s ponder that for a moment. What she is saying is that when we feel powerless (e.g., don’t feel competent, knowledgeable, or confident), we tend to use power poorly. We lash out, react, hide, direct, and over-rely on our positional authority to get things done. She argues that, in fact, power is only powerful when we feel it.
If this is true, then as a leader, you must be able to know yourself and the power you hold. Holding this knowledge allows you to intentionally and consciously use power nimbly and in ways that serve your teams and organizational progress. It is only then that you can maximize your potential as a leader. Not paying attention to the power that you hold, or not being conscious of it, puts your leadership at risk.
Power takes many forms. A significant study of power conducted in the 1950’s by John French and Bertram Raven remains relevant and is referenced extensively today. Their study identified both informal and formal sources of power in organizations. They categorize formal power into three categories: coercive power (gained by threat or force), reward power (exercised through incentive), and legitimate power (obtained through one’s position within an organization). They categorize informal sources of power as expert power (your skills or expertise), referent power (trust-based relationships and affiliations), and informational power (information you hold that others desire to have).
Let’s reflect on these many forms of power quoted above. Consider these questions:
- Which of these categories of power do you feel most comfortable holding?
- Which one might be a type of power that you didn’t consider you have?
- Which of these types of power do you underuse or overuse?
- What power might you notice you have but not have the courage to use?
Without considering our relationship to these types of power, what we are left with is a distorted or, at a minimum, incomplete understanding of how powerful we are as leaders. As a mediator, there is one theme I notice clearly when supporting leaders to enhance workplace culture or resolve conflict. It is that when team dysfunction and conflict emerge, there is often a noticeable gap between the power a leader believes they are using and the power that they are actually exercising.
Here is the risk. Leaders who believe their ability to lead is most strongly influenced by their relationships with others might be at risk of over-relying on what they believe is their referent power. What they might fail to notice is that the energy invested in their relationships does not provide them with enough power to achieve what they need to in their leadership role. For example, although they may be well liked, they could fail to build trust and respect, which are important elements of true referent power. They may also be at risk of mistaking popularity and kindness for influence when, in reality, they are powerless in efforts to influence and drive meaningful change. I notice that leaders who over-rely on building positive relationships and ignore other legitimate forms of power tend to be powerless when they need to address team performance. They struggle when conflict arises and are unsure of how to intervene. What these leaders may not be conscious of is that they are powerless to improve these circumstances. Having over-relied on building goodwill, they never recognized the importance of strengthening their formal, legitimate, and reward power.
Navigating Politics
As important as understanding what power is, being an impactful leader also requires you to be aware of and comfortable with navigating organizational politics. This will enable you to anticipate challenges, build alliances, and make decisions that are both strategic and principled.
I like to think of organizational politics as the “doing” of power; it is how we get what we want within a complex system of interactions, egos, wants, and needs. Just as the notion of power in an organization often carries a negative connotation, so does politics. However, at its core, politics refers to how decisions are made, how resources are allocated, and how influence flows.
Politics exist in both formal and informal organizational systems and structures and are inescapable. To be an effective leader, you need not avoid politics, but rather lean into them ethically, with nuance and courage.
How do we navigate power and politics well as a leader?
To be able to navigate, you need to increase your awareness of the power you hold – which source of power you pay most attention to, which you might overuse, and which you could leverage more often. In terms of navigating the political landscape, Micheal Jarrett, a professor at INSEAD provides a helpful framework which he references as “navigating the political terrain.” He explains that to be able to see the politics, you need to first pay attention to where it is occurring (at the individual level, team level, or across the whole organization). Once you can see at what level it is occurring, you can cross-reference this with the type of power showing up in the political arena. For example, are the efforts occurring through legitimate power (formal authority, positional power) or informal power (referent, informational, etc.)? Only after this identification can you know how best to respond.
To support your consideration, ask yourself these questions when you notice political actions taking place.
- Who is involved in the actions? One person? A whole team?
- Are you noticing a culture of this behaviour across multiple departments or worksites?
- Are you noticing the actions actively spreading or impacting others?
- To what degree are the actions within the organization’s legitimate decision-making structures?
- What outcomes might the actions be trying to achieve?
Ultimately, knowing where and how organizational politics occur is a responsibility you need to take seriously as a leader. Ignoring them will make your role much more complex.
Here are a few suggestions as you approach this work.
- Take the time to know employees inside and outside of your team. Genuine interactions are key to building trust and respect, which in turn provide you with an opportunity for meaningful influence.
- Create a ‘Map of Influence’ of your organizational context. Map out all of the key players with whom you interact. Identify where formal authority lines exist. Then, on top of that map, identify the informal power linkages. Who is influential, respected, and listened to?
- Communicate with intention by keeping your communication direct, clear, respectful, and constructive. Never… and I mean never engage in gossip!
In the end, remember you cannot navigate a leadership position without an understanding of the power – both formal and informal – that you hold. Leadership requires a clear view of the broader political landscape within which the position is nested.
As Niven Postma (2021) eloquently explains, “All of us play some form of politics and getting better at the version that we want to play is critical to our career success and our personal wellbeing.”
About the Author
Janet Stewart is a respected facilitator, consultant, leadership coach and mediator who supports organizations as they navigate workplace complexity and change. She is particularly passionate about how strong leadership practices, focussed attention to workplace culture, and strategic organizational design can enable organizations to flourish. Janet is a Professional Certified Coach (International Coaching Federation), a Qualified Mediator (ADR Institute of Canada), a Certified Professional in Human Resources (BC and Yukon), and is Prosci® change-management certified.
She facilitates for Queen’s IRC custom programs on governance and is the lead facilitator for Queen’s IRC’s Leading Human Resources and Organizational Design programs. She co-facilitates the Workplace Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion program, and is a speaker with the Workplace Restoration program.
References
Diamond, J. (2016). Power: A user’s guide. Belly Song Press.
French, J. R. P., Jr., & Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power (pp. 150–167). Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research.
Jarrett, M. (2017, April 24). The 4 types of organizational politics. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved May 20, 2026, from https://hbr.org/2017/04/the-4-types-of-organizational-politics.
Postma, N. (2021, July 14). You can’t sit out office politics. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved May 20, 2026, from https://hbr.org/2021/07/you-cant-sit-out-office-politics.
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