One of my clients asked me the other day: “How can I get people to honestly contribute to my project, although they do not report to me?” He felt powerless due to the fact that he was lacking the formal authority to demand action as he deemed fit.

Have you ever been in that position?

The real question is: how do I resolve this common situation?

I confess there is no short answer. However, let’s attempt to shed some light on the heart of the matter, and maybe you can discover some ideas for yourself. Every project manager faces this challenge almost every day. Yet we generally train people in the use of project management tools, scheduling tables, Gantt charts, probability models and standard deviation, to name a few, while we ignore the need for developing a quality “leadership tool box” and its utilization. Actually, most managers, supervisors and team leaders in an organization are confronted with this type of a challenge every day.

What we are talking about are two basic leadership related concepts – Authority and Power.  While they appear to be quite similar, they are fundamentally different.

Authority is generally given to a person in a leadership function and is manifested through an organization chart or any other form of decree. That way we define the authority to act within a predefined framework of operation. And yes, authority provides some form of “power” to assert a specific course of action. However, I would like to claim that it has nothing to do with real power!

What do I mean by that?

Let me use an example of recent history to paint the picture. While not everyone may agree with the philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King, I think we all can agree that he certainly was a charismatic leader in many ways. Through his leadership, he created a following in the millions to a point where people willingly risked pain, imprisonment and even death for the cause that he promoted.

Did Dr. King have any formal authority to command anyone to walk with him? How did he get such  power over those followers? This is the open secret! Power is given to an individual by those who chose to follow. It is not authority that provides true power; on the contrary, when an individual has to use authority to assert some course of action, this individual has just lost or relinquished all power. Power is actually enhanced by making others powerful.

Questions one could ask:

• How to develop power?
• How to deploy power in the most effective way?
• How to use power most appropriately?
• How to avoid the authority trap?
• How does communication come into play in developing power?
• What role does my behavior play in the context of developing power?

…and some more.

Interested and want to know more? Contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call (864) 877-5235 and let’s talk.

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