By Julie Cohen, PCC
My 15-year-old son joined classmates in a school walk-out to protest gun violence. He chose to go against school policy and left campus without permission. He walked with his classmates from his suburban school to the local train station, took the train into Philadelphia and met up with other students from the region at City Hall, and needed to figure out how to get home afterwards.
Right after boarded his school bus before the day started, I texted him the following: “Please keep me posted as to where you are today. And don’t use all of your cell phone battery. When you’re out and about, you need to manage your power (in more ways than one!)”
After I hit send, I realized that this is an important message for leaders. To be successful as a professional and a leader, managing your ‘power’ is critical in a variety of ways:
- Manage your boss power: Don’t assume your implied power as a manager/supervisor is enough to get your direct reports to do a job well. Modulate your power to engage, inspire, teach and facilitate others so they bring their best to their responsibilities to support you and your team.
- Manage your internal power: Pay attention to your energy that keeps you going. Working intensely, without breaks or vacation, for long periods can lead to overwhelm, exhaustion and burnout. Know at what times of day you are at your best and schedule your most important projects and tasks during that time. Pay close attention to exhaustion, and don’t allow yourself to approach that edge. Sleep, exercise and self-care facilitate sustainable leadership and impact.
- Manage your brainpower: Look out for boredom, stagnation and doing the least possible to contribute. Seek opportunities to learn, to develop new skills, to take on bigger projects, to present to new audiences. This will keep you sharp, engaged and valuable to your team and organization.
- Manage your network power: Don’t wait until you need something from someone else to develop your network. Relationship-building with current and former colleagues, friends of friends and new acquaintances makes for smart career management and professional development. Offer support, help, advice and expertise to others so it will be easily accessible to you when in need.
- Managing power is not just for your mobile phone battery. Understanding your power, and when and how to modulate it, will increase your effectiveness, satisfaction and impact.
