New leadership roles give you more responsibility and to fulfill those responsibilities, you need more tools. One of those tools is authority. Authority should come with a label warning to use carefully. The power of authority, especially for first time people leaders is a tool that you have never used before, and it must be used wisely.
There are three types of authority: positional authority, professional authority and personal authority. This newest power on this list is most likely the positional authority.
Positional authority comes from being the boss. Simply your position in the hierarchy and the decision-making that comes with it. Unlike professional and personal power, positional power is not always seen in a positive light, especially when you are seen as the barrier to rewards and promotion.
Professional authority is the authority you have built on the knowledge and expertise that comes from education or experience — and your willingness to share it. Others look to you as the subject matter expert. Because of your expertise and knowledge, you are often the last word on a subject.
Personal authority is derived from the trust and relationship that you have built with others. This power gives you the benefit of doubt, especially in difficult situations. The relative importance given to these sources of authority are not the same for everyone. Perceptions may come from the company culture or an individual based on their past experiences.
As a leader, you should use positional authority as little as possible. Positional authority only provides short term motivation to team members, and the feeling that “I do things because I have to” will ultimately result in negative attitudes. Be warned that others may assume you are using it even when you are not. Because of this assumption, your words have more authority and, meaning than they used to. You now represent the organization — your words have more power. Your every move is being watched for new meaning. This source of power is most often why leaders feel a shift in the relationship with former peers. But be careful to not let others think you are abusing it.
You are usually brought to a new leadership role because you are perceived to be good at whatever your new team does. As a manager of that team though, you will have other things to do — things that only you can do. As a result, you are going to slowly lose your credibility as a subject matter expert. Subsequently, your professional authority — the real or perceived belief in your knowledge and expertise — eventually starts to decline. This perception often declines faster in others’ minds than it does in our own mind. When we do start to recognize that the detailed knowledge of the day-to-day work of our team is not as easily remembered or understood, out of fear of having no authority whatsoever, we tend to substitute declining professional power with positional power. This form of making up the difference of lost professional power with positional power is often overdone — and might sound like, “because I said so”.
If you are a leader of a new team, or a new leader of an old team, your personal authority is very low in the beginning. Because there is no relationship, you have very little personal power. Therefore, all your power lies in the positional and professional categories. Even if you are leading a group of your old high school friends, you’ve never had this kind of relationship. So, they don’t really “know you” as their boss. They might think they do, and this can be treacherous.
Even though you start with low personal authority, you should hesitate using your positional authority as your source of power. Professional authority will only work for awhile. Therefore, personal authority is the only consistent source of power you have as a leader.
To lead with personal authority, you need to know and articulate your values, align your behaviors, and get to know your team human level. Your lasting authority with your team rests solely in the relationships you have. The first order of business as a new leader is to build trust. Relationships start with trusting others. Trusting others’ integrity, their judgment, accepting their passions and their intentions. In return, be trustworthy. Act with integrity passion and have good intentions. Ask questions. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Use and share your knowledge and experience wisely. As a new leader, manage relationships and the rest will come.
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