Mapping power within your organisation
TYPE: SHARED JOURNALING
As well as completing the checklist, you may also wish to conduct a power mapping and decision making within your organisation to better understand how co-leadership might be a tool to work towards more shared power and transformation. Most power mapping resources are designed for social justice or political campaigning as opposed to mapping power within an organisation. There are several that could be adapted or used for inspiration:
Considerations
• Think about who should be involved in the power mapping.
It should include a diversity of roles and seniority levels. It might be helpful to hire an external facilitator so that all those in the room are able to participate fully.
• Develop a mind map or axis to identify the types of power and decision making and actors who hold them.
You can use the above templates as examples or use a virtual tool like Mural. Consider the following types of power:
Power of resources/budget
Human Resources power (including oversight of hiring decisions)
Decision-making over strategic direction and priorities
Decision-making over ways of working
Access to and sharing of knowledge and information
• Reflect on who holds these different types of power and responsibility and who does not
As an organisation, where are you and where do you want to be in terms of how power and decisions are distributed?
How might co-leadership help to transform unequal power distributions?
What are some risks of a co-leadership model?
• Identify if there are intentions you have about actively decentralising, shifting or sharing power as a part of your co-leadership practices.
Are there any existing parts in the organisation where you have shared or co-leadership that may echo that at the executive level? Are there places where you do want to model shared decision making, and what might that look like?
• Consider undertaking this exercise before you embark on building a co-leadership model and revisit it frequently, such as annually.
