At workplaces or organizations, particular individuals can influence or change the outcomes of the organization without necessarily holding any title. According to De Jong, Wilkin & Rubino (2019), personal power is the ability of an individual to influence others. More often, people with personal power can spur action at workplaces, or even gain followers, and become a leader without being a member of any docket. Moreover, personal power is not the same as an authority; this is because personal power is personal while authority comes from a position that an individual holds in an organization. Although every person exercises power, some do it better than others. What is more, personal power is not necessary gifted to any person, and not one can give it to someone; instead, it is within the owner.
I can increase my power in several ways. To begin with, I can increase my personal power by being versatile. According to Lammers & Stoker (2019), versatility is the ability to adapt and use varied styles in a different situation with people from diverse backgrounds. Also, versatility entails the art of being strategic at times and operationally focused at other or enabling the people around you.
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Nevertheless, versatility is also associated with being forceful and direct in one’s approach, especially when it is necessary. According to De Jong, Wilkin & Rubino (2019), versatility accounts for up to fifty percent of whether a person is considered an average or a successful high leader. For instance, if a leader likes using spreadsheets but his/her does not assume that every other person like using spreadsheets, he/she may allow other people to present their work in the way it suits them as long as they deliver the right results. This is what is often referred to as versatility. Therefore, I would try to embrace versatility in order to increase my personal power.
Besides, I would develop a keen interest in my busyness habits. Most people are guilty of doing things which may somewhat hurt others; this happens typically when one is busy ( Roman, 2019). Such habits may range from cutting short people, looking grumpy to the inability to manage one's email replies effectively. Despite having such behaviors when one is feeling pressure, they often do not intend to affect other people negatively. Moreover, when a person can note such bad habits, he/she can be more careful next time when they are busy or under pressure.
What is more, it is even more useful when one can ask his/her colleagues if they do something unpleasant that they are busy. As such, this can create a better working environment for every person at the same time, aid in building healthy relations with coworkers. Therefore, I would embrace the art of minding my busyness habit to increase my personal power.
I would appeal to a higher purpose of social value by showing a sense of belonging. Everyone always has the want and need to feel as if they belong. I will accept the good of a group and society in general. This will be important in building my personal power. In order to do this, I will need to accept social values beyond my interests and beliefs and know that the purpose is for the better good of a group and not just my interest only. I feel this will increase my personal power as well as making others feel comfortable around me.
I would rationally persuade people around me by using my personal power. One of the ways to achieve this is through being genuine. In addition, I will ensure that I am always aware of the subjects or matters at hand with facts. This will be more appealing to the people I try to persuade because I will make my ideas appealing to colleagues and leaders. I will do whatever it takes to get people to understand, be it by using charts or graph. I will need to get my facts right and in order, for me to get their trust, otherwise, I might end up losing it, and this will get me hurt while still building my personal power.
I will make sure to I win the peoples love. I will achieve this by allowing others to take part in decision making, through listening keenly to their opinions and asking for them when not provided with any. Moreover, I want those around to have trust in me and count on me for whatever they may need. When dealing with personal power, having people to like you is essential ( Lammers& Stoker, 2019) . Typically, being liked and respected is where personal power originates. It is easier to use personal power to influence people when those around like and respect you. I would rely on the rule of reciprocity because I feel this would help increase my personal power. If someone does something beautiful for you, it's only right to return the favor. Not being selfish will help with building personal power. It will come off across as if I care and want to do something for the better good because it was done for me.
I can use my personal power to develop allies in my workplace. One of the ways in which I would use personal power to develop allies is through winning people’s trust. Having the trust of the people in any occupation can be rewarding and fulfilling ( Lammers, & Stoker, 2019) . To achieve this, I would always try to listen to the notions of my colleagues and ensure that I can be trusted with their issue and those who look up to me. Moreover, Building allies in this manner would help in gaining more personal power. The central keyword to this is trust. In case I build trust with the allies, my personal power will be outstanding.
Besides, I would ask for what I want from my fellow workmates. Besides, I would be straight forward with those whom I involve with, and this would help in building trust between my colleagues and me. Asking for what I want, will also entail to those I am leading what is expected of them and me. Often, it is healthy to voice whatever is needed and wanted. Generally, personal power can be a good thing when used correctly.
References
De Jong, J. P., Wilkin, C. L., & Rubino, C. (2019). The association between perceived personal power, team commitment, and intrinsic motivation for permanent and temporary workers. Economic and Industrial Democracy , 40 (2), 257-279.
Lammers, J., & Stoker, J. I. (2019). Social and personal power: A closer examination: An invited commentary to Mayiwar and Lai (2019).
Roman, S. (2019). Personal power through awareness: A guidebook for sensitive people . HJ Kramer.
