Coercive Power

Not to be Relied On

---

Coercive power is the power that comes from a person's authority to punish. From the perspective of followers, it's one of the most obvious types of power a leader has.

However good leaders use coercive power only as a last resort: In today's sophisticated and complex workplace, excessive use of coercive power unleashes unpredictable and destabilizing forces which can ultimately undermine the leader using it.

While coercive power can produce results in the short term, it relies on intimidation to do so and will backfire badly if used as the sole base for exerting influence.

Alternative, Effective Forms of Power:

At first glance, most people incorrectly assume that a leader can only be effective if he or she has access to the formal "levers of power": Legitimate Power, which comes from the position a person holds; Reward Power, which comes from his or her ability to give rewards; Information Power, which comes from exclusive access to information; and Coercive Power.

In fact, the most effective leaders only rely on these when they absolutely must.

The best leaders rely on more subtle forms of power:

• Expert Power: Where followers do what they’re asked because they respect the leader’s knowledge and expertise and, because of such, trust him or her to give the best guidance.
• Referent Power: Where followers admire and seek to emulate the leader, and want to receive his or her approval.

Leaders can also rely on Charismatic Power, where followers do something because they are influenced by the leader's charisma. If leaders are charismatic, this can be great.

However, even naturally uncharismatic people can be effective leaders if they're good at what they are do and are respected by their followers. And charisma can be empty if it's not supported by expertise.

Only when a leader is able to exert expert and referent power can he or she truly motivate employees to give their best performance.

As suggested in Mind Tools' "How to Lead: Discover the Leader within You" course and workbook, take time to consider your own experiences. Isn't it true that the people who have brought out the best in you have been people whose knowledge, experience and judgment you've trusted? Haven't they been people you've admired and wanted to please? And, haven't you been happy to follow their lead without them relying on less desirable forms of leadership, such as coercive leadership?

Example:

Sally Jenkins managed a small team in a division of a bank. She was frustrated with the long hours and with the many changes to internal banking system that prompted her and her team to work longer and harder, while still not getting any additional compensation.

Sally's team was running low on motivation and high on frustration, and as a result she started to experience all of the personnel problems that come with this.

Out of desperation and after weeks of frustration, Sally made the mistake of threatening employees in hopes of quickly remedying the situation. She called an office meeting and told members of her team that if they didn't "snap out of it," they'd be punished with additional weekend work.

This quickly backfired. Employees became even more disgruntled. Many began looking for jobs at competing banks. Others did the least work they could get away with. And a few actively sabotaged Sally's efforts when they thought they'd get away with it.

Seeing how bad things were getting, Sally realized she had to change her approach.

She immersed herself in the detail of the systems projects, so she could tell what work had to be done straight away, and what could be delayed. She took closer control of her department's delivery schedule, and (politely and with solid evidence) made sure that her own bosses were aware when they were asking impossible things of her and her team.

And gradually, as her team members saw her building her expertise and using it on their behalf, and as she set an example of hard work and calm authority, she started to win back the respect of her team members.

---

Join the Mind Tools Club

Get training, help and ideas to boost your career: the Mind Tools Club gives you much, much more than you get here on the basic Mind Tools site.

And if you join before midnight on May 9th, we'll also give you a FREE copy of our Future-Proof Your Career workbook.

Find out what you get