The Danger of Power Grabs

In misaligned teams that lack trust, power grabs are a constant battle.

The Sales Director wants to lead on marketing. The Ops Director wants to manage anything that touches their area. No one can agree where Comms should sit, but strangely, no one wants Governance.

If these conversations sound familiar, three key issues are at play:

• Your structure doesn’t match your strategy – or possibly, your strategy needs to be strengthened to give clarity and accountability.

• Your culture encourages competition over collaboration, and that is showing up in unhelpful ways in your team.

• There is a significant lack of trust that must be addressed immediately.
  

Power struggles don’t happen in isolation. In high-conflict teams, they are usually a combination of all three. Worse still, they are often subtle and covert, making them harder to tackle.

The Fix: Clarity Before Conflict

Having experienced power grabs in teams all around the world my reflection is that if you want a team that works together rather than fights for control, you need to address structure, culture, and trust head-on.

The good news is that you can start with one simple but powerful step:

In your next leadership meeting, ask: ‘Where are we seeing competing priorities or unclear ownership?’

Clarity begins with alignment. If you want a team that collaborates rather than competes for control, let’s explore how we can help you achieve that. Email me at richard@twentyoneleadership.com