You’ve just had a project meeting where everyone seemed to agree on the project plan. No one raised any concerns, and everyone seemed keen to get started.
Then, in the days following, you overhear troubling side conversations, watch negative discussions unfold on Slack threads and receive some emails that raise concerns. It turns out that some folks are confused and others are frustrated by the project plan. Why didn’t anyone speak up in the meeting?
You are witnessing invisible power dynamics at work.
In every office, there are unspoken allegiances or hierarchies, informal influencers and various forms of privilege at play. These invisible dynamics can have a significant impact on team performance.
Pro tip: Remember that silence can be a sign of unspoken tension on a team.
Understanding invisible power dynamics
Forget the organizational charts, titles or chain of command. There are subtle aspects to team relationships that affect who speaks up, whose opinion is most valued by other team members and who can rally others behind the scenes.
- Allegiances or hierarchies: Sometimes team members get along well and think the same way, while some folks have worked together longer. Others may have had success or worked at the organization for so long that everyone respects their opinion and follows their lead during a meeting. High-functioning teams have lively debate around ideas (what we like to call healthy conflict).
- Team influencers: Call it magnetic personality or charisma, or perhaps they’re just good in their role and others respect them, but whatever causes it, there are some folks who are trusted by their peers and able to influence how others behave—even if they aren’t the actual leaders or managers. Sometimes, other team members will agree with them or defer to their opinions in meetings.
- Forms of privilege: Things like race, age, gender, education and cultural heritage can determine how team members are perceived and treated by their coworkers. For example, folks might defer to someone who is highly educated, especially if they graduated from an Ivy League school.
According to Forbes, leadership transcends titles; these informal leaders can have more influence over power dynamics on a team than the formal hierarchies.
Be aware of hidden power dynamics
While there will always be invisible power dynamics on a team, leaders have to watch for signs that the invisible power is stifling individual contributors. Here are the signs to watch for:
- Folks hesitate to speak up. This happens when people don’t feel psychological safety—frequently because they worry their contributions will be ignored, dismissed or ridiculed. If trust and group cohesion falter, some team members will stop participating and even resist silently.
- Certain personalities dominate the discussion. Sometimes, the loud few are heard over the quieter team members or those from underrepresented groups. It’s important that leaders find different ways to engage everyone.
- Few opinions are shared. Innovation and creativity require diverse ideas. If groupthink is taking over, there’s a problem.
Invisible power dynamics are likely driving interactions on your team if meetings are quiet and no one is challenging ideas but there is later dissent behind the scenes. When there is agreement at the surface level but little engagement, it’s time to ask yourself who is really in power.
Creating healthier power dynamics
When you are leading a team, you can’t stop the invisible power dynamics from happening. However, you can take steps to encourage healthy conflict around ideas and invite more balanced input from your team.
- Consider how you engage with your team members. Do you hear from the same voices all the time? When was the last time you heard bad news? Who aren’t you hearing from? Why?
- Mention what you’re witnessing. Naming the invisible power dynamics can help to shift things. For example, you could say, “I notice that we’re hearing a lot from the leadership team. What does our frontline staff see?” Or, “Thank you for your ideas, Bentley and Max. What does everyone else think?”
- Give everyone a voice. Some folks are less likely to share in front of a group than others. As the leader, you can use tools like staff surveys, written brainstorming prompts, office chat systems and round-robin sharing to bring folks off the sidelines and into the discussion (in ways that are comfortable for them!).
- Prepare folks. When you’re looking for input or push back on an idea, share in the agenda that circulates ahead of a meeting that you want opposing opinions and that you want everyone to share some other points of view you might not have considered.
- Build trust. Take the mystery out of the meeting by talking with your team about future plans as appropriate. This might be discussing the next steps, and who is going to be making the decisions. Transparent leadership doesn’t mean that you have all the answers; it means you keep your team members informed as things develop and foster open communication. When you don’t know, you say something like, “I can’t answer that right now but I can share X and Y.”
- Keep working on connections. Make time to get to know everyone on your team to build stronger relationships. Trust is the foundation of a strong team—and strong teams have healthy conflict around ideas (not unhealthy conflict between personalities).
Effective leaders are able to navigate the formal hierarchies and the invisible power dynamics by leading with intention.
Coach’s Questions
What invisible forces might be shaping your team today? What will you do with them? How can you change things so that everyone has a voice?
