Folks,
I move in circles where words like “empowerment” are common. Admittedly, it’s usually not long before the door is swinging off the hinges, and I’m gone, but you get my point.
Michel Foucault’s theory of power suggests that power exists within relationships and interactions, rather than as something that can be transferred or owned. That is to say, we don’t “empower” people; power is not ours to transfer.
So what?
When we design from the perspective that power is relational and diffused, it leads us to build things that emphasise autonomy, self-direction, and agency. The opposite is also true. Beware of those abdicating their power; meetings that drag on for hours, or coaching sessions that are less about embracing chaos, and more about creating it.
I’m learning as a coach. If you want to help someone, help them see what they are doing to hold themselves back. We don’t empower people, but we do constrain the hell out of them.
I’ll leave you with this: Don’t tell me what you can’t do, show me what you can do.
Here's to a great week,
Simon
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