Collaborative Power

As a culturally diverse team, one exercise we engage in regularly is sharing our observations about how others encounter the three of us. Whether we have an informal meeting with a colleague, or meeting with potential collaborators for the first time, not long after, the three of us will share with each other how we observed the interaction. To whom did the other person speak directly, or did she engage us all equally? Who among the three of us did most of the talking, if any? How did the other person respond to each of us individually? What might we have done differently to present ourselves as a collaborative team? Often the people we meet or work with notice and talk with me, the European American, more than Sia or Giang. Because of our experiences and our recognition that racial preferences operate in society, we try to work in such a way to reveal to others our collaborative effort.

Recently we facilitated a session on power with a group of about 12 people. In preparation, we divided and arranged the work in such a way we felt would present us working as a collaborative team, not a team with a designated leader, or lead facilitator. Sia introduced the day and our objectives, then Giang facilitated the group in setting ground rules for the day. Sia facilitated a discussion on the types and kinds of power, in which the participants identified sources of power and how they can be used positively and negatively. I followed Sia to elicit real examples from the participants and look at how power can be dictated by social constructs.

By then, we had spent about three hours with them, so I posed the question to them, “Who among the three of us (the three facilitators) has power and why?” The first person said I did, because I appeared to be older. Another added that because I was older, I probably had seniority in religious life also. One mentioned that Sia had power because we are on her home continent. Giang was identified as having power because she helped set the ground rules. Again I was identified as having power because when we arrived the other two were busy setting things up and arranging the room but I was not. And someone had observed that I told Giang to move to a different chair at the beginning, which she did. Another said that I had power because the other two presented first and I came afterward to tie it all together. One said I had power because of my physical size.

I noted these observations on the board one by one and then addressed the reality of each assumption. Age, yes I am the oldest, and particularly in most African cultures and many others, age is honorific, and carries power. Seniority in religious life is share by Giang and me as we enter in the same group. Geographical setting gives Sia power through experience and knowledge that Giang and I do not have. Giang’s facilitation of setting ground rules is perceived as an integral part of the facilitation, so some participants see that as a position of power. My physical size does give an appearance of power initially, yet my actual strength and health would actually be weaker than Sia and Giang both.

It is true that Giang and Sia were visible setting things up before we began, preparing for their own presentations. I did not have any preparations to make, but that was perceived as a position of power. Also, I did tell Giang to move to another chair, for my personal needs of seating arrangements, which she accommodated to preserve her need of harmony in front of the group. This was perceived as power, and was unwittingly a play of power on my part.

The organization of work that we had arranged in an effort to present collaboration was not perceived that way. We had decided Sia would begin and Giang would follow giving them visibility first, then I would be third. Participants perceived almost the opposite of our intentions. Had I introduced the day and our objectives, would I not have been perceived to be “in charge”? Had Sia been the third presenter and “tied it all together” would they have perceived her to have power in the group? Had Giang facilitated a different part of the day, how would they have perceived her in the group? Did my telling Giang to change seats dictate the dynamics?

These are valuable observations for the participants, and also for us in our work as we continue. We did not push for the participants to identify race as the indicator of power in our group, but was that operating in their designation of my power? In whatever way we organize our facilitations and presentations, will we be able to reveal our collaborative effort as a team? That is our hope, our intention, and we will continue to try, and to learn each time, and share our learnings as we go.