POWER AGILITY

This power relations workshop supports teams and organisations aiming to be more inclusive and to activate the full potential of members or staff by creating more balanced and functional power structures.

BENEFITS

This workshop identifies the dynamics of power around us and specific power relations in the workplace. It is designed for organisations wanting to become more inclusive to ensure that everyone has a voice. This can increase staff performance, creativity and wellbeing of teams, as members feel more valued, listened to and able to make contributions.

The workshop helps understand how we can take action, going from witnessing power suppression behaviours to becoming mindful of unintentionally participating in the power play. Unmasking the negative behaviours (or ‘domination techniques’) that perpetuate disempowerment will deprive them of their effectiveness and build Power Agility. Raising awareness of these mechanisms is important to create inclusive workplaces and activist spaces.

BACKGROUND

The Power Agility workshop builds on the work of Berit Ås, a Norwegian politician, psychologist and a feminist, interested in behaviours leading to some voices being heard more than others or perpetuating exclusion from decision making processes (called master suppression techniques).

Domination behaviours are fuelled by societal norms and can lead to discrimination and prejudice. Berit Ås detected and observed these mechanisms as a woman entering male-dominated political power structures. Whilst important for positive gender relations, understanding power suppression can also improve relationships in many other contexts, and towards minority groups or individuals.

Exclusion and disempowerment lead to sub-functional teams, frustration, burnout, hidden conflicts and underutilisation of human resources.

CONTENT AND FORMATS

This interactive workshop is an opportunity to consider relationships of power at work and outside, and better understand the power we hold and express as individuals, thereby building Power Agility.

It will introduce the participants to the concept of power suppression, how it manifests and how it can be counteracted. The session also contains practical exercises, which instantly move the knowledge from the intellectual to the experiential level.

Key elements:

• a practical observational exercise
• an interactive presentation with a facilitated discussion
• practical exercises to integrate the learnings

* in remote facilitation, workshops are usually divided into two parts

Further learning opportunities

If you wish to support the women in your organisation, our ExtraOrdinary Me workshop is designed to boost confidence and support career development. It is suitable for organisations that want to act upon or pursue values of inclusion and gender equality.