Reflect on your own power

What this means 

Reflect on the professional and personal power you hold. Understand that, for you, working in care and support is a job; for people who rely on those services, it is their life. Power won’t be truly shared until those who currently hold it reflect on the full responsibility their current power gives to them.  

Walk a mile in people’s shoes.

Why do professionals need to reflect on the power they hold?

Here, Katie Clarke discusses why it is important for professionals to reflect on the power they hold:

The research 

Bell and Hafford-Letchfield (2015) argue that ‘…demands about how to effectively share and distribute power […] necessitate that social workers develop both insight and a better understanding of discourse about power in order to engage with it effectively’ (p.2). What this means is that, in order to share power, it’s firstly necessary for practitioners to understand the type of power they hold, and how it is viewed by others. The section Power has many faces sets out types of power in more detail.

‘Empowering’ or ‘empowerment’ are words often used in social care (Bell & Hafford-Letchfield, 2015). For example, this can be seen in the 2022 Impact Statement from the Department of Health and Social Care, setting out adult social care system reform. Chapter three is entitled ‘Empowering those who draw on care, unpaid carers, and families’ (Department of Health and Social Care, 2021). However, empowering people is not something that can be ‘done to’ others. Instead, it requires an appropriate climate, relationships and resources where people can reflect on and confidently share their power (Bell & Hafford-Letchfield, 2015). Therefore, it’s important to think carefully about using the word ‘empowering’ – who decides whether this course of action is empowering? Is the word being used about something that should be standard good practice, such as providing clear information?

For instance, Rabiee (2013) has unpicked the concepts of ‘choice’ and ‘independence’ in services for older and disabled people (which are, often, uncritically considered to be ‘empowering’). While professionals would often equate independence and empowerment with a person living aspects of their lives unaided by services, for people themselves it had a far greater variety of meanings – and could feel negative if this definition of ‘independence’ meant there was a greater reliance on close family members, causing tension in relationships (Rabiee, 2013). This is closely related to valuing and promoting the Social Model of Disability (something explored more in the Leading The Lives We Want To Live key change). 

Therefore, although it’s important that senior leaders reflect on the power they hold over resources, service design and commissioning, every professional in direct work can reflect on their power as well. This involves thinking about how choices are presented, giving time to talk through possible short and long-term consequences, and understanding what independence and empowerment mean to every person they work with (Rabiee, 2013). It also involves thinking about intersectional issues of power and privilege, via the Social GGRRAAACCEEESSS model (Burnham, 2012; Partridge, 2019). 

When people are employed by the state or local authorities, they are being paid to carry out its policy, but they will often still have room to manoeuvre in their role (Taylor, 2022). In fact, it’s an important part of person-centred working generally that organisations will put more trust in frontline staff, empower them to spend time with people, and encourage staff to see things from their perspective (Health Foundation, 2016; Innes et al., 2006). 

What you can do 

For everyone: While acknowledging that power isn’t evenly distributed, the group had some particular recommendations for all professionals, no matter their job title or seniority. Everyone should reflect on the power they hold as a first step in sharing it more equitably.

How can professionals reflect on their own power?

Think about the decisions you make every single day, and then think about how they impact on others.

Make time, take an interest.

Don’t see reflecting on your own power as something to do when you have time. See it as intrinsic to your professional role. 

Share your knowledge, because the more knowledge I have on legislation and processes, the more I am able to stand at your level.

Ask yourself: what stops you from doing the job you want to do.

And how can you change this?

Pay attention to the details. Make sure appointments are made at mutually convenient times and places; keep lines of communication open and reply to messages promptly; if you need to change anything about an appointment, make sure you get back to people in good time. These details really matter to people. 

If you are in senior management and/or workforce development: Consider how you can include reflecting on power as part of ongoing training opportunities and Continuing Professional Development. Commission training from people with lived experience. Develop training sessions on perspective – where professionals directly experience the form-filling and hope-jumping that services can ask. 

You may also consider whether to set standards for communication in your organisation – setting out when you expect practitioners to respond to messages, alongside the statutory requirements for timescales around assessment and review. Making this publicly available would also help people to know what they can expect from their practitioners. 

Further information

Explore  

The national Supervisor Development Programme contains several resources that help you think about power in your work. These include tools on anti-oppressive practice and effective use of power and authority. Although these have been designed to explore power in a supervisory relationship, they are also useful for wider reflective work.