If you work with clients who are current or emerging leaders but who are not always confident in their leadership position, then John R. P. French and Bertram Raven’s power bases can help. It is a common tool in leadership modules at business school but is routinely overlooked in coaching practice.
I use it to help current or emerging leaders focus on where they currently have power and where they would like to develop it.
The model was developed between 1959 – 1965, so it has pedigree. It suggests that people’s power takes six different forms:
1) Legitimate Power
2) Reward Power
3) Referent Power
4) Expert Power
5) Informational Power
6) Coercive Power
To find out more about each one, you can read my fuller article here. Interested in finding out how to develop your areas of power? Let’s get together for a chemistry session. Find out more, here.
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