Hidden Power
Control disguised as collaboration
We are seeing power and control playing out in such life threatening ways by the current president and his minions on a daily basis with the intent to gain even more power and move this country into dictatorship. At the same time, there is a type of hidden power at play in organizing spaces and other progressive and liberal spaces that I believe needs to be addressed. This type of unnamed power is what I call the Hidden Power - Power Over that is hidden behind a performative mask of Power With. And naming and addressing Hidden Power will enable us to have more authentic allyship and be more effective in stopping the current threats to democracy while building the world we need.
Over the last several years, I have been increasingly curious about power dynamics and how power can enable or hinder progress. Power is often linked to privilege and although those two things often reinforce each other, oversimplification has led to removing the complexity needed to see how Power Over can play out in unexpected ways that are hidden in groups. To be clear, power is about the level of control or influence over or with others and privilege refers to unearned advantage often as the result of the identities one holds. I previously discussed the difference between identity and ideology in The Ongoing Misuse of “Identity” and “Ideology”.
As I went through embodied conflict resolution training from the amazing Kai Cheng Thom, I learned about the framing of Power Over, Power Under, Power With, and Power Within for describing power dynamics. All of these different types of power were described not as necessarily good or bad, but rather as ways people behave, respond, and interact with one another. It’s how this power is used that can be problematic and cause undue control over others. Here's a quick look at these different types of power along with examples.
Power Over - one of the most familiar types of power in the U.S., this type of power is generally about control over others. Power Over can be easily seen in visible hierarchies with those at the top of a hierarchy making decisions without the guidance or input of those who actually are affected by those decisions. Power Over can also play out as individuals trying to exert control or influence over others and can even be present with people who are “calling out” or “cancelling” others.
Power Under - this type of power is often not named and looks like pushing back on Power Over. This can look like revolution or resistance and can happen at all scales. Many of the acts of resistance we are seeing – protests and demonstrations, record numbers of participants at Town Halls, and contacting elected leaders with clear requests to act differently – are examples of Power Under.
Power With - this type of power comes from connections and relationships and looks like collaboration and what I would call giving and taking within a collective. There is a lot of talk about Power With, especially in organizing spaces, yet I have seen very few examples of real Power With in the world. From my experience, Power With looks like a balance of accountability, responsibility, relationship building and tending, and providing long-term care for one another.
Power Within - this type of power is focused on the individual being in their own self-worth, values, and beliefs. This kind of power is reflected in On Resilience.
The Hidden Power that I am referencing in this piece is about Power Over that is at play, but which is not as visible because people are pretending to be in Power With. A key piece to understanding Hidden Power, or really anything about power dynamics, is being able to see that power is about behavior and not just identity or position title or how someone dresses/looks or where decisions are being made. Too frequently, people see Power Over as business suits, corner offices, elected or appointed positions, and identities that hold privilege. Yes, Power Over can exist with all of that, but can also play out in the outdoors, among those with marginalized identities, and can exist without anyone wearing business suits. Understanding Hidden Power requires understanding that exerting power, control, and even influence are about behavior, not identity or looks or where that behavior is occurring.
Hidden Power can look like many different things including a lack of transparency, using the language of marginalization and oppression to gain more power and control, and claiming to be in Power With through words yet Power Over is being used through actions. To be clear, I don’t think many who use Hidden Power are even aware that is what they are doing. So much of what we have been shown, taught, and modeled is Power Over that I think it’s easy to slip into Hidden Power without bad intentions. Yet, if we can’t name what’s going on, we can’t change it. And, if we want to move into Power With, we’ve got to address when Hidden Power emerges.
I first became acutely aware of Hidden Power about seven or eight years ago when I was in a meeting about exploring equitable access to the outdoors. There were a handful of us invited to describe the barriers to outdoor access. (On a quick side note, I almost never facilitate conversations using the language of barriers because it can put people in a deficit mindset and does not allow people to be in a space of dreaming and creating something new). In the meeting, the organizer led us through a conversation around barriers. Many ideas were shared including systemic-level change like addressing outdoor learning at schools. It was an interesting conversation and in the last few minutes, the organizer wrapped up the meeting by saying we had all agreed that transportation equity was the priority to address. Huh? That had not happened. Many ideas were shared including addressing transportation issues, but there was never a process to prioritize any ideas and transportation. It was definitely a Power Over move and that was validated when a report came out shortly after the meeting highlighting the great need expressed by multiple organizations to address transportation equity and, magically, there was funding available right at the same time to support this effort. This is Hidden Power: convening a group with a hidden agenda to gather input and then misrepresenting what was shared to control the narrative to promote self-serving priorities and gain more power and even money.
I also see Hidden Power with the exclusion of voices like what I discussed in Your Conversation about Equity Shouldn't Exclude People – But Probably Is. It shows up in how people say they are being community-centered and/or representing communities, yet there is no mechanism that exists for the inclusion of community voices. It’s using the language of marginalization and oppression to name inequities and exclusion but not actually investing in centering community voices. This form of Hidden Power looks like talking about community, yet having no actual community engagement. It’s saying the words like community, equity, inclusion, and justice but not practicing the pieces that are necessary to achieve any of these things. It’s similar to groups listing their shared values, yet discussions have not yet happened to explore how people would know if and when those values are being met and what to do to grow and practice new ways of being that could lead to living those values. When asked about how community is being represented, groups should have a clear and consistent message. And, from my experience, asking about how community is involved and seeing people get defensive is almost always a sign of Hidden Power.
Hidden Power also permeates reports, frameworks, and plans that are released by the nonprofit world that promote certain ideas and agendas that seem to be based upon community feedback yet offer no transparency about how community was engaged and what community members actually said. I see this type of Hidden Power regularly when people say they engaged community members and magically the community said what was most needed is what the organization seems to offer. There is an ongoing lack of transparency in these reports, frameworks, and plans around the process. Who was invited? How were people invited? How inclusive or exclusive was the invitation process? How were people engaged? And, most importantly, what did people actually say? I don’t care what the report writer thought people said. I care about what people actually say, in their original voice. When people only give their interpretations of what was shared, there is bias and too often there are changes to what was actually shared to fit into a certain narrative. This is Hidden Power: saying you are working with community, yet providing no transparency over what was actually shared, only a narrow version that fits certain narratives. I’m not against reports, frameworks, or plans, but I am not okay with using Hidden Power to feign transparency and misrepresent what community actually shared. If these reports, frameworks, and plans do not include a thorough description of how people were engaged and notes from participants in their original voices, then Hidden Power is probably there.
It is why as a facilitator and consultant, I ask to see what people shared in their own voice, not through someone else’s filter. I cannot begin to count the number of times I have read original notes or flipcharts from meetings and pointed out to others their own biases in what they interpret that people shared, rather than what people actually shared. It’s also why I push back when people state things with such conviction about communities, yet there is nothing clear about how community voices were engaged. Saying you’re working with community is not the same as actually working with community. Hidden Power is almost always at play if your website and/or social media offers no hints of how your nonprofit regularly engages with community members in inclusive, thoughtful, and intentional ways. The vast majority of nonprofits are not actually doing the long-term work of engaging with communities regularly and cultivating Power With, yet I see language being used daily. That is Hidden Power, pretending to be doing something you’re actually not.
Hidden Power shows up all of the time in organizing spaces when people use the language of social justice and talk about justice or supremacy culture or fighting oppression, yet behavior and actions limit who gets to share and what is deemed as valuable and important. I have seen this pattern over and over again and it does not matter the identities that are present. Hidden Power plays out across identities and how people exert control over one another hiding behind words that are used to describe social justice. I have witnessed how people will describe Power Over as something that exists far away in a board room or City Hall or some corporate office and not realize that Power Over is happening in real time right in front of them. It’s about behavior more than words.
I also see Hidden Power in how events and rallies are organized such as not combining events with conflicting schedules but which are supporting the same basic cause. We are seeing people using Power Over to ensure their own event is so different from other events that it causes massive siloing rather than bringing together resources to allow for collectively building something new and different (feel free to check out my past piece called Escaping the Silos for how siloing holds back movements). When June comes around and there’s a mass mobilization planned like the recent Hands Off Rally, can we please just have the Pride parade be the rally or have the Pride parade go to the rally or the rally show up at Pride? Seriously, this is the time to work together and explore building Power With, not just exerting Power Over by perpetuating siloing and refusing to combine events that would bring people together in a new type of allyship.
Hidden Power is also what I was talking about in 43 Days and 254 Days when groups create policy without centering communities or working together with other groups, and instead draft policies and bills on their own and then ask everyone to sign on. Power With could look like groups taking the time to explore what is really needed to create more effective policy rather than racing to write bills that have good sounding language, yet offer no measurable impact to communities. More thoughtful and inclusive processes for creating policy could mean better strategizing that leads to real impact. Yet, I see so much policy making in New Mexico and beyond that hides behind the language of coalitions or alliances and sounds like Power With, yet in reality it is only a person or a few people controlling what gets put in those bills. This is perpetuating Power Over.
It is time to name Hidden Power so we can actually cultivate more Power With in the world. Power With is where justice and liberation live along with the promise of a thriving future for our planet. Power With feels like belonging and connection and taking the time to build and deepen trust. Power With looks like sharing meals together, spending time with one another outdoors, getting to know what is important to others while sharing what is important to you, and connecting in ways that we have yet to have actually experienced. Power Over is what we are taught; Power With is what we can imagine and create that is new. It is not a surprise that Hidden Power exists, since pretty much all we have been taught, shown, and modeled in the world is Power Over and the domination and control of others. It is critical that we do not perpetuate false narratives by continuing to hide behind the language of Power With while still behaving with Power Over.
There are many of us in the world who have touched upon Power With and see it as the way forward. I know this because I have the chance to interact with others in hard and truly transformative work of cultivating Power With. We can shift Hidden Power to true Power With when we realize that pretending and hiding behind words is not the same as being and taking action. Thank you to all who are fighting the urge to hide behind Hidden Power and doing the work of Power With.