Random Thoughts on Authority

Talking of authority, I am questioning myself, who am I to talk about it. A new entrant into the vast field of Behavioural Science and Sensitivity training! But then, who am I not to talk about it. After all I have been experiencing it in many ways for more than 30 odd years.

When I was born, I exerted my power on the family, simply by being the first child in the family. Even today, I am subjected to tales of how I wielded my power over the family. They danced attendance to me, took care of my sleeping times and fed me before anyone else in the family, laughed when I laughed and cried when I cried. What kind of power and authority is this? It’s unstated and exists in every family. All babies are born with such power. The power of innocence!

This innocence gave way to manipulations and games as I grew up. I started becoming aware of the concept called authority and the tool called power. I do not claim that I understand what authority and power is all about, yet I have seen how the two can make or break a person or a system or community.

I am inclined to believe that authority is associated with decision makers and vice-a-versa. Be it family, society or professional set-up. Decision-making is based on knowledge and experience. Decision-making happens when a person is willing to take responsibility and face consequences. As a result, accountability comes with authority.

It’s interesting for me to hence, look at various aspects of authority and my behaviour in different situations.

Me in relation to authority figures: How does authority and power affect me? What is the variety of reactions that I go through? When am I comfortable with authority figures? What about authority figures puts me off? Under what circumstances do I rebel or hide from authority figures? So many questions!

Today, I often find myself comfortable in presence of authority figures. I am neither under pressure nor indifferent to authority. Persons in authority inspire me. I remember being starry eyed about one of my ex-bosses for a long time and to some extent I hero-worship him even today. He was everything I aspired to be. He was charismatic, charming, knowledgeable, passionate about his work and ambitious.

In complete contrast, I have seen leaders who are dictatorial. They are often rude when they address their followers. I have deliberately used the word followers here, as they never seem to have colleagues, peers, friends or allies. I find myself running in the opposite direction from them as fast as I can. In my experience, Fear and Disgust are two strong emotions attached to such personalities.

I am fairly free in making a point or stating my opinion in presence of authority. At the same time, I have also experienced that I tend to avoid head-on confrontation with authority. As I explore deeper, I realize that I avoid confrontation in most circumstances. It seems pointless when the other person, is not in a frame of mind to listen or even acknowledge any other point of view. And when it comes to authority figures, I give up and walk away. One may debate on this and call it escapism. However, it seems to be prudent and time and effort saving to me.

In relation to confrontation with authority I have never been through a question of how can I confront? It’s always been a case of do I want to? Whenever, it comes to protecting my own authority and power, I tend to be very alert. Then I may fight tooth and nail to save my self-respect.

Does this mean that I always walk away from confrontation? Not really, I remember instances when I have engaged in public showdowns with my bosses or teachers. It happened when I was much younger and far more passionate and rigid in my outlook to life in general. Over the years, I find myself being more tolerant of being told what to do. It takes off the pressure and I can better utilize my resources.

Me as an Authority figure: How do I exert my authority? What impact do I have on my team, peers, and family when I exert my authority? How do I ensure that my authority and power does not make my team dysfunctional? How do I ensure that, in caring for my team I do not give away my authority rendering me ineffective as a team leader? Questions again!

I am fairly authoritarian in the matters that hold me responsible for the final outcome. I take an aggressive stance in ways of operating at work. Over the years, my approach has mellowed. I tend to listen to ideas more patiently. I am a firm advocate of hands-off delegation. At times this leads to situations where we do not deliver on time. In such cases, I feel disappointed with self and often tend to feel responsible for not having seen it coming.

Co-existence is a value that I uphold and practice. It translates in the way I handle my teams. It is a tricky balance however to care for the team while ensuring high performances. Its about building self-motivated teams, empowered enough to make own decisions, within the prescribed format. I find this situation very funny, most of the times. The idea is to give as much freedom as possible to the member of the team yet I restrict them in certain boundaries of processes and authority limits. These limits are largely financial in nature and essential.

The theme of co-existence is even more tricky in the competitive world, where my peers carry the “either you or me” attitude. At such times, I sing a lonely song of “u and me”! In such cases I tend to seek different grounds to operate from.

All this is seen from my window. I wonder how it looks from the others’ window? I am increasingly becoming aware that I need to seek feedback on self from peers, subordinates and superiors.

Power dynamics in the family and social circle: For some strange reason I have always associated authority with professional set-up. As I ponder about the power dynamics in family and social set-ups, I see financial status as a measure of authority. It’s a fact that the financially strong members of the family or society tend to have more authority and power as compared to the financially challenged members. I experienced this soon after my graduation. My brother started his career with a four-figure salary and the family consulted him in every matter. I was studying at that point and my opinions had no value. But in my second year, I started training with a four-figure stipend. Lo and behold, I found myself being consulted in all matters. I think this was all about the authority and power of money. My opinions and suggestions were no different from before!

In family, authority comes with age. The senior members are supposed be authority cause they have more years over the younger ones. Never mind if the senior is clueless about the world outside since his voluntary retirement about 15 years back.

In my family, power to decide and authority to action, rests with those who have proven their competence or are perceived to have the competence to deal with that particular situation. This suits me the best.

Amongst friends, I find myself oscillating from being a complete authority on something to being a happy adventurer exploring new horizons under someone. This is one set of people where there is no power struggle, no one-upmanship and no ambiguity on authority.

I wonder how many other aspects of authority is one exposed to. There is authority of role-holders, positional power, authority of a situational leader, authority coming from knowledge and experience and so on and so forth.

In conclusion I have only one thought, it’s all in the mind! I am as much an authority as I feel and have as much power as I am willing to experience.