Are you power driven?

Are you power driven? Way back in the 1950’s, David McLelland, a Harvard researcher, developed a Need Theory that is still relevant and useful today. He said that human beings are driven by three basic needs, Achievement, Affiliation and Power.

Achievement motivated people are driven to achieve excellence and they tend to set and reach challenging goals for themselves and others.

Affiliation motivated people are driven by being part of a group and they favour collaboration over competition.

Power motivated people are  driven by the need to control others, to compete and win and thereby obtain status and recognition.

The Power drive and motivation is interesting because it is much in evidence in modern leadership and management and using it has both advantages and disadvantages. The most obvious advantage is that a power-oriented leader generally achieves quick results, which is important in handling crisis situations. The disadvantages are that the solutions quickly arrived at tend to be short-lasting and only address symptoms and not causes. This is because the power-driven leader does not involve his or her team in decision making and the team doesn’t feel they have any ownership in what has to be done. Their opinions have not been asked for, let alone taken into account. The result is that the leader’s team members become resentful of not being listened to and either leave or simply do the minimum necessary to keep their jobs.

The fallout from McLelland’s work is that the need for Achievement is the critical need for success as a leader over the long term. The need for Affiliation is important in building consensus and team ownership of problem solving, decision making, planning and implementation. The need for Power has its use mostly when handling emergencies and crises.

McLelland’s work has led to a lot of progress in measuring and optimizing leadership skills. For example, the Human Synergistics® model was in part inspired by McLelland’s work. It looks at 12 key leadership styles and the research underlying the model shows that 4 styles in particular, including the all-important Achievement style, are key if you are to succeed as a leader over the long term.

If you would like to measure your own leadership style, Human Synergistics® has a suite of profiles to help you identify the strengths you already have as a leader and the areas for continuing development you may want to consider developing.

Want to know more about our leadership programs and profiles?

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