What we model in respect of power has an impact on families, partner organisations, staff, volunteers, funders and all other stakeholders.
Generally the community and voluntary sector is thought to be less powerful than the Pillars. I have mentioned elsewhere that I have heard it referred to as the Third Sector, the First and Second Sectors being Government and Private Sectors respectively. (And, as I said already, I believe, language is important)! [1].
I know many practitioners that start off in community type work and then get what are deemed to be better jobs in the Pillars – mostly academia and/or public/civil service. (My fervent hope is that such people bring their knowledge and experience into the Pillars and thereby influence decision making therein. Many of them do).
I know a few people – but not that many – who chose to leave academia or the public/civil service and join the exciting but insecure (and modestly paid) world of community work.
But the migration is generally the other way.
Does anyone ever wonder 1): why that is so? and 2): what affect has the migration on building relationships with vulnerable people?
We want our organisation to advocate for and stand up for people who are powerless and are largely ignored by society, i.e. the Focus Group. Such people might never have had a feeling of having power over decisions that they make in respect of their desire to be included as equals in society.
For example, take a situation like worried parents accessing support for their child who is struggling in school, or who has a chronic illness.
All around them they see children who need support getting it because either their parents have jobs and money, or they are well in with those in authority, or they can articulate their children’s needs clearly. And within the inevitable inefficiencies of our education and health systems, the needs of children of most so-called middle class, and/or working people are attended to relatively quickly.
When support services appear impenetrable, however, it is a different story.
I have experienced many, many parents who did not have either the money, contacts or skills in articulation to get their children’s needs met and whose children, despite the parents’ exhausting efforts, ended up addicts and ultimately in prison.
Many such parents will feel powerless, and dependent on the good will of others (almost always practitioners of various hues) to advocate on their behalf.
If our organisation wishes to empower such parents (and, obviously other individuals who are not parents but who feel equally powerless over their own destiny) we will need to model empowerment in our dealings with each other – in a very common-sense and practical way.
Of all traits that organisations have, who has power and how it is used is something that is noticed by those who never had power. That is because if we feel powerless we will be finely tuned in to the nuances of power and how it is used and abused.
If we want to be attractive and relevant to those who are always ignored, (and not just those who will respond in a way that pleases us), we may have to do quite a lot of reaching out – all the time assuring people that not only are we on their side but that we will be there for the long haul.
Reaching out is necessary because people who have tried over and over and still failed to get their needs (or their children’s needs) met are tempted to give up. But reaching out is, of course, undermined if we don’t get our own power structures right.
If, in our organisation, we have traits such as gossiping, dishonesty, playing games, comparison and competition, doing and returning favours, (all power struggles, sometimes done with what we might think to be justifiable reasons), then these will be spotted quickly.
If we want power for its own sake, or want to build empires, or are easily threatened, or have over the top reaction to minor events, such traits will also be spotted immediately – and they are the ones that are modelled to people in distress.
[1]. I believe that the Community/Voluntary Sector in Ireland is quite strong and would resist the label Third, but nonetheless vigilance is needed.