Power in Partnership

Identity, Emotions, & Co-Creating Equity

Because this topic resonated so deeply at the Smith College Executive Education Community Keynote, we’re offering Session 3 of The Future of Equitable Work as a stand-alone workshop for leaders, leadership teams, managers, and team members.

 

Everyone in an organization holds power, no matter their position.

When we uncover our socialization about which identities are granted more or less power and understand power differentials and dynamics, leaders can hold power responsibly and co-create equity in every conversation.

In this 2-hour interactive session, Jennifer McClanahan makes power visible so we can hold it responsibly in our relationships and our decisions.

Watch a clip of Jennifer speaking about power and emotions:

 

Smith College Executive Education, Community Keynote Address, May 29, 2024.

Session Topics

    • Examining how different parts of our identity are associated with power, or not.
    • How understanding power is foundational to Human-Centered Practices and building relationships across difference.
    • How power shows up in our professional and personal lives.
    • What we’re socialized to believe about power–who holds it, who doesn’t, and how others grant us power.
    • How leaders dissociate from their own power, and the consequences on our teams.
    • What imposter syndrome has to do with holding your power responsibly.
    • How getting clear on our values helps us hold power responsibly.
    • What happens when emotions intersect with power?
    • Strategies for co-creating equity when you hold more power and when you hold less power in a relationship.
    • How to build resiliency and inner agility when navigating power dynamics.

    Session Highlights

      • 2-hour interactive and facilitated session designed for leaders and leadership teams.
      • Strategy and advisement session to tailor the content and pacing to your needs.
      • Optional 1:1 processing sessions for individual reflections, concerns, and questions.
      • Optional follow-up sessions or workshops to include managers and team members.
      • Guided workbook to prepare you for the session and give you topics and strategies for moving forward with new practices and tools.
      • Time and space to grapple with complex and changing leadership challenges related to power, power dynamics, and building relationships. 

       

    Ready to Start?

    Bring your leaders to Session 4 of The Future of Equitable Work on July 20 or November 12.

    Join leaders across industries and organizations as we grapple with the leadership challenges that arise when we work across power differences. With a supportive and compassionate group of fellow leaders who are all in it together, we’ll gain tools for building relationships and co-creating equity with your team.

    We customize an in-depth, supportive program on power and co-creating equity in relationships for your groups or teams navigating power dynamics: 

        • Managers caught between leaders and direct reports
        • New and experienced executives and leadership teams building relationships across multiple levels
        • Boards working with Executive Directors and C-Suites
        • Law firm partners and associates

    Contact us to talk about scheduling and pricing.

    Jennifer McClanahan

    MJ Mathis

    Leverage To Lead

    Jennifer McClanahan is the founder and CEO of Leverage to Lead, where she helps organizations operationalize values to create equitable, inclusive, and thriving cultures. She enables leaders and employees to build relationships using Human-Centered Practices and values-aligned approaches.

    A trusted advisor and partner to corporations, nonprofits, and schools, Jennifer helps leaders leverage strategies, systems, and trainings to create a future where our lives and our work are grounded in human connection and partnership. 

    Leverage To Lead

    With experience as an educator, instructional coach, leadership coach, and facilitator, MJ Mathis presents audiences with human-centered approaches that help build strong relationships and transform workplaces. 

    MJ creates learning experiences that are human-centered and nurturing containers for growth, connection, vulnerability, and creativity. These experiences are not simply about gaining knowledge but are designed so that the experience itself is transformative. She also supports individuals with one-on-one processing sessions, career strategy and advisement, and support for understanding white identity (for white-identifying folks).

    Read Our Articles on Power and Relationships

    Expansion & Power: When Leadership Stops Being Personal and Starts Becoming Shared

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    by: MJ Mathis There’s a moment in leadership that’s hard to describe unless you’ve lived it. It doesn’t look louder or more impressive. It doesn’t come with a title change or a big announcement. It feels steadier. We’re reminded of this every time we reconnect with...

    Tyranny, Terror, and the Values I’m Returning To

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    When Leadership Becomes Alignment: A Story of Agency, Values, and Practice

    by: Jennifer McClanahan, CEO In our bi-monthly newsletter, we often share what’s inspiring us, stories of former clients, work that moves us, and moments that remind us why we do what we do. It’s one of my favorite sections, because it’s where the impact of leadership...

    The Invitation to Look Within: The Intrapersonal Turn in Leadership

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    Awareness is the First Act of Leadership

    by: Jennifer McClanahan, CEO People often come to us in an organizational crisis. The way they’re working is creating recurring challenges, and they can’t see a way out of the cycle. Whether they’re leading as individuals or managing departments, they reach a moment...

    Human Intelligence at Work: The Leadership Advantage

    Over the past 15 years of Leverage to Lead, we’ve honed our thinking about what makes a values-aligned, human-centered leader. And lately, the state of political leadership and the rise of AI has got us thinking, “Why do we care so much about human-centered...

    Human-Centered Practices

    What Does it Mean to be Human-Centered? At Leverage to Lead, we talk a lot about Human-Centered Practices (HCPs). They are the foundation of our executive coaching, our organizational culture work, our leadership programs, and most recently, ANCHOR (our professional...

    Reclaiming Worth: Resisting Capitalism’s Moral Hierarchy

    At Leverage to Lead, we’ve written about how sufficiency challenges the scarcity mindset of capitalism. Contemplating sufficiency asks us to pause, to question: How much is actually enough? Enough money. Enough productivity. Enough striving. Today, we’re extending...

    Your Emotions are a Compass

    How noticing your feelings can reveal the systems you’re in and open the door to building something better. In our last post, Systems Shape Beliefs, we explored how the systems we work within shape not only our behavior, but also our beliefs about ourselves, each...