Control and Power: Critical Questions
Oasis wasn’t always based in the faded Georgian village of Boston Spa in Yorkshire.
In our early years, we were shaped by the gritty, subversive energy of 1980s Britain – based in a barn on a peppercorn rent on the edge of a beech wood outside Leeds, with a co-operative conference centre as our live-in neighbour.
We grew up professionally amidst the tensions of that time: the pull between Thatcherism and rebellion, between privatisation and collective action. It was in that context that we began asking questions that still drive us today, perhaps more so - about power, hierarchy, inequalities, possibilities, planet, and the flourishing of the human spirit.
Why a Blog Series on Power?
This blog series is for leaders in development – for coaches, for facilitators, for those us us who daily are needing to find the leader within - which, in today’s world, really means all of us. But especially for those who feel the presence of power in their working and wider lives: where dynamics between people raise questions, where something feels uneven, where our freedoms are under threat, and where a deeper exploration and dialogue might unlock new understanding and/or action.
The blogs are informed by our lived experiences as coaches, developers and activators.
We’ll look at:
The different types of power at play
The potential good of power
The kinds of power that help us thrive
And how we either inhabit our power - or give it away
Back Then: Power, Change and Uncertainty
In the 80s, we were learning how to work in a world where leaders no longer had all the answers, where change was constant, where human dynamics were beginning to be explored, where the old models of control no longer applied. We explored how leadership could be shared, relational, accessible and responsive rather than rigid or hierarchical.
We covered the walls of the Oasis barn with quote cards, surrounded ourselves with books (long before Amazon was more than a river), and filled the air with questions that mattered. But more importantly acted as an Oasis, a fertile spot in a desert, for people to meet, engage and have a place of belonging, recharged to engage in what for many was a hostile environment.
Four-or Five-Questions of Power
One quote card stood out. It carried the “Four Questions of Power”, attributed to the late Tony Benn, the long-serving UK Labour MP:
What power have you got?
Where did you get it from?
In whose interests do you exercise it?
To whom are you accountable?
And how can we get rid of you? (His often-added, vital fifth question.)
We appreciated the boldness of the fifth - it reminded us that power must always be open to challenge. That no system, role, or person should be beyond review.
These questions still cut to the heart of legitimacy, transparency, and accountability, whether in politics, organisations, or communities.
Your Invitation
As we begin this series, try asking these five questions of yourself.
Then consider two other people in your organisation or community - perhaps people with different kinds of power than you. What would their answers be? What would it take to speak about these things together?
This blog series is an invitation into curiosity, honesty, and deeper leadership. We’re glad you’re here.
Nick Ellerby is a coach and Co-Director at Oasis Human Relations, one of a group of thirty plus practitioners working in partnerships across sectors as coaches, hosts, convenors, speaking partners, facilitators, researchers and changemakers.
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