Creating Authority
How to grow your decision-making
Authority is needed in order to make a group of people do something in common. For the purposes of this article, I define authority as simply the ability to make and enforce a decision. This can be hyper local — for example, you may have authority over how you may solve a problem; but perhaps you have only limited authority over what that problem is.
One of the most frustrating problems for individuals in larger organizations is running up against a barrier of authority they do not yet have. For example, you may develop excellent ideas on how to improve something yet you do not have the authority to make it a reality because the areas it covers are simply not within your purview.
What do you do in this situation? You must create authority out of one of the four sources of authority:
Positional authority
Reputational authority
Communication authority
Borrowed authority
Sources of Authority
Positional Authority
Position is the absolute floor of authority and the most obvious source. Position is by definition the organization’s codification of authority — there is a ladder, scopes, and other such structural garnishes to teach you your position in relation to everyone else’s. This is largely a positive thing and a superior setup when you organize extremely large numbers of people (flat organizational structures have been proven to be ineffective at larger scales).
But you should not confuse positional authority as the only source of authority. It’s the floor. You acquire a minimum level of authority commensurate with your position in the organization.
Reputational Authority
Reputational authority is authority that is given to you from the social fabric of the organization based on your achievements and your behaviors. Reputational authority is invisible but known. For example, you may have worked with a person before whose opinion simply holds more weight. There is nothing visibly more authoritative about this person — yet, their opinion punches above its weight and is held in higher regard than anyone else of a similar position. Why?
Such a person has built up a strong history of being right and modeling the behaviors that the organization desires. As a result, by simply engaging with multiple individuals across the social fabric of the company, this person earns authority. Their reputation literally precedes them. Reputational authority is the most permanent type of authority you can have and you can absolutely create large amounts of it, but it is slow; you have to build it up over time.
Communication Authority
Communication authority is stylistic authority. Communication is more than just sharing information — it also shares personality and intent. An indirect communication style will inherently be less authoritative while a direct one will imbue the speaker with greater authority.
Let’s imagine a scenario where a person wants someone else to do something. If the person dances around the request and gently asks leading questions without ever directly making the statement and couching everything in suggestions, there is little authority communicated. If the person instead directly makes the ask, more authority is communicated. This makes no statement on if either will be more effective (that is situational) but rather shows you how you can express greater authority by simply changing your communication style from indirect to direct.
Communication authority is very incremental but has the advantage of speed. Unlike reputational authority which is long lasting and has extremely high potential to build, communication authority can only help you so much. It is, however, very fast. You simply need to change your style in order to acquire the boost.
Borrowed Authority
Authority can be borrowed, as strange as that may sound. We actually do this all the time. Imagine you worked for a very prestigious company, went to a very prestigious school, or competed in a very prestigious league — when someone learns this about you, they immediately assume the qualities associated with such venues. You are immediately smart, capable, tough, or whatever else is admired. You become almost immediately authoritative in the relevant areas. The same can happen in an organization by borrowing the authority of extremely well-respected teams or leaders. If you work for an extremely well-respected leader or are part of a well-respected team, you will borrow some amount of their authority automatically.
But what if you don’t? Are there still ways to borrow? Yes — but first, someone must be willing to lend to you.
Lending Authority
You might wonder what are the mechanics of borrowing and lending authority? As a borrower, it’s simple — just ask. Typically you need to borrow authority to make and enforce a specific decision; so make the ask. But how does the lender actually provide the loan? Do you two shake hands on it and it’s done?
It’s not so simple. Authority is a social construct; and so it has to be socially enforced in order for the authority to be borrowed. The lender has to make public the idea that the borrower has the authority to make and enforce said decisions. The lender must make the transfer known down, up, and parallel. Authority is not fully borrowed until the borrower is able to make the decision with the impacted party (usually lower), defend their decision against those with override capabilities (usually higher), and inform their decision broadly across all stakeholders (usually parallel).
Short of the lender doing this full circle communication, the lending is actually incomplete. It is extremely common for the lender to assume that a “contract” has been agreed upon, to make no communication, and then to get confused why it hasn’t worked. Often borrowers know this is a tactical error but will not directly ask for such communication as it already feels like a favor to borrow in the first place and perhaps impolite to request this formal communication.
It is important for lenders to understand that it is not effective to have the borrower make the communication themselves. . A borrower is inherently not in a position of authority so they simply cannot make the claim that they now have it; as a lender, you must grant it publicly in order for any transfer to actually exist socially. It is also important for the lender to understand that full circle communication is ultimately required. It will become increasingly frustrating to the borrower if they can make one decision but then are not allowed to defend it or explain it. They will feel cut off at the knees — and it will result in regret for having asked for a loan in the first place.
Building Up Authority
So now we have the 4 sources, you can imagine your authority profile to look something like this:
You’re granted an authority floor, commensurate with your position (positional authority)
You can add large increments of authority on top of this over time through reputational authority
You can add small amounts of incremental authority on top of this quickly, but the total amount is capped meaningfully
For an enterprising individual, the best strategy would entail optimizing the short-term gains quickly with communication authority. Then take the time to build up reputational authority by doing the right things and expressing the right behaviors — over time, this will become your greatest source of authority. Throughout this portfolio, you should borrow intelligently. Find lenders who are actually capable of lending (and executing on that lending) and leverage borrowed authority to make the decisions you need. But borrow prudently — and even more importantly, make and enforce decisions in a way that is consistent with a strong reputation. In the end, only reputational authority really ever lasts.