By Sobia Khan and Julia E. Moore.
2. Julia E Moore (biography)
How can we move beyond considering power as the source of implementation challenges and bottlenecks, and instead focus on how we can change or shift the nature of power? How might you experience implementation differently if you knew how to unpack power dynamics and had strategies to navigate power in your implementation practice or research?
This i2Insights contribution is a companion to our previous post on cultivating trust. Trust and power go hand in hand and can’t be dealt with in silos – when considering trust, you also need to consider power and vice versa. The framework presented here helps to understand the dimensions of power and actionable steps for navigating each of these dimensions. Here we describe a second aspect of the Cultiv8 tool to unpack power dynamics.
Before you act: Reflect on the context
A helpful starting place is engaging in deep reflection on the relational context and your own contributions to a power dynamic. An interesting observation from many discussions about power with people across a diversity of fields is that people largely feel powerless even if they hold power.
This may be because they tend to focus on how they feel in comparison to people who have more power than them, and not those who might have less power. They also tend to focus on specific characteristics of people that lend them power – perhaps visible authority or a large audience. An important nuance of power that people tend to miss is that power can come from multiple sources (not necessarily the ones we always think of), and that everyone has a source of power that can offer us more power relative to other people in different contexts. For example, having a PhD can be a source of power in some contexts, whereas it could be disregarded or even lead to less power in other contexts.
What this means is that it helps us and our work to have an honest reflection about power, particularly our own power. Without reflecting on this, we risk misreading situations, feeling stuck in the face of perceived power, and selecting inappropriate actions to navigate power.
Using a practical framework to unpack power: Dimensions of power
Powercube provides a useful framework to consider three dimensions of power, as shown in the figure below. Note that we have imagined this figure to depict a slot machine, where pulling the lever can result in different combinations of the different dimensions of power that result in certain power dynamics. The three aspects of power in the “slot machine” are types of power, forms of power and spaces of power.
1. Types of power: These help you define how power is being used by those who possess power in the specific context under consideration.
Four types of power are:
- Power over, which is about having dominance or authority over others
- Power with, which involves shared or collaborative power
- Power to, which is the process of lending power to those who might have less power in the particular context
- Power within, which is recognizing and valuing your own power
In implementation, we often default to thinking about “power over”, but the other types of power can shape the work in very important and influential ways. For example, understanding your “power within” can be transformative in how you show up in the work.
2. Forms of power: These are how you see power being exerted. Three relevant forms of power are:
- Visible power, which is associated with a defined role or status that is visible
- Hidden power, which is not associated with formal decision-making authority, but happens when people influence through agenda-setting or persuasion
- Invisible power, which is intangible and can be hard to pinpoint explicitly, but is based on deeply embedded assumptions (eg., power that comes based on gender, race, education level).
Invisible power is particularly important, as it can shape what is prioritized, what types of knowledge and expertise are considered valuable, and which voices are amplified or ignored.
3. Spaces of power: These are where power is exerted. Three spaces of power are:
- Closed spaces, where decisions are made amongst a small group behind closed doors
- Invited spaces, where people can participate in discourse and decisions. Invited spaces can be large (eg., public consultation) or small (eg., adding more people to your network)
- Claimed spaces, where people cannot participate in discourse and decisions, creating a space outside the mainstream or dominant space.
Actions to navigate power
The Cultiv8 tool can help you identify actions to navigate power. The types of actions you take are dictated by the dimensions of power. For example, here are some of the actions you can take based on your assessment of the dimensions of power.
Actions if you want to create or maintain power with
- Intentionally reflect on the nature of your power with
- Develop shared vision and goals
- Clearly define roles and contributions based on fairness (how people can and want to contribute, what they hope to get)
- Distribute leadership (eg., rotating chairs, working group structures with multiple leads).
Actions if you are exploring your power within
- Having power within means knowing and believing in the unique skills and contributions you bring to the table
- When you feel comfortable, highlight what you bring to the table
- If others have power over you, focus on finding power within.
Actions if you are challenging hidden power
- Make the hidden visible by calling it out when it does become apparent
- Find allies and champions among those with hidden power who can act as messengers to influence those with visible power.
Actions if you possess, are leveraging, or challenging invisible power
- You may not recognize that you have this form of power (hence why it is invisible); intentionally reflect on different aspects of your power using a tool like the wheel of privilege and power (Government of Canada, no date)
- Identify when you hold invisible power in different contexts and scenarios based on the wheel of privilege and power (Government of Canada, no date)
- Raise awareness of how power can be invisible by talking about it and identifying when invisible power is at play (eg., biases, dominant culture, values, etc.).
Actions if the goal is to create a claimed space
- Meet without green lights from leadership/others in power
- Connect with others who are not part of the existing closed spaces
- Intentionally share information about the claimed space with those connected to the work.
Conclusion
Power is ever-present in our implementation work (whether we realize it or not). We often think of power negatively because many of us feel powerless, particularly when implementing in large complex systems. However, there are many ways to think about power that can support the selection of actions to help us navigate and shape where things are going. When we pause to assess context, examine our own contributions, and choose actions deliberately, we move from reacting to power dynamics to working with them.
Is the model of power dynamics provided here useful for your work? Does it help you think about effective ways of changing or shifting power? Do you have examples to share of how power has played out in change efforts you have been involved in? Are there other aspects of power that you would highlight?
To find out more:
Visit the Cultiv8 tool online at: https://thecenterforimplementation.com/cultiv8-tool
The Center for Implementation has also held free webinars on the Cultiv8 tool. Sign up to access the recordings:
- From Insight to Action: Tools that Support Implementation – Event #1: Cultiv8 tool (Jan. 22, 2026). (Online): https://thecenterforimplementation.com/implementation-tools-event-series
- Cultiv8 Collaboration: Fostering Change Through Trust and Power (Jan. 23, 2024). (Online): https://thecenterforimplementation.com/events/#cultiv8-collaboration-event
References:
The Participation, Power and Social Change team at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. (2011). Powercube: Understanding power for social change. Powercube website. (Online): https://www.powercube.net
Government of Canada. (no date). Wheel of Privilege and Power. Embedding Project website. (Online): https://embeddingproject.org/resources/wheel-of-privilege-and-power/. Direct link to the Government of Canada resource: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/documents/pdf/english/corporate/anti-racism/wheel-privilege-power.pdf
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Statement: Generative artificial intelligence was not used in the development of this i2Insights contribution. (For i2Insights policy on generative artificial intelligence please see https://i2insights.org/contributing-to-i2insights/guidelines-for-authors/#artificial-intelligence.)
Biography: Sobia Khan PhD is the Director of Implementation at The Center for Implementation, based in Canada. Globally, she has supported and advised both researchers and practitioners on over 100 change initiatives across 5 continents, integrating multiple fields such as implementation science and systems thinking to achieve meaningful and large-scale change. She emphasizes pragmatic and equity-driven approaches, with a particular focus on the need for relationship-building, advocacy, and collective action to create change at all levels of the system.
Biography: Julia E. Moore PhD is the Executive Director of The Center for Implementation, based in Canada. She has worked closely with provincial, national, and international organizations to strengthen their knowledge translation and implementation efforts. She is most passionate about supporting professionals in applying implementation science and has delivered dozens of workshops to thousands of participants.