NGO Soul + Strategy 064. Positive power for organizational integrity: Bhavika Patel + Alex Cole-Hamilton
Summary
What should we think of when we consider organization integrity issues?
How do you distinguish between positive and negative forms of power?
How do we nurture power for organizational integrity?
These are the fairly complex questions that we address in the podcast today.
In this NGO Soul+Strategy episode, I interview Bhavika Patel, Senior Adviser for Equalities and Inclusion at Oxfam Great Britain, and Alex Cole-Hamilton, independent consultant and one of the founders of the Power and Integrity Initiative, on their work on positive power for organizational integrity.
Bhavika’s Bio:
- Currently the Senior Adviser for Equalities and Inclusion at Oxfam
- Brings HR, culture, and EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion) experience, with practical experience in understanding power in relation to EDI and organizational ways of working
- Led on HR issues in Oxfam, and has been a Talent Advisor at UNICEF
- MSC in applied positive coaching psychology
Alex’s Bio:
- Independent consultant, advising boards and executives on ethics and integrity risks and related decision-making frameworks
- Former head of Ethics and Compliance, Oxfam Great Britain
- Former head of Corporate Responsibility, Oxfam
- Former ethical trade project manager, The Body Shop
We discuss:
- The Power & Integrity Initiative is focused on UK-specific agencies; it aims to complement, but not overlap, with other ongoing activities, such as the RINGO project, Pledge4Change, #ShiftThePower etc.
- Concrete examples of measures and policy areas related to organizational integrity: safeguarding, anti-racism, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), environmental sustainability practices, anti-corruption
- How is power perceived in general? And in our sector?
- How can integrity be understood more holistically, going beyond the classical interpretation of ethics, to look at people's behavior and organizational behavior in relationship to each other?
- The initiative just went through several Labs to pilot getting to a shared understanding of what power is (not easy!); their write-up on what was learned will be published in late 2023
- Positive power as a concept comes out of the thinking on transformative power, led by Srilatha Batliwala and others at CREA. It also builds on notions of power with, power within, power for and not just power over (hierarchical or positional or coercive power)
- Even if power is used with good intention by (in)formal leaders in our sector, whether we like it or not, the impact of white-normed organizational systems and processes is not neutral
Resources:
YouTube video of this podcast
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