OWNING YOUR POWER
Master relational, spatial, and emotional power ethically—transforming power-over into collaborative power-with, relationships that build trust, empower teams, and drive sustainable leadership impact every organization needs.
Understanding Relational, Spatial, and Emotional Power Through Theatre
What This Programme Is
Owning Your Power addresses leadership's most challenging dimension: conscious understanding and ethical use of power. Drawing on Mary Parker Follett's distinction between power-over (domination) and power-with (co-active power), Starhawk's three forms of power framework, and Stone Center's Relational-Cultural Theory, this program develops leaders who understand power across three dimensions: relational (connection as strength), spatial (embodied presence), and emotional (regulation and resonance). Theatre pedagogy makes power dynamics visible and transformable through status work, Viewpoints spatial awareness, and psycho-physical exercises.
Who This Is For
Leaders wanting conscious awareness of power dynamics
Anyone needing to transform power-over patterns to power-with relationships
Executives developing authentic power grounded in worth, not dominance
Leaders working with spatial presence and embodied authority
Those committed to ethical use of positional power with accountability
Format
Highly physical and embodied. Includes Johnstone status work, Viewpoints training, Grotowski psycho-physical exercises, Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed, partner exercises requiring mutual attunement, and Forum Theatre.
What You'll Develop
Core Capabilities:
Power-from-within: grounded sense of worth independent of external validation
Power-with: mutual empowerment where all parties gain capacity
Spatial power: using physical presence ethically and effectively
Emotional power: self-regulation, co-regulation, and resonance
Transforming power-over dynamics to collaborative relationships
Boundary work: claiming space and needs authentically
Key Competencies:
Three forms of power awareness (power-over, power-with, power-from-within)
Relational power: growth-fostering relationships increasing everyone's capacity
Status transactions and high/low status flexibility
Viewpoints: spatial relationship, architecture, gesture, topography
Integrating power and love in leadership (Kahane's framework)
Accountability for ethical power use