Facing Race: A National Conference in St. Louis, MO — November 20-22, 2024

Organizational Culture Shift: The Importance of Power Mapping

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Saturday, 11/19
10:45 am to 12:15 pm

There are lots of tools out there to assess the internal dynamics of an organization. There are many traditional ways of conducting assessment, most of which rely on surveys or questionnaires, or otherwise try to interpret anonymity as safety to respond.

When Recover Alaska began our own internal conversation about addressing the power dynamics in our organization, we were guided by Sequoya Hayes of Red Linen Moon, LLC to generate our own tool. It didn’t have to cost any money, other than staff time. And it was deeply relational, since we went through multiple iterations of talking through our interpretation of power imbalances with our councils, partners, and fiscal sponsor. The resulting power analysis is a strong foundation from which we can plan for change within our organization.

In this session, participants will better understand the purpose and process of assessing power dynamics. It is our hope that participants will begin to map out a power analysis for their group or organization. Presenters will share why it is important to assess the organizational structure and roles that influence outcomes, and the impacts/barriers that could arise if power dynamics are not assessed.