People power can take many forms depending on the type of change sought and who holds the power to enact that change. There are two models of power - the traditional "power elite" model where power flows downward from those at the top through institutions, and the "people power" model where power flows upward from the people at the bottom through institutions to power holders. Harnessing people power involves connecting employees to the organization's vision and mission so that each person understands their contribution and feels a sense of purpose and leadership. Leaders who have harnessed people power have created change through various tactics like consumer pressure, corporate pressure, political pressure, raising awareness, organizing, volunteering, crowd-sourcing, donating, and non-

1. Harnessing People Power for Progress
N. Shekar

3. What do we mean by people power?
People Power can take many forms depending on
what kind of change you’re looking to achieve and
who has the power to make that change happen -
whether it’s a government, company, community or
individual.
So let us look at some examples. Hope it will help
you define your strategy and generate ideas for
tactics

4. Laws
Myths/Norms
Institutions
People
Power
holders
Laws
Myths/Norms
Institutions
People
Power
holders
Power Elite Model People Power Model
Power flows downward from those at the top
through institutions towards the helpless, people at
the bottom of the pyramid. Most people believe in
this model. Under this model, change can be
achieved only by appealing to the elites, using
persuasion.
Upside down pyramid places people at the top,
and power flows from them through
institutions, to power holders, public servants,
at the bottom. This is the radical “of, by and for
the people ideal”

6. Harnessing People Power
Capturing and advancing the greatest strength of a competitive
team: its people, their values, knowledge, intelligence and
motivations.
• Strategy-Aligned Innovation: Harnessing and Focusing the Power
of Employee Ideas
• Developing the Leadership Capabilities to Execute Your Strategic
Plan
• Having a Larger Purpose as a Competitive Advantage
• Values-Driven Strategic Planning
• A Ruthless Alignment of Knowledge Assets to Strategic Outcomes
• Measuring Your Ability to Innovate
• Strategies for Co-Innovation: Breaking Corporate Relationship

7. Source: www.changefactory.com.au
The best way to harness that ‘people power’ is to connect those people to the
organization they work for; to give them purpose. Taking the corporate view of
the organization. i.e. what it wants to be to its stakeholders (its vision) and
how it wants to get there (its mission) and cascading that to every individual
employee in a meaningful way results in personal accountability and
leadership at every level. Each employee has a purpose, and understands as
well as believes in the personal contribution that their role makes to the

8. Leaders who used people power for humanity

9. Leaders who gave people power with technology

10. People power at work

11. People power at work…

12. Changing the world in more than one way:
Consumer Pressure – Direct Communication, Targeted S
media campaign, Buycotts etc
Corporate Pressure – Shareholder action, Employees ac
workplace action etc.
Political Pressure – Media, Lobbying, Protests, Campaig
Raising Awareness – Public Art, Education, Hashtag Adv
Story Telling, Sharing images/videos
Organizing – Local community activities, Public Campaig

13. Changing the world in more than one way…
Volunteering – Disaster relief, Skills development…
Crowd sourcing – Innovation, Weather forecast, Traffic,
Funding, Investigations…
Donating – Fundraising – ticketed, matched, peer to pee
Behavioral Change – Social Proof, Word of mouth…
Non Violent Direct Action – Civil Disobedience, Street pro