Definition: Referent Power is a type of power that comes from the leader’s capacity to influence and inspire his followers. The source of its authority comes from how much people likes and admires him.
What Does Referent Power Mean?
This type of power is one of five different kinds that were described by John French and Bertram Raven, two social psychologist that studied in 1959 how leaders influenced people. Their study showed that there were five different types of power including legitimate power, reward power, expert power, referent power and coercive power. In the case of referent power, it refers to a person’s ability to influence others through interpersonal and relationships skills.
A leadership created through referent power attracts and inspire people with enough strength to turn them into followers who identify with the leader and start to be modeled by him. This type of power creates strong binds between the leader and his followers, who in most cases struggle to get his approval by mimicking the way the leader acts, decides, expresses himself or thinks.
A key disadvantage of such power is that it can create emotional dependence in the followers, which can lead to conflict whenever the leader somehow disappoints or drives his attention from the individual.
Example
Kyle is the Production Manager of a big consumer electronics firm. He has a strong leadership within his subordinates that comes from a positive attitude, a strong knowledge of the field and a charismatic way to transmit ideas. Since Kyle took the job, the company’s production figures have increased tremendously and the Board of Directors is very pleased with what he does.
An external consulting firm evaluated Kyle’s performance and concluded that he developed a strong referent power throughout the whole organization and this assessment created new opportunities for Kyle’s career. He is set to be the next CEO of the company if he keeps delivering such great results.
