Who's got the Power? Understanding the Power Map for Intrapreneurial Success
Understanding where the power lies in your organization is key to making your ideas stick. And that’s exactly what we’re unpacking today.
Ever had a great idea, but weren’t sure how to get the right people on board?
Or found yourself navigating a sea of decision-makers, unsure of who could help or who might stand in your way?
Understanding where the power lies in your organization is key to making your ideas stick. And that’s exactly what we’re unpacking today.
You probably remember last week’s post, where I first mentioned we’d unpack this topic further today:
From Ideas to Impact: Becoming a True Intrapreneur
Remember, ideas are plentiful, but true intrapreneurship is about transforming ideas into actionable, valuable solutions. It’s about being there from start to finish and sticking with it even when things get difficult - from navigating difficult power maps (I’ll explain this next week) to handling budget requests, pitches or eventually difficult scaling in the desired solution.
So… What is the Power Map?
The Power Map - a concept that Bohdan Yeromenko1 and I recently brought into one of our intrapreneurship sessions - is all about knowing who holds influence, who has resources, and how to use that knowledge to move your project from an idea to a reality.
Why Power Mapping Matters
The Power Map isn’t just a chart; it's a guide to strategically navigate within the organization. When you’re trying to innovate, success isn’t just about a good idea—it’s about getting the right people to back you. Sometimes, ideas thrive because they resonate with influential individuals; other times, they stall simply because they didn’t get the support they needed.
So the Power Map is a simplified, slightly altered format of the Power-Interest Grid, also called the stakeholder matrix, and it is a popular tool in project management. It was developed by different experts over time, and is often linked to Colin Eden and Fran Ackermann from their 1998 book. The grid helps you figure out which people have power and interest, so you know where to focus your efforts.
For Bohdan and myself in our sessions it looks like this:
And the original from Ackermann and Eden looks like this:
As you can notice, we’ve tweaked from Interest/ Power quadrants’ example from 19982 to become Influence / Access to Resources, as things seem to have shifted in the companies, and power is sometimes not so easy to track as resources are!
In this case, Follow the money might be one of the wise pieces of advice.
The Power-Interest Grid: Your Stakeholder Compass
The Power Map is split into four main groups, each needing a different type of attention:
Engage Closely (High Influence, High Resources): These folks are your key players. They’ve got the power and the resources, and they care about your project. The goal here is to work closely with them, keep them involved, and make sure they feel invested in your success.
Keep Satisfied (High Influence, Low Resources): These stakeholders are powerful but not as invested in the details. Keep them informed without overwhelming them. Simple, regular updates are enough to keep them aligned and to make sure they’re not surprised by anything that might affect their interests.
Keep Informed (Low Influence, High Resources): These are your champions. They may not hold the most power, but they have resources or expertise that can push your project forward. Keep them in the loop, ask for their advice, and encourage them to advocate for your cause.
Monitor Lightly (Low Influence, Low Resources): It’s easy to ignore this group, but light engagement goes a long way in preventing unexpected resistance. You don’t need to invest much time here, but keeping them in the loop with high-level updates will minimize the risk of surprises.
Power Map in Action: Promotion Example
Imagine a coworker named Edisvaldo3, who has recently been promoted.
Let’s look at how his movement in the Power Map might change:
Example 1: Before their promotion, Edisvaldo was in the Keep Informed quadrant (low influence, high resources). He had expertise that was helpful, but not much decision-making power. After the promotion, Edisvaldo now has more influence in the company, moving him into the Engage Closely quadrant (high influence, high resources).
This change means you should work closely with Edisvaldo, keep him involved, and ensure his needs are addressed because he now has the power to significantly impact your project.
Example 2: Before the promotion, Edisvaldo was in the Monitor Lightly quadrant (low influence, low resources). After the promotion, you incorrectly placed Edisvaldo into the Keep Satisfied quadrant (high influence, low resources). In reality, Edisvaldo now has both high influence and resources, which means he belongs in the Engage Closely quadrant.
By miscategorizing Edisvaldo, you risk not involving him enough and missing out on his support or even facing resistance because he wasn’t properly engaged.
Making It Work for You
Why does this all matter for intrapreneurs? Because bringing an idea to life within a company is about more than just having a good concept. It’s about understanding who’s behind you, who’s skeptical, and who just doesn’t care. Getting the buy-in means navigating all of these quadrants with attention.
The Power Map gives you that insight, making it easier to rally allies and remove obstacles before they even appear.
Moving Beyond the Grid
Once you’ve got your Power Map in place, think about what roles people play in your project. Tools like RASCI (Responsible, Accountable, Support, Consult, Inform) [you can use free templates for this] can help define who does what and keep your project moving smoothly.
It’s about clarity—making sure everyone knows their role, which helps build confidence in your idea.
And within the coming weeks, I’ll setup a few templates for you guys for both the PowerMap and the RASCI! As I always need examples when filling out the mock-ups to make them generally available, if you’d like to receive early access to the template and receive 1-1 guidance on how you might do it with your problem/idea, get in touch with me!
Bringing It All Together
Power Mapping helps you take your idea off the drawing board and get it into action. It’s a practical approach to getting your innovations noticed and supported by the people who matter.
So, take a moment: Who in your organization could be a real game-changer for your idea? Start with them. Build that bridge. Engage closely or keep them satisfied—whatever it takes to get your idea off the ground.
And don’t just focus on those with high influence and resources—people with low power can also bring valuable ideas, collaboration, and support. Not only might they get promoted one day, but their ideas, collaboration, and support can be extremely valuable. Rome wasn't built in a day, and it certainly wasn't built by just one person. So apply this to your power map exercise when you build it for you.
Tip/ Exercise for today: Apply this to your own power map exercise. Draw the quadrant on paper, and write down where your coworkers, colleagues, directors, and bosses fit, along with how you plan to engage with them regarding your idea.
My suggestion: keep revisiting this Power Map - things might change as time evolves! People get promoted (congrats Edisvaldo!), or get connected with others every day: from new projects to simple chats by the coffee machine, there might be an update to your Power Map. So make sure you’re on top of it!
Lesson applied? Just this week, I pitched a service to a new team I collaborate with occasionally but had never pitched to directly. This person I interacted with would be, at best, a monitor lightly, as she might have (limited) access to resources, and not the biggest influence. However, her networking and understanding our idea, our services and being excited to help, she got us connected to people in the “engage closely” as they’ll probably have the budget for it, and they’re also rethinking those processes currently! See how important it is to revisit the Power Map regularly?
Even the most groundbreaking innovations often start with understanding the people around you just as much as the ideas in your head.
Now that you know this, maybe you feel a bit like Jim Carrey as Bruce Almighty4 (from the movie with the same name) finding out about his magic powers as God? After all, 'Who's got the power?' - maybe now it's you.
Keep mapping, keep engaging, and watch those ideas grow!
Happy mid-Week! Stay tuned for this Sunday’s informal take on creativity, music and all that jazz :)
By the way: I’ve got exciting news!
I’m now launching a few freebies and templates over here. Head over there if you’re looking for new facilitation techniques, templates to use with your team (including Printables) and more coming soon!
Bohdan and I are coworkers and recently have started collaborating on these free learning sessions on ADP List. We both are ADP List mentors.
I also consider Bohdan to be one of the thought leaders regarding intrapreneurship and innovation within companies.
There’s many sources you might be wanting to consult. Here’s the three I usually reference or use: Power/Interest Grid | Improvement Service, ProjectManagement.com - Stakeholder Analysis using the Power Interest Grid and the original authors’ here Modelling Stakeholder Dynamics for Supporting Group Decision and Negotiation: Theory to Practice | Group Decision and Negotiation
Edisvaldo is a name I use for all things that I need a random example for. He must be a very smart man, judging by the amount of times I mention him, either as a chauffeur, a CEO or a user persona. In my mind, his brothers are Elvis, Edis and Valdo. We might see more of them soon!