How to shift workplace power dynamics to create more respect and retention
At the end of the day, in most industries, it’s your frontline team members who are taking care of clients and doing the heavy lifting. And yet, there’s often an unspoken (and sometimes spoken) perception that those closest to the customer are less “valuable” than the “higher ups.”
Why? Usually because they’re not paid as much. Or because they’re viewed as replaceable.
But here’s the truth: undervaluing the frontline is a fast track to turnover, turf wars, and a fractured workplace culture.
When I ran a moving company…
I wasn’t the one hauling pianos up switchback staircases—my crew was.
They were the ones showing up at our customers’ homes, carefully packing and loading their most prized possessions, and setting them up in their new space.
My movers were the face of my company.
And like many companies, there was natural tension between our crew and our office staff. The movers assumed the office had it easy (hello, air conditioning and swivel chairs), while the office staff saw the crew as unskilled labor.
If I had treated my movers that way—like they were “less than”—I wouldn’t have achieved a turnover rate 40% lower than the industry average.
Here’s what we did instead to shift the power dynamics and build mutual respect.
1. Demonstrate interdependency and foster respect
One of the most powerful ways to shift workplace power dynamics is to highlight how much each part of the organization depends on the others.
I made it crystal clear that the office existed to support the crew—and that neither team could succeed without the other.
I used real stories of both crisis and success to connect the dots between roles. These stories flipped on light bulbs. The office staff started to understand the daily challenges faced by the movers. The crew began to recognize the complexity and pressure on the office team.
This mutual understanding bred respect.
And when things went wrong—and they always do—it wasn’t about finger-pointing. It became about how we show up for each other and how we move forward in a way that aligns with who we are and what we’re about.
Instead of operating in silos, the team stood together for the success of the whole organization.
2. Change the labels
Language shapes perception.
When I worked with a homecare client, they referred to their office team as “internal” staff and their field-based team as “external” staff. While the words were meant to describe location, they carried a hidden message: those in the field were outsiders.
We shifted the language to match the culture they actually wanted:
- “Internal” staff became support staff
- “External” staff became direct care staff
The impact? Clarity and connection. Support staff existed to enable direct care staff to do their best work.
Ask yourself: what labels do you use?
Are they helping—or hurting—the way your team sees each other?
3. Invert your organizational chart
Turn the traditional org chart upside down.
Put your customers, clients, or students at the top—and position leadership at the bottom, serving everyone above them.
Every level of the organization should exist to support the one above it.
In this model, rising through the ranks means reaching further downward—gaining more responsibility to serve more people.
When you think about how to shift workplace power dynamics, this one’s a game-changer. It flips the narrative from “power over” to “responsibility for.”
