During his Week 2 Cultural Communication workshop, Program Director Steve Lin asked us to think about Power Gaps: the relationships people of different authority levels have within a space. We discussed how in Western cultures, people often operate under low power gaps, where children address their parents and teachers by their first name and supervisors can be friends, while in Asian cultures, high power gaps are the social norm. I grew up learning never to contradict my parents in public, accept a red envelope with one hand instead of two, or talk back to my grandparents, so I would say I was raised on higher power gaps than the average American. However, growing up Asian American means learning to juggle both high and low power gap situations, and at CAUSE, it has been a critical learning experience figuring out how to navigate both.
When I first entered CAUSE, all I could see were low power gaps. Our Program Director told us on the very first day to “just call me Steve”, and through both CLA and just working at the office, I’ve really appreciated how CAUSE staff members treat us with full dignity and respect: listening to what we have to say, asking for our feedback, and giving us tasks that require genuine creativity and responsibility. It shows in the way we feel comfortable telling CAUSE staff when we have surprising or even unpleasant experiences during panels or trips, and the way they always respond with care instead of admonition or denial. I distinctly remember how I woke up on the second morning of the Capitol trip with terrible muscle cramps, and not only did the staff allow me to skip breakfast because I was in too much pain to move, but they made sure my cohort bought me breakfast, offered to extend hotel check-out if I needed more rest, and walked next to me at a snail’s pace as we crossed the city. In that moment, I felt like I was being cared for as a friend, not as an intern, and my gratitude for their boundless kindness is simply indescribable.
Perks of working at CAUSE: enjoying delicious treats with staff!
However, one of the most amazing and useful aspects of being a CLA intern is proximity to powerful people. I have met more politically and socially influential people in the past 6 weeks than I probably have in the past 19 years, and so navigating power gaps around them is completely unfamiliar territory that has been surprisingly tricky. Many of these distinguished individuals also ask us to call them by their first name, but the weight of authority remains. How does one treat these people with respect, while being friendly and personable? How does one introduce oneself in a way that invites a closer connection without being rude? If I call them by their first name in person, can I do that when I write them an email? Should I just ask them about their professional and political careers, or would it be more meaningful and memorable to them if I asked them a personal question? Every person and every relationship is slightly different, so each time I meet another guest speaker, board member, or politician, I have to think about all these questions again and try to feel things out.
During this week at CAUSE, I had moments when I asked a lot of unnecessarily nitpicky questions just for the sake of curiosity or when I had an excited outburst and interrupted someone, and I began wondering, “Did I cross a line? As an intern, was that disrespectful?” Even during mock events for our CLA programming, I’m constantly concerned about moving with the right level of formality so as to not upset any of our guests, and we have frankly had some stumbles in this regard: recently, it was brought to my attention that we as a cohort did not attend to all our guests at our mock fundraiser the way we should have. I noticed how the guests which should’ve been our highest priority were also the guests that we were most intimidated by, and thus most reluctant to approach. I reflected that this is often the case: when you step into a room, it’s always easiest to go to your colleagues; the hard part is approaching the professor, the supervisor, the endorser. And yet these are the most important people to talk to because they can help you out the most, and so our failure to do so was a good reminder that though it is scary and nerve wracking to initiate these conversations, it is a skill that we can get better at by doing it over and over again.
After that experience, I have been more alert than ever about navigating power gaps respectfully and tactfully. Through CAUSE, I am getting lots of practice switching between the chill, low power gap space of just the CLA staff and cohort to the trickier, high power gap spaces involving prominent guests, and I think mastering an ease in moving through both kinds of spaces will be a soft skill I will use for the rest of my life.