Savvy: Ethically Navigate Workplace Politics
As a leader, office politics is unavoidable, but you can navigate it without feeling uneasy or distressed. The ability to get things done and embrace the reality of competing forces within the organization is often referred to as political savvy.
People who are politically savvy accept and deal with the egos, issues and rivalries that often make up the political realities inside an organization. These forces can become traps but when you consciously engage with these political realities, you can become a catalyst for positive change.
Below are four suggestions to develop your political savvy and navigate office politics in a way that positions you as an advocate for change and progress.
Begin by defining who you are. Think of it as defining your brand. At a minimum work through these 5 points and create a genuine and authentic narrative about yourself.
What are your values
What are you passionate about in your work
What do you contribute to the organization
What are your aspirations
Identify your key competencies (knowledge, skills, and abilities)
Clearly defining your brand helps you understand and articulate your strengths, values, and goals. This clarity allows you to focus on areas where you can excel and contribute to the organization. Defining who you are and consistently demonstrating your strengths and values builds trust and credibility with your colleagues, clients and stakeholders. Most importantly, defining who you are connects you to your core principles and it is these principles that ethically guide you through the more difficult aspects of organizational politics.
Next determine your circle of influence by identifying your formal and informal power. Power can be defined as your ability to influence, and we all have some degree of influence within our work unit and organization. Your formal power is defined by the roles you hold in the organization. Informal power is defined by the relationships you have inside and outside of your organization.
The types of formal power based on roles:
Connection power is defined by who you know and having the ear of powerful people within the organization.
Expert power is defined by having a valued skill or an acclaimed accomplishment.
Informational power means the individual has access to valuable or important information.
Esteem power arises from how well-liked and respected an individual is in their work unit and the larger organization.
Positional power the authority that comes from the position a person holds.
Reward power can grant rewards such as job assignments, schedules, pay or benefits.
Coercive power the authority to penalize or sanction others. People fear the consequences of not doing what has been asked of them.
To help you identify the extent of your "formal power," take a moment and think about how you try to influence action from others by using these powers. How do you use these powers in your work unit and in your department and if appropriate how do you use your formal power outside of your department.
Rate yourself on how often you use the different types of formal power.
1 = don't use 3 = use somewhat 5 = use often
To review how you use your informal power think about how you work across the organization and with outside stakeholders. Do you have the informal power to generate value and get things done?
The following steps will help you assess your informal power:
List your top 10 contacts that enable you to get work done. These contacts can be either internal and/or external to your organization.
For each contact, assign a score from 1 to 7 indicating how much you depend on them. If a contact provides a lot of value and is also difficult to replace, assign a high score. Think broadly about the value your contacts offer. This includes career advice, emotional backing, support with daily activities, information, and access to resources or stakeholders.
Do the same in reverse. Assign a score to yourself from others’ perspectives.
Approximate how much value you offer your contacts and how difficult it would be to replace you.
Finally, analyze your results. Do you have a wide variety of contacts? Do they mostly work in one team or function. Do your contacts provide you with more value than you return?
Once you have completed your formal and informal power audit, ask yourself how you can improve your standing.
A simple way to rectify an unfavorable power audit is to cultivate relationships by delivering value to your contacts. Ask yourself: what value can you deliver to them? One way is to continuously improve upon a skill set that leads others to value your contributions. Proactively use your skills to help others, beyond the demands of your formal role.
Manage your job so that you can contribute to the workflows of multiple functions inside the organization as well as customers, outside partners, or stakeholders. Volunteer for cross-functional initiatives and position yourself to meet, learn from, and deliver value to a variety of diverse groups in the organization.
Get to know your stakeholders and collaborators better as individuals.
And don’t limit yourself to the professional domain. Outside of work, join social associations as well as professional ones. Shared activities have an undervalued impact on expanding your networks
Expand your circle of influence by first expanding your network and then getting to work on building meaningful relationships. When those around you understand who you are it helps connect you with other like-minded colleagues and let others know you intend to be a force for positive change in the organization.
These first two steps in developing political savvy—creating your personal brand and building a network of contacts—are essential for cultivating self-awareness about your role within the organization. The final steps of building your political savvy involve turning your attention outward to deepen your understanding of the organization’s culture and power structure.
Next month, we'll outline the final two steps in detail.