Chapter 7
Get Some Political Savvy—Play the Game Well
In This Chapter
- office political campaigns
- lessons on the politics of organizational change
- thinking politically
- a question of politics exercise
When you hear the term politics, the words “fair” and “equitable” are not usually the first descriptive words to come to mind. Still, the reality of change is that politics (and how well you play the game) will likely play a large part in your success.
For many people, this is not good news, so they may denounce the political process and profess to have no intention of participating in it. But it is still an undeniable fact that some amount of politics is part of every corporate decision. So whether you like it or not, understanding the politics of change is extremely important.
Office Political Campaigns
You can learn many important lessons from familiar political processes that will pay dividends during organizational change. In a political campaign, for example, candidates try to convince voters that they can best serve their needs and deserve their support. Politics involves trying to satisfy the goals of as many people involved in the process as possible. How you go about pleasing one group without alienating another is a real skill in and out of the office.
The politics of change don’t necessarily have to be negative. You can use your understanding of how to play the political game well to ensure organizational change will deliver a better work system and will help you achieve your career goals. The following are some political lessons to remember.
Know Who You Really Work For
Knowing who you really work for is not always easy to understand. After the change is complete, you might officially report to the person named on the new organizational chart but is he really your new boss? Perhaps. The real question is this: Who is really in charge? Who needs to sign off on important matters?
Understanding who’s really in control is extremely important during times of change. Transition periods bring blurred lines of authority and responsibility. The best way to understand who is really in charge of you is to follow the decision trail. This is the path a decision must follow in order for something to happen. Understanding who makes these decisions will give you valuable insight into how your organization will function for the immediate future.
Understand the Problems of the Past
Every good politician promises to implement new solutions to existing problems. You need to understand if the change is a complete overhaul or more of a tweak that adds efficiency. Knowing this about the change might be very important if you are in a position of authority and you propose large-scale expensive changes when money is not available, or you suggest cutting an initiative fully supported by management.
Find New Ways to Solve Problems
Adapt to and use the change and any new systems to solve problems. To whatever extent that you can solve problems utilizing the changes that were put in place, the more pleased everyone will be with the results you achieve. By doing this, you validate the necessity for the changes and the decisions that were made to support and initiate them. This makes those people who stuck their necks out to make the changes happen very happy. And it adds political clout to your career.
Pay Attention to the Reactions of Others
Just as politicians watch the polls to follow public opinion to their proposals, the initiators and implementers in an organization must do the same. Some change by its very nature is going to elicit a negative response. Not many of the change intended will welcome a corporate downsizing that directly affects them. You can gain important insights simply by checking the public opinion in your organization and trying to gauge the possible consequences of this response.
Remember That Support Can Shift
Support for change can disappear with little notice. If there is even the slightest variation in the plan or some part of the plan doesn’t work out well, then people’s support can collapse like a house of cards. This is a particular problem for the change initiators, who often believe that positive reactions will continue throughout the process no matter what. But things change, and so do people’s initial reactions. The politics of staying in tune with the organizational mood is extremely important.
Don’t Forget—People Have Long Memories
Promises are powerful, especially during change, because people believe them. If the change initiators have a good track record, then you are likely to feel confident about the changes and will support them. If not, you are likely to listen politely, but in your heart you will be skeptical of delivery. For those in positions of authority during change, delivering on promises is absolutely key.
Image Is Everything
To the individual experiencing it, perception is reality. What is real or the truth may sometimes take a backseat to how people perceive reality. Image can powerfully influence organizational change. The power of image can push logic and reason aside in the process. It determines how customers feel about doing business with a particular company. It even determines how employees feel about working for the organization and their level of support for the change.
What Goes Around Comes Around in Politics
The bottom line is this: You can’t cheat organizational change. Being anything less than straightforward and honest will only come back to haunt you later on. Sometimes these efforts to conceal information ultimately cause more problems later on. Blocking off legitimate communication channels to the change intended will only make people suspicious. Dishonesty will always make the change process difficult for everyone involved—and it’s just bad politics.
Thinking Politically
It is not always easy to think politically. Regardless of how you feel about this subject it is always important to think both strategically and universally (referring to the entire organization) in the decisions you make and actions you take. To do otherwise would be disregarding important factors that have a great impact on the success of your efforts.
The most important thing to understand about organizational politics during times of change or reorganization is where all the players have landed. Pay attention to who came out on top and who didn’t fare so well. Whose court is the game being played on now? What game are you playing now? To make sure your position is secure, use the contacts you have throughout the organization. Talk to them to determine what your best move might be from the position you currently occupy.
Remember, ultimately you will be judged not by how upset you were by the changes but by how much you contributed to their successful implementation. Don’t invest all your energy in making everyone understand how unhappy you are with the way things turned out. Instead, invest your energy in positive directions.
Image Making
You need to think about the image you project to the rest of the organization. Are you satisfied with how others see you? Advertising and public relations firms are constantly remaking people’s images. Products are constantly being repackaged in different ways to change how people think about them. So why can’t you change your image in the organization?
This image is beyond the collective organizational impression of you and is a more universal image of you. It is what everyone thinks about you, not just the decision makers. The good news here is that this universal image is often more easily changed than the collective impression.
Image problems are sometimes the result of misinformation based on incomplete data. The better others know you, the more accurate their image of you will be. Politicians are keenly aware of this fact. They know they must get out in public and make contact. They rally people together so they can meet and greet as many voters as possible. They are constantly working the crowds by shaking hands and kissing babies. Politicians understand that media images are only one-dimensional. The voting public needs a more personal introduction. So politicians migrate to town halls and public squares to ingratiate themselves to the voters. Their objective is to create a personal relationship on some level with each potential voter.
Like a politician, get to know as many different people as possible. Build new connections. Find new and different contacts throughout the organization. Establish new sources of information and develop them into a network. Don’t expect relationships to always be one-way. You must contribute to and nourish these relationships. Think of yourself as a politician and the people in your organization as the voting public. Again, good politics works every time. See the Question of Politics exercise at the end of this chapter to build your political savvy.
The Campaign Trail
If you were campaigning for the job you desire, what message would you send the rest of the organization? Familiarity and recognition are often very important factors in a political candidate’s success. Most people will not vote for a candidate they know nothing about. This highlights the importance of visibility in a situation where other people’s opinions influence critical decisions about a person.
Either figuratively or literally, you need to get your name in the paper. Find ways to gain recognition for what you have accomplished. Use the electronic tools—from email to social media—to ensure the right people know what you are doing. Look for external ways to publicize your accomplishments, such as trade journals or professional affiliations.
Think of any new assignment as an opportunity to gain greater visibility. Any hard-fought battles you have won during your career should be known! This is not the time to be modest or shy. Take advantage of every opportunity to let others know what you can do.
Stump Speeches
Political candidates always seem to have standard stump speeches they give over and over on the campaign trail. You may hear variations of these themes tailored for a particular audience, but the message is essentially the same. The candidates spend a lot of time with political strategists crafting these speeches to ensure they hit all the right points and gain them as many votes as possible on their campaign trail.
Although you may never be given the opportunity to address massive crowds anxiously awaiting your message, you will have chances to make a statement about your contributions to the organization. These opportunities, however, usually present themselves without advanced notice.
For most people in an organization, exposure to the top executives is infrequent and brief. These encounters occur as fleeting moments: in an elevator, passing in the hallway, after a speech, or even in the lavatory while washing your hands. Therefore, you must be prepared to present your campaign stump speech quickly and concisely at any time and place. But unlike the presidential candidate about to address his party, you have only a few fleeting moments at best to be heard. You should definitely have a prepared “elevator speech” for these occasions. See the Elevator Speech Exercise at the end of this chapter to prepare your 30-second pitch.
Mentors and Tormentors
A gatekeeper is someone in the organization who has the power to make a significant impact on your career. We all have had gatekeepers that were either mentors or tormentors in our lives. Mentors might be best described as our supporters. Tormentors are our detractors. Most people experience a “wicked witch” of sorts in their career. Just like the one who tormented Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we all encounter someone who at least appears out to get us. Their true intentions may not be as horrible, but the feeling usually is. It is not unusual to feel that no matter what you do, your tormentor will find something to criticize.
Corporate Enemies
If you have made a sworn enemy in your organization, you must do something to correct the situation. A mentor is often helpful in this situation. Sometimes the best mentors in our lives are the ones we choose for ourselves. Ask your mentor how you can change another person’s impression of you. Even though these perceptions may be based on very limited information, perception is reality to that person. Your goal should be to do whatever you can to change your enemy’s perception about you.
Twitter Politics
The most important principle social media focuses on is accessibility. Anyone with Internet access can be part of the conversation. What you say about anyone can potentially be seen by all, including those you didn’t think about. Remember, talking about your bad boss on Facebook or Twitter is not a healthy career choice.
Tools, Techniques, and Exercises
Use these exercises to figure out how politics affect your organization, what you should say in an elevator speech, and how best to work with gatekeepers.
A Question of Politics Exercise
The collective image the organization has of you defines your success as an organizational politician. Answer the following questions to determine your political savvy. Imagine you’re being judged by the general news media.
- Whose political party is presently in power in your organization?
- What effect has recent change had on this power structure?
- Are you a card-carrying member of the party in charge? If not, should you sign up?
- What is this party’s position on big issues facing your organization?
- Do you support the incumbent party in the organization? Explain.
- In light of all these political considerations, what are your chances of attaining the position you wish to occupy someday?
- Who do you think you would be running against for this job?
- What campaign issues might determine the final results?
- What mudslinging might occur during this competition?
- What effect would this have on the organization’s collective image of you?
Your collective image in the organization is similar to a sound bite on the evening news. A sound bite is a brief highlight of a political candidate’s most newsworthy message of the day. Accompanying this sound bite are images of the candidate being warmly greeted by crowds of supporters. The general public forms their collective opinion based more on these fleeting, powerful images rather than the issues each candidate represents.
- Imagine that the evening news aired a sound bite about you. What would you want your sound bite to be? Write your 30-second sound bite as it might appear on a local news station this evening.
- How well does this sound bite represent what you are all about as a candidate for the position you hope to hold someday?
- How can you align this sound bite more with your personal and professional goals in the future?
Elevator Speech Exercise
Below, begin your first draft of your elevator speech that you would give to a top executive of your organization. Remember this elevator ride or greeting in the hallway may be the only contact you have with this important person, so make it memorable (in a positive way).
- Picture this scene: You have just walked into an elevator and realize you are alone with the CEO of your organization. You immediately recognize this important individual and to your surprise the CEO says hello to you by name. She is also remarkably aware of your current assignment and asks you a question that demonstrates a general understanding of what you are trying to achieve. This is your big opportunity to make a favorable impression. Remember, you have to complete your entire presentation before the elevator doors open and the executive rushes off to the next meeting. What will you say?
The Gatekeeper Effect
We saw that gatekeepers have the authority and ability to significantly impact your career. They can, in a very real sense, open or close the door to your future advancement in the organization.
Typically, gatekeepers are supervisors, but not always. Gatekeepers may be in management positions several levels above you or may be even in lateral positions. Wherever they are, they play a critically important role in your future— particularly during periods of organizational change. Your gatekeeper controls what the outside world hears and thinks about you. In many ways, your gatekeeper is like your public relations manager.
Unfortunately, many people don’t take good care of their gatekeeper. They may not appreciate just how important their gatekeeper is to their career. You need to help your gatekeeper open doors for you. Even gatekeepers have others they must persuade to let you pass through. They have a tough job, so try to make it easier for them. Answer the following questions about your career gatekeeper.
- Who are the gatekeepers in your career?
- What might be locking the gates to your future career development?
- How can you help make this role easier for your gatekeeper?
- What are some of the gates you must pass through on your career path?
- Where might some of these career gates lead in the future?
Remember that gates can swing both ways. This means that a gatekeeper can just as quickly slam the gate closed as open it for you. Sometimes it takes only one person in a gatekeeper role to make or break your career.
What’s Next?
With your political savvy locked up, it’s time to see how to find opportunities amid chaos. That’s what you’ll learn about in the next chapter.