How to change your approach to politics to be more successful.

Politics at work can be stressful, and it can be a source of conflict among staff. Changing how you think about politics and your approach at work can help you be more successful. This article will highlight the 5 key questions to help you assess your work culture, and how you can best jump in to contribute and develop work your community.

Politics is frustrating because we might feel manipulated, or we don’t want to manipulate others. People at work seem to use it to get the upper hand, seemingly at the expense of others or the organization. It’s true that politics ‘out of control’ can create a negative environment and ruin our work and working relationships. At its worst, politics can take over entire workplaces in situations – think of major change or mergers that have gone wrong, where worried and stressed employees can spend all of their time planning, sharing information, and just trying to survive.

Politics is about gaining information and power at any level to make decisions for things or people. I suggest that another way to look at politics is a form of ‘stakeholder analysis’ – be aware of the people that we work with and how they might respond to other ideas or people. To master politics, it is first important that we are aware of people, assess the situation, and then plan our approach, and level of effort. Think about their interests, issues that they care about, and their goals. The good news is that we already know how to do this, in many different situations both at work and outside of work.

For example, would you plan a wedding or dinner seating arrangement without assessing who is coming? And when purchasing a home, your negotiation is probably based on who the sellers are, and their motivation. You typically want information to know why they want to sell, are they desperate, or whether there are multiple offers, which will all affect your offer strategy.

Work is a huge part of our lives, and it makes sense that politics is an essential component of all aspects of work. This includes competing for raises and promotions with other colleagues and making proposals for limited resources for projects, technology, and improvements. And, many times it is how ideas and proposals are presented, and how the support of colleagues is positioned that determines whether that idea will be recognized.

We need to be aware of ‘politics’ to succeed in our careers, and no one will be exempt from managing in this area, although for some it may come more naturally than others. How we look at politics is key to how we manage and our ultimate success. Building a mini cultural map of the organizational decision-making can help you in your plans to assess the organizational politics, and how you may fit into that.

Some questions to help build your map include:

Who are the decision-makers in the organization?
Who are the informal leaders and influencers, both formal and informal, to the key decision-makers?
How does real information flow, i.e. is it transparent through specific processes or is it through specific individuals, or other means
What behavior is rewarded? This may be aligned with the stated values, or it may be outside of the stated values
Where are the conflict situations between individuals and groups and why

Having this information is a very important part of understanding how the organization really operates, beneath the published strategic plans, vision statements, and organizational structures. Use this information to plan how you will fit into the organization, and how you will build your networks and communities which you will need to build your reputation, and gain the confidence of peers and superiors.

However, when it is all said and done, and you have completed your map, developed a range of relationships, and still don’t feel that there is a fit between you and the organization, sometimes even managing the politics won’t work. This could be for a number of reasons, and most fit issues are related to culture fit. The benefits of a stakeholder analysis or mini cultural map are that they will help you identify very quickly, how to plan and approach your impact at work.

Contact me at Winnie@kooycommunications.com to set up a complimentary call to discuss how we might work together.