Starting a new job can be extremely intimidating as new employees face the challenge of not only learning a new job, but adjusting to the organizational culture as well. The success of this adjustment is impacted greatly by the way both parties react to each other. I was thinking about this when I ran across a piece written on office politics by Bill Reynolds of CompEraser. The article provides some great pointers on what it takes to gain the trust and respect needed to take your career to the next level.
By realizing the subtle, pervasive, necessary, and often positive nature of organizational politics, you will be well on your way to developing political awareness. Each organization has its own political rules of conduct. By being patient, cautious, and observant, you can learn to recognize and employ behavior that is politically correct for your particular workplace. In addition, there are some general guidelines for practicing organizational politics in most any workplace:
Pay your dues. You should not expect to receive any favors or support until you have contributed in significant ways to your department organization. This is especially important advice for organizational newcomers. You earn credibility support, and the right to influence others by working hard and demonstrating your trustworthiness. By accepting unpleasant tasks, assisting others, and working extra hours initially, you build up a reserve of credit fro advancing yourself and your goals later on.
Listen and observe. Because the political atmosphere is implicit and subtle in most organizations, skills of listening and observing are important. By listening, you can notice who advances what ideas, who supports whom, what subtle suggestions are made, and what topics are awkward. Keen observation can reveal what projects receive high priority, where informal lines of communication occur, and the nature of alliances and animosities. The real power in organizations does not always lie with the visible power holders. By noticing the geographic placement of offices, seating arrangements in meetings, alternative meanings to statements, and the pattern of workplace friendships, you can begin to identify informal power, norms, and expectations.
Understand the people in your organization. In order to get along with and to influence others, you must pay attention to the personality traits and organizational interests of the political players. Being a good judge of character is an ingredient of political savvy that helps you determine allies and methods of influence. Who are the fence sitters? Who are the opinion leaders? Which colleagues make decisions based on tradition, evidence, cost-effectiveness, or majority sentiment? Some people need to be coaxed, praised, or reassured. Others welcome directness and debate. Some people are risk takers and others are cautious. Still others block every attempt to change. Remember that employees in an organization want to protect their self-interest. By identifying those interests and styles of behavior, you will become skilled at dealing with people.
Identify power sources. Because organizational politics is so closely tied to power, it is important to appraise the relative power positions of individuals and organizational units. Who makes what decisions? Who controls what resources? Who has influences with supervisors? Learn to recognize both formal and informal power. For example, those in legitimate positions with the ability to reward or punish others are obviously powerful. But so are those who possess valuable information, indispensable skills, or charismatic personalities. Sometimes the least obvious person wields the most power.
Build partnerships. Most people operate according to the principle of reciprocal favors. If someone helps, supports, or acts kindly towards you, you are likely to feel obligated to return the favor. Maxims such as “One good turn deserves another” or “Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” illustrate the reciprocity ethic. Politically wise managers build alliances based on this principle. By supporting each other, two colleagues have more strength as a team than they would individually.
- Two points about the judicious use of this strategy are worth mentioning. First, it is rarely necessary to remind people that they owe you a favor. To make such an explicit statement is to bring the political process to an awkwardly obvious level. It also insults others to imply that they aren’t holding up their end of the bargain. Indeed, the best alliances are implicitly understood rather than fully expressed in the first place. The second caution concerns the overuse of predictable alliances. If the work group realizes that two people always side with each other regardless of the issue, the group will discount the partnership.
Never overuse power. Being blatant with power is a sure way to lose it. Power can be regarded as your ability to influence others minus the others’ ability to resist. It is a transaction between people, not an entity one person possesses. A manager who is tyrannical with power will create much resistance. A better approach is to avoid obvious displays of power. Managers, for example, who arbitrarily mandate new procedures for reports often get complaints, refusals, and sabotage from their staff members. By gradually and subtly influencing staff members to see the value of the new procedure instead, you will find compliance and support. Indeed, even in the absence of supervision, the staff will continue to do the reports in the new way because they have internalized your perspective on the issue.
Learn to negotiate. Politically savvy managers are good negotiators who know when to make concessions and when to hold out. By compromising several smaller points, they can often win on big issues. Effective negotiation involves careful listening, a sensitivity to nonverbal cues, the strategic use of questions, a knowledge of options, a sense of timing, and a confident style of communication. Negotiation is involved in many aspects of the managerial role. You may find yourself negotiating with supervisors, subordinates, colleagues, potential employees, unions, customers, citizens, or vendors. It is inherently a political process because it involves subtle attempts to influence others to gain power or achieve a goal.
Have any additional tips or pointers? Feel free to post them!
