Preface
THE PREVALENCE OF POLITICS Here are a few examples of offics politics that one might encounter on a regular basis: • A confused and anxious employee who is not sure exactly what is expected by management • A tired and angry person who is clearly in the wrong job • A frustrated manager who does not know how to deal with a poorly performing employee • People at all levels who feel that their boss is incompetent, unfair, or unreasonable • Colleagues who have constant disagreements because of drastically different work styles • Entire departments at war with each other because of conflicting roles • Many, many people who feel that they are somehow being treated unfairlyPart I - MASTERING THE FUNDAMENTALS Chapter 1 - Politics Is Not a Dirty Word
Playing politics is like having sex. Almost everybody does it, but nobody is comfortable discussing exactly what they do. We will talk for hours, however, about what other people might be doing. Typically, we use the term “playing politics” only to describe our colleagues’ behavior—never our own. They are sucking up, scheming, and manipulating, but we are building relationships, developing strategies, and opening communication channels. Many people feel that playing the political game involves devious plotting or blatant self-promotion. But in reality, “politics” is what naturally happens whenever people with different goals, interests, and personalities try to work together. We are all continuously engaged in political transactions throughout the normal course of every workday. The process itself is neither good nor bad, but simply a fact of life—and the morality of the outcome is determined entirely by the motives and goals of the players. Both Hitler and Mother Teresa might be considered “politically adept,” but their results are judged rather differently. HOW DO YOU WIN AT POLITICS? In a survey of 220 people from business and government organizations about their views on office politics, these were some of the responses to the question, “When people are good at politics, what are they able to do?” • Get their projects moved up the priority list • Play golf with important people • Influence management • Have their own office • Bypass normal procedures • Advance quickly • Get asked to solve the toughest problems • Receive more recognition • Accomplish results • Get things done despite great obstacles • Get senior management to “buy in” on projects • Help bring about changes • Get other people to do their work • Draw attention to a project • Get more money in their budget • Acquire resources for their staff • Stay out of trouble • Have their ideas heard • Get raises when other people don’t • Survive changes WHAT DO YOU WANT? An old saying provides this advice: “If you’re not sure where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else.” When thinking about your goals, here are some questions to consider: • Do you want to stay with your current organization or find a different place to work? • Do you want to remain in the same field or consider a different occupation? • Would you like a more comfortable relationship with your boss? • Do you want to be given more challenging and interesting assignments? • Are you interested in getting promoted or expanding your responsibilities? • Do you want more recognition for your contributions or accomplishments? • Would you like a better working relationship with certain people or departments? • Do you simply want to keep your current job in order to finance the rest of your life? THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GOAL AND A WISH When we are having problems at work, we often think in terms of wishes, not goals. “I wish that I could make more money.” “I wish I had gotten that promotion instead of Susan.” “I wish that my boss wasn’t such a moron.” “I wish my employees would pay attention to deadlines.” “I wish a headhunter would call and offer me a job.” Wishing is a passive activity that can easily degenerate into whining and complaining. Goals, on the other hand, help to define the actions we need to take. The more time we spend wishing, the less time we spend actually accomplishing anything. Wishes put the focus on what we want “them” to do. Goals highlight what we can do ourselves. Wishes take us out of the power position by implying that we are at the mercy of others. Goals give us power by describing results that we intend to accomplish. When converted to goals, the wishes see here would look like this: “I wish that I could make more money.” Goal --> “I am going to develop the skills I need for a higher-paying job.” “I wish I had gotten that promotion instead of Susan.” Goal --> “I will ask my manager about how to prepare myself for the next available promotion.” “I wish that my boss wasn’t such a moron.” Goal --> “I am going to start communicating in a more positive way with my boss.” “I wish my employees would pay attention to deadlines.” Goal --> “I am going to discuss the importance of deadlines with my employees and see that they meet them.” “I wish a headhunter would call and offer me a job.” Goal --> “I plan to update my resume and start checking out jobs in my field.” Goals imply action. Wishes imply sitting around and waiting for something to happen. Changing from wishful thinking to goal-directed planning doesn’t guarantee that you will get what you want, but it certainly increases your odds. FOUR POLITICAL TYPES Typically, our goals at work fall into two categories: business and personal. Business goals relate to the responsibilities of your position, such as accomplishing expected results, developing creative approaches to problems, and doing anything else that will make the organization more successful. Personal goals, on the other hand, focus on what you want for yourself, such as developing new abilities, getting assigned to interesting projects, or being promoted to a higher position. Sometimes our actions help us to achieve these goals, and sometimes they have the opposite effect. Jeff’s childish response to getting a new boss, for example, was clearly harmful to both his career and his company. Four common political types can be described by the way their behavior affects both business and personal goals:Note about Martyrs: Martyrs may not always be pathological pleasers, they also come in a more militant variety—crusaders who are true believers in a cause. Although crusading Martyrs usually have the interests of the organization at heart, their approach to advocacy often torpedoes their own career. When these Martyrs jump on their soapbox, their adamant and single-minded preaching tends to make people run the other way; for example: the dedicated quality assurance specialist whose finger-pointing about defective products alienates her manufacturing colleagues; the brilliant corporate attorney whom managers try to circumvent because he always throws up roadblocks to their plans; the social worker who rants about bureaucratic barriers so frequently that no one hears her valid complaints about policies that are harmful to clients. Ironically, their poorly handled quest to make things better usually deprives these Martyrs of the very influence they seek. THE ETHICS OF OFFICE POLITICS This Political Golden Rule should be followed by anyone hoping to become a Winner: "Never advance your own interests by harming the business or hurting other people." Are You Focused on Wishes or Goals? Assessing your situation: • Create a mental picture of your working life as you would like for it to be two years into the future. Close your eyes, if that helps. Or draw a picture, if that works for you. Once you have a clear image of the ideal future in mind, list everything that would be different from the way it is now. These are your wishes. Moving from assessment to action: • To actually create your ideal future, you need to convert your wishes into goal statements, because goals force you to focus on what you yourself could do to change the situation. Don’t waste your energy thinking about what someone else should be doing—that won’t get you anywhere. Look at your wish list and convert those wishes into goals. If you’re not sure how to do that, the steps are described below, then summarized in a table. 1. Define the specific result that you hope to achieve. For example, saying, “I want more money” isn’t specific enough. You could accomplish that by robbing a bank or murdering your wealthy aunt. But saying, “I want a job that pays twice what I’m making now” is pretty clear. 2. Consider what obstacles are keeping you from that result. In the example of the higher-paying job, obstacles might include a lack of education, a limited career path, or being perceived negatively by the people who make promotional decisions. 3. Now here’s the hard part. Figure out what you personally can do to overcome those obstacles. For example, if you lack education, how can you get it? Or, if you’re in a job with limited potential, what can you do to get into a more promising field? If certain people perceive you negatively, how can you begin to change those perceptions? 4. Turn those ideas into goal statements. A goal statement starts with “I,” uses an action verb, and describes something specific that you will do; such as, “I will get information about degree programs with class schedules that fit my work hours,” or “I will research career options that fit my skills and experience,” or “I will talk with my boss about how to get considered for a promotion.” 5. For each goal, identify the first step toward accomplishing it. Then do it. Then take the next one. Big goals often seem much more manageable if you simply focus on the next specific action that you need to take. Turning Wishes into Goals 1. Desired Result: What do I specifically want? 2. Obstacles: What is keeping me from getting what I want? 3. Personal Actions: What can I personally do to overcome those obstacles? 4. Goal Statement: “I will...” What Is Your Political Type? Assessing your situation: • If you have recognized yourself as a Martyr, Sociopath, or Dimwit, you need to change some fundamental attitudes about your work situation. What basic beliefs are getting you in trouble? Do you feel that you need to please everyone? Be in control of every situation? Always be right? Get your own way? List the attitudes that may be causing you problems. Then list the unproductive behaviors generated by those attitudes. • Even if you are a Winner, you may occasionally lapse into harmful behaviors. Do you ever find yourself acting like a Martyr, Sociopath, or Dimwit? If so, what specifically are you doing? What would an outside observer see? List any behaviors that might keep you from achieving your work or career goals. Moving from assessment to action: • Now that you have identified your unproductive behaviors, determine what you will do differently in the future. Beside each negative behavior, list the positive behavior that will replace it. For example, if you have listed, “I respond angrily when colleagues won’t do what I want,” then the replacement behavior might be, “When colleagues won’t do what I want, I will ask questions to understand their point of view and try to reach a compromise.” Specific suggestions on changing behavior are provided at the end of chapter 6. What Are Your Ethical Dilemmas? Assessing your situation: • Does your job present any potential ethical challenges? Do you admire the ethical standards of management in your organization? Are you ever asked to do things that don’t feel quite right? Moving from assessment to action: • If you have ethical conflicts at work, you have three choices: (1) continue to compromise your own standards because of the other benefits provided by your job; (2) try to change the situation by discussing it with the appropriate people; or (3) find a more compatible place to work. Only you can decide which is the best course in your situation.
Chapter 2 - Political Intelligence and the Facts of Life
DEVELOPING POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE Winners often seem to have a “sixth sense” that helps them successfully navigate turbulent political waters. Upon entering a room of complete strangers, they can quickly determine who actually has power and who is just faking it. They get along with even the most prickly people and can bring up controversial issues without provoking or offending anyone. When others play destructive political games, they are able to respond with subtle countermoves; and if they set their sights on a goal, they almost always get what they’re after. In short, Winners are blessed with Political Intelligence. The need for Political Intelligence is universal. Anyone, in any job, can use these skills to make work more productive and pleasant. After years of talking with clients from all walks of life, I have concluded that people from the production line to the executive suite are troubled by similar issues and need similar political abilities. Developing a high Political IQ can help you do many things: • Clearly define the steps that will lead to your goals • Recognize the power relationships in any group • Capitalize on opportunities to increase your personal power and influence • Identify the true motives and hidden agendas of others • Remain focused on important objectives and ignore distractions • Build positive relationships, even with unpleasant people • Respond appropriately to both devious and direct attacks • Turn conflicts and arguments into productive discussions • Avoid wasting energy on irrelevant issues and unattainable goals Politically intelligent people also know when they should leave a toxic environment and find a healthier place to work. Although Political Intelligence may be an innate talent for some, most of us sharpen our political acumen through an ongoing process of trial and error. Unfortunately, this learning experience is often painful. The privileged few receive guidance from a wise mentor or trusted adviser, but most people are not so lucky. Fortunately, however, these skills can be taught to anyone willing to examine and change their own attitudes and behaviors. The greatest barrier to becoming a Winner is the inability to see yourself clearly, because self-knowledge allows you to make wise choices about your behavior and avoid political pitfalls. DEMOCRATIC VALUES VERSUS ORGANIZATIONAL The beginning of Political Intelligence is the acceptance of certain realities that we will call Organizational Facts of Life (OFOL). Unfortunately, many bright and talented people, like Alan, fail to comprehend that our deeply held democratic values just do not apply at work. Freedom of speech; liberty and justice for all; government of the people, by the people, and for the people—these are not principles that operate on the job. Clinging to the belief that the workplace should function democratically will only doom you to frustration and disappointment. To excel at office politics, you must understand and accept some fundamental facts: The Organizational Facts of Life • OFOL #1: Organizations are not democracies. • OFOL #2: Some people have more power than others. • OFOL #3: Virtually all decisions are subjective. • OFOL #4: Your boss has control over much of your life. • OFOL #5: Fairness is an impossible goal. The ultimate Organizational Fact of Life is this: "The person with the most power wins." Chapter End Notes How Good Is Your Relationship with Your Boss? Assessing your situation: • Rate your relationship with your manager using the 1—5 scale below. 1: I absolutely can't stand my boss. 2: I manage to tolerate my boss despite our differences. 3: We're not a perfect match, but my boss is okay. 4: I get along well with my boss most of the time. 5: My boss and I have a terific relationship. If your rating is a four or five, be happy! If your rating is below a four, list the problems that you have with your boss. Are these issues interfering with the achievement of your personal or business goals? • Now, think beyond your own reactions. Would most of your co-workers list the same problems with your boss? If so, do any of them seem to cope with this difficult person better than you do? But if not, why do you have a harder time with this manager than others do? Have you had difficulty with other bosses in the past? Or do the two of you just have very different work styles? Moving from assessment to action: • You probably can’t change your boss, so you need to figure out what you can do to manage this relationship more intelligently: (1) List the situations in which you find your manager’s behavior to be most frustrating or annoying. (2) For each situation, list the way that you usually react. How might your behavior make the situation worse? How would your boss describe your behavior? (3) Identify a more productive reaction to these situations. If other people have an easier time with your boss, use them as role models. Set goals for changing your behavior with your boss. How High Is Your Political IQ? Assessing your situation: • Check any of the statements below that might apply to you. The more statements that seem relevant, the more you may need to work on your Political Intelligence. # I am not as effective as I would like to be in influencing others. # I frequently find myself in arguments and disagreements with people at work. # I feel that I have often been treated unfairly in work situations. # There are certain people that I find it impossible to work with. # When I am with a new group, I find it hard to tell where the real power lies. # I am often uncertain about the true motives of other people. # I find that I am easily distracted from important goals by less important tasks. # I find it hard to work with people that I don’t particularly like. # I often feel that I am being taken advantage of at work. # If I feel that I am being attacked or undermined by others, I am not sure how to respond. # I get easily upset about matters that are trivial or not relevant to my goals. # Management doesn’t recognize the true value of the work that I do. # Certain situations at work may prevent me from accomplishing goals that matter to me. Moving from assessment to action: • As you read the rest of this book, keep in mind the items that you checked. Each of them will be addressed in the chapters that follow. As you think about these issues, your task will be to identify the attitudes or behaviors that you need to change to improve your situation. Are You Too Concerned with “Fairness”? Assessing your situation: • Divide a sheet of paper down the middle. On one side, list everything about your work situation that you feel is unfair. How many of these items are related to one of the Organizational Facts of Life? Moving from assessment to action: • On the other side of the paper, list anything that you personally might do to affect the things that seem unfair to you. If these issues are important enough, then start taking action to change the situation. However, if you can’t think of any way to change it, or if it’s not worth your time, then forget about it! Let it go! Any time spent focusing on this unfairness is just a waste of energy that could be more productively directed toward achieving your goals.Chapter 3 - Forget Fairness, Look for Leverage
Political Intelligence requires a thorough understanding of the dynamics of leverage, which simply means your ability to get others to do what you want. If this conjures up visions of people jumping to obey at the crack of a whip, you’ve got the wrong view of leverage. Those who try to control others through abusive power and authority usually fail in the long run—or someone stabs them in the back at the first opportunity. When you increase your leverage in more appropriate ways, though, you can be a Winner in the game of office politics—and in other areas of life as well. Most of our transactions involve leverage in one way or another. Imagine, for example, that you plan to ask your boss for a raise. Are you more likely to get it if you: (a) have been a loyal employee for five years or (b) have another job offer? Clearly, your leverage increases if your services are desired elsewhere. Or suppose you want to get a co-worker to help you with a project. Is assistance more likely to be forthcoming if: (a) you have helped this colleague in the past; (b) this colleague is going to need your help in the future; or (c) large bonuses will be paid to project participants? The answer is all of the above. Option (c) might be the most effective, but (a) and (b) would increase your leverage as well. Leverage also rears its head in personal relationships. Let’s say a guy wants to take off for a twoweek hunting trip in Montana with his buddies. Is his wife more likely to agree to this plan if: (a) they just spent a romantic weekend at the beach together or (b) he’s been working seventy hours a week for the past three months? CALCULATING THE LEVERAGE EQUATION The ability to assess your leverage relative to others’ is a fundamental aspect of Political Intelligence. In one Dilbert cartoon, a colleague who orders Dilbert to help him winds up with a trash can on his head. “This is where we learn,” says Dilbert, “that you are my co-worker, not my boss.” In other words, you don’t have the leverage to tell me what to do. Winners are able to accurately calculate the Leverage Equation in any given situation. Even if you’ve never used the term “leverage,” I’ll guarantee that at some level you are aware of the Leverage Equation that is always hovering in the background. If you receive bad service and ask to speak to the manager … if you tell the traffic cop that you’re friends with the Police Chief … if you copy your uncooperative colleague’s boss on an e-mail … you are simply trying to increase your leverage. Leverage miscalculations often create unanticipated (and usually unpleasant) consequences for the lower-leverage person. Leverage miscalculations are not limited to individual issues: entire departments or work groups may fail to assess their leverage accurately. When pilots at a major airline received significant wage increases after threatening to strike, flight attendants decided to follow their example. They went on strike and refused to return to work—but instead of getting raises, the flight attendants got pink slips. Lower-paid workers were hired to fill their positions. These unfortunate employees lost their jobs because they failed to realize that flight attendants simply don’t have the same leverage as pilots. Why? Because new flight attendants can be hired and trained much more quickly. Senior managers, who are accustomed to having a great deal of leverage, may be blindsided when circumstances alter the usual Leverage Equation. In another interesting airline example, executives at a major carrier that was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy decided to award themselves huge bonuses right after asking their unions for large pay concessions. The resulting furor caused the CEO to rescind the bonuses and publicly apologize. But that wasn’t enough to appease irate employees and, shortly thereafter, the CEO resigned. This otherwise intelligent man had obviously underestimated (or overlooked) the leverage of the unions during a financial crisis. Undesirable outcomes created by inaccurate leverage assessments can range from embarrassing blunders to political catastrophes. To help you avoid such problems, the table below summarizes some of the factors that can operate to increase or decrease your leverage. Sizing up your leverageLEVERAGE IS DYNAMIC To keep up with changing political tides, you must always be on the lookout for leverage shifts. These power fluctuations occur frequently, both at work and in our personal lives. As children grow from toddlers to teenagers to adults, for example, leverage gradually shifts away from the parents toward the child. Controlling parents who fail to recognize this change will have a tough time when their kids grow up. Because dramatic leverage shifts can occur unexpectedly, political Winners follow this principle: "Never intentionally offend anyone at work." Leverage shifts can occur for a host of reasons—changing market conditions, increased competition, new laws or regulations, or the election of a different political party. Winners stay alert for impending changes, allowing them to anticipate shifts and react appropriately, but shortsighted people who either fail to recognize a leverage shift or stick with outdated approaches may eventually find themselves in political Siberia. LEVERAGE VERSUS FAIRNESS % “Fairness” seldom determines what happens to you at work—leverage usually does. % Low-leverage people spend a lot of time thinking, talking, or complaining about unfair treatment, unfair policies, or unfair management. % High-leverage people don’t obsess about fairness. Instead, they remain focused on actions that will move them toward their goals. USING YOUR ENERGY WISELY % Every morning, you start the day with a fresh supply of energy. By the end of the day, you will have spent that energy allowance on something. You can choose to focus your energy in ways that will increase your leverage and help you reach your goals—or not. % Low-leverage people tend to waste a lot of energy on complaining, worrying, blaming, gossiping, scheming, and whining. High-leverage people focus their energy on producing results and building relationships. They concentrate on positive goals and things they can control. % Sometimes you can turn a negative situation to positive advantage by consciously deciding to redirect your energy and refocus your attitude. Different political types focus their energy in different ways. - Sociopaths devote their efforts exclusively to fulfilling selfish desires. - While Martyrs exhaust themselves by endlessly striving to meet the needs of others or vigorously championing a cause in the face of constant opposition. - Dimwits, who tend to be controlled by their emotions, burn up a great deal of energy satisfying unconscious psychological drives. - Winners demonstrate Political Intelligence by refusing to be held hostage by their feelings. Instead, they concentrate on their goals and take actions that will advance both personal and organizational interests. LEVERAGE BOOSTERS The Power of Results Delivering results that make your organization more competitive, effective, or efficient is guaranteed to increase leverage, particularly if you manage to amaze or delight key decision-makers in the process. Should you happen to have a job that allows you to close the deal of the decade or design a brilliant new generation of products, then you are one giant step ahead in the leverage game. The Power of Knowledge Developing impressive expertise in your work —no matter what job you hold—will cause people to view you as a source of information and a valuable resource. Expertise is especially critical in “specialist” positions—jobs that exist primarily to provide in-depth knowledge of a certain field, such as law, compensation, information systems, and so on. But the Power of Knowledge is not the exclusive property of specialists. Customer service reps, for example, acquire a great deal of data about customer problems and preferences. Administrative assistants are often invaluable sources of information about practical shortcuts for getting things done. Receptionists who chat with customers and vendors often pick up interesting facts. Anyone, in any job, can acquire useful knowledge to share with others. The Power of Attitude But, you say, “I’m just a cog in the corporate machine. I really don’t see how I can acquire influence through results or knowledge.” Don’t despair. You can boost your leverage simply by being the type of person with whom other people like to work—consistently friendly, helpful, and cooperative. The Power of Attitude is particularly evident in the way people react to adversity, so even if you feel cheated, overlooked, or unappreciated, try to keep your negative emotional reactions to yourself. When you have concerns, strive to address them in a calm and professional manner. Dumping all your true feelings on people is a guaranteed leverage killer. (Anyone who believes that complete emotional honesty is a virtue definitely lacks Political Intelligence.) The Power of Empathy Most people appreciate a sympathetic ear. As an organizational psychologist, I often find that clients benefit from simply being able to talk about work issues with someone who feels safe. Not that you should strive to become the Dear Abby of your department—that would be counterproductive—but genuinely trying to understand and appreciate others’ problems shows that you are not solely concerned with yourself. The Power of Networks Political Intelligence involves building positive relationships—so it logically follows that Winners increase their leverage by maintaining helpful connections with as many people as possible. Your network is simply the sum total of all the people you can call on for information, assistance, or advice—and this “relationship power” is available to everyone in unlimited supply. The more connections you have —both inside and outside your organization—the greater your ability to get things done and therefore the higher your leverage. As an added bonus, if you ever decide that your best political strategy is to exit for a better situation, your external network will improve the odds of your finding a desirable job elsewhere. The Power of Inclusion Involving others in your decisions, activities, and projects can increase support and produce better outcomes. If you happen to have a somewhat solitary nature, becoming more inclusive is definitely a strategy that you should consider. Winners not only take steps to enhance teamwork in their own area, but also try to build bridges to those in other functions. Unfortunately, people seem to have a natural tendency to gravitate toward those similar to themselves, often creating functional or departmental silos. By helping to break down barriers, you will not only increase your leverage, but will also make the business more successful. The Power of Detachment Although feeling passionate about your job is a plus, too much passion can be dysfunctional. Dedication to your work may make you credible and persuasive, but those who are too emotionally invested in their jobs can become defensive and inflexible. People who overreact to critiques or constructive suggestions tend to be difficult to work with, so the ability to disengage emotions and view issues objectively can increase your influence. When you develop a reputation as an unbiased and thoughtful observer, others are more likely to seek you out for consultation. As more people consult you, your leverage will increase. Chapter End Notes How Much Leverage Do You Possess? Assessing your situation: • Using the chart below, rate yourself on the leverage boosters discussed in this chapter.
A score of 18—21 indicates that you possess a great deal of leverage. Good for you! You should be able to get a lot accomplished. A score of 11—17 shows that you clearly have opportunities to increase your leverage if you choose. If your score is 10 or below, you definitely have some work to do. Moving from assessment to action: • If your score is lower than you would like, identify the categories in which you could improve. What are the specific steps you could take to increase your leverage in those areas? What could you do differently in terms of your actions at work or your interactions with people? • How are you using your energy at work? Are you concentrating on activities that will help you achieve your goals or wasting energy on low-leverage behaviors? How might you need to refocus? What Leverage Problems Do You Have? Assessing your situation: • Can you think of a situation in which you miscalculated your leverage—that is, you either underestimated or overestimated the amount of leverage you had? What was the outcome? Does this often happen to you? • Think about the last time a management change or reorganization created a leverage shift at your workplace. How did it affect you? Do you find that leverage shifts often create problems for you? Moving from assessment to action: • If you have identified previous problems with leverage shifts or miscalculations, revisit those situations. How would you handle them differently if you could do it over again? What advice would you give yourself for handling such situations in the future?
Chapter 4 - Political Psych 101: Allies and Adversaries
“What you do doesn’t matter around here. It’s all about who you know.” That pearl of wisdom usually pops out whenever someone feels they have been unfairly denied some desirable benefit—a promotion, a raise, a choice assignment, or whatever. And, in fact, this popular rationalization actually is half true. Politically speaking, your good fortune depends upon both what you do and who you know—or more accurately, who knows you. Doing a sorry job will eventually damage your reputation, regardless of your personal popularity. On the other hand, producing absolutely brilliant work will get you nowhere unless the right people know about it. Remember, virtually all decisions are subjective. So for decisions to go your way, you must be well-regarded by those who are subjectively making them. That’s why all Winners know and respect this important political truth: "Positive relationships build political capital." When you like people, you naturally want to help them. But if you don’t like someone … well, let’s just say you probably won’t be found in that person’s cheering section. Supporters and allies increase your leverage; enemies and adversaries reduce it. Should your adversaries ever outnumber your allies, you’re toast. Even top executives need allies. RECOGNIZING YOUR SUPPORTERS Allies can be grouped into three categories: Friends, Partners, and Connections. Friends are colleagues who “click” because of common interests or similar temperaments. They simply like each other, for reasons unrelated to tasks, projects, or goals. As you get to know people, these informal alliances naturally develop. Outgoing types find Friends without thinking about it; solitary people have to make more of an effort. Keep in mind, however, that colleagues usually judge your personality and your competence separately. They can love you dearly, but still think you’re a bit of a screw-up. Many people have been shocked when their warm and chummy office buddies failed to support them for a promotion or left them off an important project team. If your Friends also believe that you do a great job, they will be much stronger allies. Partners are colleagues who must depend on each other to accomplish results. Because their goals are linked, the actions of one affect the success of the other. Hospital case managers need information about patients from the medical professionals who work with them. Project team members need for everyone in the group to complete their assigned tasks. Accountants need accurate figures from managers to prepare financial reports, while managers need regular updates from accounting to effectively manage their resources. Anyone whose outcomes are affected by your actions (or vice versa) is your Partner. No need to go searching for Partners—they automatically come with your job. But because they depend on you, Partners will not become your allies unless they believe that you are both competent and supportive. If you slack off on your work, fail to meet deadlines, or try to undermine them, Partners can quickly transform into adversaries. When Partners are also Friends, work becomes more fun. Even if you don’t care much for your Partners, however, you still need to be a cooperative colleague for the sake of the business. Politically stupid people sometimes mistakenly view their Partners as rivals. Two engineering managers in a technology company had become quite competitive. They seldom spoke to each other and discouraged any interaction between their employees. Unfortunately, both worked in product development, with one in charge of hardware, the other responsible for software. Given this situation, no one should have been surprised when the hardware and software plans for a new product turned out to be incompatible. This setback not only hurt the business, but also torpedoed the careers of these Dimwit managers. Because Partners are potentially powerful allies, they should always be cultivated, never alienated. Should you happen to have a naturally competitive temperament, you need to turn it off if you’re working with someone on a common project or trying to accomplish a shared goal. Partners should focus their competitive instincts on exceeding expectations, improving past performance, or outdoing the company’s rivals—not on beating each other. When that happens, everyone loses. Connections are people that you can temporarily hook up with when you need assistance or information. In everyday language, when we say someone “has connections,” we mean that they know people who can help them get things done. Last year, my staff and I struggled for weeks with a client’s computer system that kept automatically deleting our e-mails as spam. After requests to various specialists and managers failed to help, I finally cashed in my connection with the vice president of information systems and asked him to look into the problem. This VP and I had worked together many years ago, and, although we’ve never been Friends or Partners, I know him well enough to request an occasional favor. This makes him a Connection. I’m not sure what he did, but the problem was quickly solved. Sometimes people connect because a united effort is temporarily helpful to both of them. In the world of real politics, for example, senators from opposing parties may unite to sponsor mutually beneficial legislation. Such alliances can be valuable in the corporate world as well, and avoiding them can result in missed opportunities. The more Connections you have, the more information you can access and the more problems you can solve. But relationships with Connections are more tenuous than those with Friends or Partners, so they must not be overused. If you ask your Connection for too many favors, you may wear out your welcome and lose the connection altogether. BUILDING A NETWORK Erecting artificial barriers can also keep us from meeting potential allies. These walls are created whenever we congregate only with others of our own kind. Clustering happens when people habitually group themselves according to some demographic characteristic—age, gender, race, nationality, and so forth. Whenever I speak to a new group, I’m on the lookout for clustering. If all the women sit at one table and the men at another, that’s a bad sign. Substitute African-American/Caucasian, Chinese/Korean, middle-aged/young, or a variety of other dichotomies in the preceding sentence, and you have the same result. Layering is a similar phenomenon based on organizational level. Apart from necessary work communication, executives talk mostly with other executives, managers with managers, professionals with professionals, and so on. Occupational tunnel vision occurs when people ignore everyone and everything outside their own department or function, giving them an extremely limited view of the business. Interacting with clones of yourself may feel safe and comfortable, but such exclusiveness severely restricts your opportunities. Those who loudly complain that “it’s just who you know” are usually the same ones who never take the initiative to get to know anyone. So how do you go about building useful alliances? You can start by developing some new habits— and possibly some new attitudes. • Identify the people you need to know. The most important allies are those who can help you achieve your goals. If you want a promotion, do you know the managers who will be approving that decision? If you want to transfer to another department, do those people have any idea who you are? If you want to change occupations, have you tried to talk with people in your desired line of work? Decide where you want to go, then figure out who can help you get there. • Seek out opportunities for interaction. There is absolutely nothing wrong with sitting at your computer all day or spending your lunch hour reading a book. But you won’t get to know anyone that way. Having identified people who might help you get to your goals, you now need to figure out how to talk to them. Could you make an appointment to discuss some aspect of their work? Or yours? Do you ever run into them in the cafeteria? Would it help to join a professional association? Attend a workshop or seminar? My first management job came about simply because I sat next to an executive at a conference and struck up a conversation. Six weeks later, he called to ask if I’d be interested in working for him. • Try to attract people, not repel them. If your colleagues duck into the restroom when they see you coming, you’ll have difficulty building a network. People should view you as a bright spot in their workday, not the low point. Think about the people that you most appreciate at work. How would you describe them? Perhaps you’re thinking of adjectives like competent, helpful, friendly, cheerful, interesting, pleasant, and so forth. For network-building, that’s who you want to be. • Strive for predictability. Jekyll and Hyde personalities are stressful to be around. If your mood shifts wildly from day to day, people have no idea what to expect. I know one manager with a distinctly bipolar temperament: when she’s up, she’s cheerful and fun and exciting and friendly—but when she’s down, she’s dissatisfied and depressed and angry. On any given day, there’s no telling which person will appear, so her staff and colleagues tend to be quite cautious until they’re certain that she’s in a happy frame of mind. • Get outside your comfort zone. People who hang out with their own kind usually have a fear of the unknown (although they probably wouldn’t describe it that way). But if you take a risk and make an effort to talk with those “different” people, you will usually find that they welcome your interest and attention. Try having lunch with somebody new. Or meet with colleagues from another department to learn about what they do. Invite people above or below you in the hierarchy to give you some feedback. When you step outside your safe and familiar circle, you may be surprised by how much you learn. • Look for links. Alliances usually develop from shared interests, experiences, or opinions. Finding these “links” can personalize a relationship and establish a basis for future conversation. Do you both have kids? Pets? Do you come from the same part of the country? Like to travel? Have a similar work background? Learn to notice what people talk about and ask appropriate questions. One word of caution, though: avoid potentially offensive topics like religion and politics unless you have clear evidence that the other party either shares your views or enjoys heated emotional debates. • Be helpful to others. A “not in my job description” attitude will most definitely alienate potential allies, especially those who are your natural Partners. Offering assistance builds bridges, so look for opportunities to help. Can you pitch in when they’re overloaded? Share useful information? Demonstrate a more cooperative approach? Show a willingness to compromise? If you are a strong, independent type, let others help you every once in a while. Most people like to reciprocate. To succeed, you need allies. No one can accomplish their goals without the participation and cooperation of other people. And having allies just generally makes work easier and more enjoyable. IDENTIFYING YOUR ADVERSARIES Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone at work was reasonable, rational, open, honest, and aboveboard? Unfortunately, people who live in that particular fantasy world usually have a rude awakening somewhere in their future. Although you don’t want to start seeing enemies behind every file cabinet, almost everybody encounters a few adversaries during the course of their career. Political survivors are able to recognize an opponent when they see one and respond in an appropriate fashion. When you spot a potential adversary, you need to ask yourself three questions. First, be sure that your diagnosis is correct. Is this person an actual opponent or just an annoying and disagreeable personality? Applying the “adversary” label too quickly can create a self-fulfilling prophecy: the aggravating but harmless co-worker notices your less-than-friendly behavior and responds in kind, thereby confirming your suspicions and plunging the relationship into a downward spiral from which it may never recover. All adversaries are bothersome, but not all bothersome people are adversaries. Winners know better than to get thrown off track by difficult people. They just learn how to deal with them. A true adversary is someone who stands between you and the accomplishment of your goals. To differentiate between an adversary and an annoyance, consider the earlier example of Brad and Megan. Brad found Megan irritating because her work style was quite different from his own, yet both her work and her interpersonal skills were making his department look good. He may have regretted his decision to hire her, but she certainly wasn’t an adversary. On the other hand, from Megan’s point of view, Brad is definitely an opponent: he wants her gone. Suppose that, after careful consideration, you decide that someone is indeed an adversary. Now you must consider the second question: What does this person want? Look for possible motives. Your first clue can be found in this fundamental political and psychological principle: "All behavior has a purpose." Whenever a person's behavior appears counterproductive and motives seem incomprehensible, stop and consider what the person might be gaining. Categorized by motive, adversaries fall into three groups: focused, emotional, or vengeful. Focused adversaries simply want to get their own way and view you as an obstacle. Their opposition is not personal (although it may feel like it). Some are driven by career ambitions: they want a promotion, a special assignment, an expansion of responsibilities. Other focused adversaries are intent upon promoting their own point of view, without regard to the concerns or needs of others. Many of these folks suffer from a severe case of occupational tunnel vision. Emotional adversaries are a completely different breed. These poor souls are truly out of control, driven by their intense emotional needs. Underlying their dysfunctional behavior is a deep-seated anger or anxiety that frequently overrides the more logical portion of their brain. One sure sign of an emotional adversary is that the person creates problems for everyone, not just for you. Vengeful Adversaries More difficult and unpleasant are vengeful adversaries, who are unmistakably out to get you—and that means you, personally. If you’re lucky, you’ll never run into one of these malicious people, but if you do, watch out! Some vengeful adversaries are quite open and direct: they don’t like you and you know that they don’t like you. The most treacherous vengeful adversaries are stealth opponents. Direct confrontation is not their style. These sneaky characters specialize in pointed remarks, subtle challenges, cold shoulders, and disparaging comments. With some, you find yourself feeling uneasy whenever they’re around. But with others, you may never even identify them as an adversary until someone else tells you. Or you suddenly find yourself unemployed. Stealth opponents are vicious. A close encounter with one can make you feel justifiably paranoid for quite a while. If you get wind of their underhanded activities, you can initiate damage control by confronting them directly and taking steps to protect your reputation. Unfortunately, victims often recognize these co-workers as adversaries only after the damage is already done—and sometimes they never learn about them at all. Adversaries always have an agenda. Some want to do you harm, while others are just self-centered—however, all of them are operating against your best interests. Once you have diagnosed their motives, you must then figure out how to respond. DEALING WITH ANNOYANCES AND ADVERSARIES Annoying people represent an exercise in self discipline, but actual adversaries are a different matter. So we come to the question of: How do you keep an adversary from interfering with your success? First, you must avoid the natural traps lurking in these situations. Then you have a choice: you can try to convert your adversaries to allies or take steps to contain their destructive potential. Managing focused adversaries Because focused adversaries view you as an impediment, their actions can easily lure you into an ongoing power struggle. You need to resist this temptation. A battle for control will just make you seem uncooperative, make others uncomfortable, and make your adversary angry, inviting retaliation. Once a power struggle is under way, someone is probably going to lose. Consider the earlier example of the product development specialists and the engineering manager. After the manager sabotaged their meeting, the product development specialists wanted to go straight to the president and have him order the engineering manager to cooperate. But that approach could create two problems: First, most executives hate being dragged into these cross-functional squabbles. Executives are usually terrible mediators, so they resent anyone who forces them to deal with conflict. Kicking a problem upstairs can therefore cost you some political capital. Second, ratting out the engineering manager to his boss is just going to infuriate him. Infuriated people often become stealth opponents, retaliating in quietly lethal ways that you may never even know about. If the engineering manager has special expertise or highly placed allies, he may have enough leverage to win this power struggle. To solve the problem in a constructive manner, the product development specialists need to take a less confrontational approach. With focused adversaries, the preferred outcome is to convert them to allies. For this to happen, your opponents must believe that: (a) your goals do not conflict with theirs, and (b) cooperating with you might contribute to their own success. Some focused adversaries cannot be converted, however, and must be contained. Usually, the most effective containment strategy is to increase your leverage, which often involves enlisting the support of those with more power or influence. Because forceful adversaries sometimes try to enlarge their territory by pushing into yours, containment may also involve enforcing your boundaries. Managing emotional adversaries The key to managing emotional adversaries is to remember that their behavior is triggered not by your actions but by their needs. At work, we generally expect people to act like adults, but emotional adversaries seem more like kids: they throw tantrums, pout, form cliques, play power games, seek attention, or get their feelings hurt. This immature behavior is not limited to a particular person or situation. Most people find them difficult. The greatest risk with emotional adversaries is that they can “hook” into your own emotional vulnerabilities, causing you to do things that are politically stupid. Although emotional adversaries can occasionally be converted to allies, containment is usually a more practical goal. Forget about changing their personalities—that would probably require psychiatric or chemical intervention. You simply want to reduce their disruptive behavior, particularly around you. Here’s the key: you must control your own reactions, because an emotional response is exactly the reward that this adversary is seeking (albeit sometimes unconsciously). Maintain a calm, rational, adult demeanor, at all times. When an angry outburst produces no reaction, the person will eventually calm down. When a challenging remark is met with a question instead of a comeback, the person will usually stop arguing. When tears fail to elicit sympathy, they will soon dry up. There is one exception to this rule: if adversaries are truly disturbed, with absolutely no control over their behavior, then nothing you do will make any difference. The only solution is to stay out of their way. Responding to emotional adversaries can really test your self-control. During every interaction, you must focus like a laser on your immediate objective and not be distracted by their irrelevant or annoying antics. Don’t expect much from them in the way of support. Emotionally driven people are too caught up in their own psychological dramas to be of help to anyone else. Managing vengeful adversaries For starters, you should try to avoid creating vengeful adversaries. A few warped people seem to be vengeful by nature, like Curt the stealth opponent, but they are a tiny minority. More often, these adversaries are retaliating for something that you did, perhaps unintentionally. To convert vengeful adversaries, you must first examine your own actions to see what might have triggered their resentment. If you have no idea what you might have done to produce such animosity in your vengeful opponent, try the direct, problem-solving approach. With a rational person, this will usually work if you handle the conversation correctly. You must be sincere in your desire to improve the relationship and non-defensive in your communication. Such a discussion begins with an opening like this: “Ed, I don’t think that our working relationship is going very well, and I’m not sure what’s causing the problem. I’d like to see if we could figure out how to improve things. What do you think about the situation?” Several things might happen next: Ed may describe the problem, Ed may tell you to go to hell, Ed may wimp out by saying that no problem exists. Whatever his reaction, you must calmly persist until you understand his point of view. Then suggest what you yourself might do differently in the future. After demonstrating your own willingness to change, you should be able to make reasonable requests of the other party. If this approach works, you will have defused an adversary, possibly created an ally, and undoubtedly made your life at work more pleasant. When your vengeful opponent is not a rational person, however, you need to forget problem solving and go for containment. Focus on protecting yourself from further attacks. Some adversarial interactions fall into such a predictable pattern that they can be considered a game—although not the kind that you play for fun. Once you spot a game in progress, understanding the pattern can help you choose your next move. The next section begins with a political playbook, including descriptions of common games and suggested strategies for winning. Chapter End Notes How Good Is Your Network of Allies? Assessing your situation: • Consider the three different types of allies: Friends, Partners, and Connections. Using the lists below, evaluate your contacts in each of these categories. In each category, check the box that best describes your relationship.
• Whose support do you need to accomplish your business or personal goals? Are all of these people in your current network of allies? Do you need to specifically increase your number of Friends, Partners, or Connections? • If you don’t have the allies you need, what has kept you from developing them? The circumstances of your job? Your own temperament? A tendency to associate only with people like yourself? Moving from assessment to action: • Make two lists: (1) people you would like to have as allies with whom you currently have no relationship; and (2) strained relationships that you need to improve if those people are to become allies. Now list the specific actions you could take to develop or improve those relationships. Do You Have Problems with Adversaries? Assessing your situation • Think about your adversaries. If you believe that you have none, either you are doing a great job politically or you are in denial. If you can identify some adversarial relationships, assess them using the table see here. One caution, however: be sure that the person is actually acting adversarial and not just being annoying.
Moving from assessment to action: • If you have selected a strategy in the “How Should You Respond?” column, then you need to get more specific about how to implement it. What steps could you take to create a more friendly association? Or what might you do to diminish their influence and increase your own? For the strategy you have chosen, identify your initial action steps. • Consider whether your own actions or behavior may have contributed to the development of these adversarial relationships. If so, what can you learn from your current situation to prevent such problems from recurring in the future?
Part II - AVOIDING POLITICAL PITFALLS Chapter 5 - Political Games: Moves and Countermoves
HOW DO YOU KNOW IT’S A GAME? Political maneuvering is part of the ebb and flow of office life, but games have a specific purpose. A truly malicious game will escalate office politics to an entirely different level. Here are a few signs that can help you spot a game in progress: • The players’ actions have an identifiable pattern. Once you spot the pattern, the moves are always predictable. In one of the games (let us call the players Ted and Russell), the pattern involved could be mutual attempts at sabotage and retaliation. • The behavior has an emotional payoff. Political games are played for emotional rewards. Each time they made a winning move, Ted and Russell enjoyed feeling dominant and in control, while making the other party feel humiliated and powerless. • True motives are never stated. Political game players always have a socially acceptable explanation for everything they do. Ted and Russell articulated sound, logical business reasons for each decision they made, although the hidden agenda was obvious to anyone paying attention. • There is always a winner and sometimes a loser. The purpose of any political game is to help the player come out ahead. Sometimes, though not always, there is an opponent who must be defeated or humiliated. After each move in the Ted/Russell game, one felt like a winner and the other a loser. Ironically, even though Russell made the ultimate winning move, Ted never knew about it. He just thought that he was leaving the playing field. (Russell contacted an executive recruiter who was also an old friend. The friend arranged for Ted to be offered a higher-paying position in upstate New York.) • Any attempt to change the game is met with resistance. Players will oppose anyone who tries to break the game’s pattern, because they don’t want to lose the emotional payoff. If their behavior seems silly or self-defeating, keep in mind that emotional reactions can seldom be understood with logical analysis (although emotions do have a logic of their own). Several well-meaning colleagues tried to help Ted and Russell resolve their differences for the good of the department, but both were too focused on revenge to care about any higher purpose. The most common political games fall into three categories: Power Games, Ego Games, and Escape Games. Keep in mind that these popular pastimes are hardly limited to the workplace. We often play them with family and friends as well! POWER GAMES Power Game players are either trying to acquire more leverage or flaunt the power they already have. Some players have malicious intentions, while others are merely self-absorbed. All Power Games are designed to give the initiator some type of advantage over other people. The Suck-Up Game: “I think you’re wonderful, so you have to like me.” Recognizing the Pattern: Suck-Up players direct all their energy upward. They shower managers with compliments, frequently request their guidance, and never openly disagree with them. Advanced players actively seek out opportunities to stroke the egos of important executives. The Emotional Payoff: “I feel safe when people in power like me.” Pitfalls for Players: (1) Colleagues generally think that Suck-Up players are useless, so they seldom have allies among their peers; (2) when problems occur unexpectedly, managers can become quite unhappy with Suck-Ups who concealed the bad news and failed to provide a warning; (3) if they acquire a manager who wants unfiltered opinions and honest feedback, Suck-Up players are out of luck. Exposing the Game. You can often disrupt a game by describing the pattern that you have observed or sharing your thoughts about the player’s underlying motives. In private conversations with Suck-Ups, the game can be directly exposed by stating your observations: “Albert, I’ve noticed that in meetings you always agree with Eduardo. You seem reluctant to express any concerns.” But if you and the Suck-Up player are in a public setting, asking questions is a less confrontational strategy: “Albert, when we talked about this yesterday, you indicated some concern about the cost. Could you share those thoughts with Eduardo?” Countermoves: Countermoves are designed to break the pattern of a game, allowing you to get back on a more productive track. With Suck-Up players, the game is generally more annoying than harmful, unless your management is unusually susceptible to flattery. Problems do arise, however, when sucking up prevents the sharing of complete information or honest opinions. Countermoves should therefore be focused on encouraging more candid discussions. • Solicit their opinions privately. To learn what Suck-Ups really think, try talking to them one-on-one. They feel safer expressing opinions (assuming they have any) when management is not around. • “Out” them in meetings. If you know their true views, you may be able to draw Suck-Up players into the discussion with appropriate questions. But not maliciously! Your aim is to get them to share their thoughts, not make them look devious. If you try to trick or trap them, then you are turning into a game player yourself. • Don’t become their opposite. Suck-Up players are so compliant and accommodating that their colleagues can look downright cranky by contrast. Be sure that your own comments and suggestions are presented in a positive, helpful way. The End of the Game: Suck-Up Games end in one of two ways: the player either becomes more assertive and self-confident, or acquires a boss who hates Suck-Ups. The Control Game: “You can’t tell me what to do.” Recognizing the Pattern: Control Game players resist direction or advice from others. Some are dominators, who enjoy telling people what to do. Others are resistors, who may have little desire to lead others, but strongly resent any outside influence over their own activities. The Emotional Payoff: “I get to do what I want to do.” Pitfalls for Players (1) Control Games often degenerate into useless power struggles that drain energy from more productive activities. Observers typically wonder why these silly people can’t just grow up and get along. (2) Someone usually loses. For instance: Although Matt may feel that he’s winning this game, he needs to be careful; playing a Control Game with your boss can be risky, because managers automatically have a certain amount of leverage. Exposing the Game When exposing a game, you must maintain an adult and businesslike attitude. This means that you can’t say everything you would like to say. Sherry, for example, might really want to scream, “Matt, why are you sneaking around and trying to overthrow me, you arrogant little sonofabitch?” Not a good idea. Better to expose the game by saying, “Matt, we need to talk about why you’ve been ignoring my requests.” Or, “I’m getting the message that you don’t really like working for me.” Countermoves In a destructive or adversarial game, effective countermoves can protect the target from possible harm. Here are some strategies to consider if you find yourself facing a Control Game player: • Don’t get sucked into an overt power struggle. Responding with vengeful control moves of your own will just bring you down to their level and invite retaliation. You need to guard your territory but remain above the fray, so don’t trash your opponent to others or go for an obvious power grab. • Stand your ground. Insecure people often lose Control Games because they give in too easily. If someone is challenging you, you must establish appropriate boundaries and enforce them. When Matt ignores Sherry’s requests, she needs to follow up until he provides the information. Otherwise, he gets the message that she’s a wimp who can be easily dominated. • Fortify relationships with high-leverage allies. Because Control Games are about leverage, you must ensure that the relevant power people are in your corner. Now that Matt has started cozying up to her boss, Sherry should capitalize on the access to higher-level people automatically provided by her management position. By strengthening the relationship with her boss and looking for opportunities to favorably impress upper management, she can shift the leverage equation in her favor. • Directly address problems with the work. Instead of getting emotionally “hooked” by your opponent’s challenging behavior, keep your focus on work-related issues. To initiate such a discussion, Sherry might say, “Matt, I need to get more regular updates about your work. I’d like for us to start meeting once a month to talk about your projects.” • Go with the resistance. “Going with the resistance” is a time-tested strategy used by therapists, salespeople, and martial arts experts. Simply put, this means that, when people are pushing you, you don’t push back. But neither do you give in; you simply accept their resistance or use it to move the discussion in a helpful direction. For example, if Matt criticizes Sherry’s ideas, she doesn’t argue. Instead, she might say, “That’s an interesting point. I’ll keep it in mind.” Or, “Tell me what you would suggest.” The End of the Game A Control Game is over when the relationship stops feeling adversarial and people are working cooperatively, or when the weaker player gives up. The Shunning Game: “If you don’t fit in, we’re going to get you.” Recognizing the Pattern Shunning is a group game that requires a target, who is being punished for deviating from established norms. Targets gradually realize that they are being excluded from group gatherings and friendly office banter. Any conversation that they join breaks up rather quickly. Required communication is always cool and formal. But since no one will acknowledge that anything unusual is occurring, all attempts to discuss the problem are brushed aside. The Emotional Payoff: “We feel more powerful because we can punish people.” Pitfalls for Players (1) Because it is a childish game, Shunning makes the players appear immature and small-minded; (2) Shunning creates powerful feelings of anger in the target, who may look for opportunities to retaliate. And if the target ever acquires significant leverage, Shunning players better watch out. Exposing the Game Shunning can be difficult to expose, because denial of the game’s existence is an integral part of the game itself. Strenuous attempts to get Shunning players to admit their tactics will only make the target appear needy and pathetic. Countermoves Countermoves to a Shunning Game focus on reducing the target’s isolation and gradually breaking down the group’s united front. • Find other sources of support. Sometimes the target can simply join another group. Darla, for example, might begin eating lunch with some secretaries outside the executive area. • Divide and conquer. Often the target of a Shunning Game can chip away at the hostile group dynamic by getting to know the friendlier members. Shunning players usually vary in their level of commitment to the game. Typically, one or two leaders are strongly invested in punishing the target, but other members may feel a bit guilty about being so mean. By developing a relationship with these more accessible players, the target may be able to shortcircuit the game. • Try to define the offensive behavior. Shunning targets often have no idea what they are doing wrong. Because no one will acknowledge the existence of a problem, they can’t fix it. By talking with accessible group members, targets can sometimes identify the cause of their colleagues’ resentment. “I know that something about me bothers the other assistants,” Darla might say to a more approachable co-worker. “But I have no idea what it is. I would really appreciate your helping me understand the problem.” • Change things that are reasonable. One Shunning target learned that his constant talking was driving his colleagues away. Now, that’s a behavior he might want to work on. Darla, on the other hand, should feel no obligation to get her hair cut or start wearing makeup just to please the other secretaries. But if doing so would help her achieve her career goals, she might consider it. The End of the Game Shunning Games usually end in one of two ways: either the group offers the target at least minimal acceptance or the target leaves. Shunning is a brutal psychological weapon that can place almost unendurable stress on the victim. Most people cannot tolerate that kind of pressure for long. Nor should they. EGO GAMES All Ego Games are designed to make the player feel smarter, better, or more special than other people. Some games require a victim, while others just allow the players to puff themselves up a bit. Most Ego Game players are actually masking strong feelings of insecurity or inferiority. The Superiority Game: “Aren’t you impressed with me?” Recognizing the Pattern The words and actions of Superiority players send the clear message that they are important, unique, and indispensable. Hogging the conversation, bragging, and ignoring others’ needs are all Superiority moves. When their real life isn’t impressive enough, some dedicated players will actually fabricate stories. Superiority usually has only one player, who is simply in search of an audience. But when two players compete, a predictable and pointless “my dog’s bigger than your dog” pattern emerges. The Emotional Payoff “I can make others believe that I’m important and special.” Pitfalls for Players (1) Superiority behaviors are quite annoying to colleagues, who eventually just tune out these braggarts; (2) because these maneuvers are rather transparent, Superiority players often come across as insecure—the exact opposite of the impression they are trying to create. Exposing the Game This game is easily revealed by verbalizing the player’s underlying message. “You certainly seem to have a lot of impressive contacts, Charlotte.” Or, “I guess our meeting wasn’t really too important compared to the other things you had to do.” You must make these statements in a calm and sincere tone. Superiority players are trying to compensate for a lack of self-confidence, so irritation and sarcasm will just hurt their feelings and make the situation worse. Countermoves Because Superiority players are just trying to impress their audience, these games are usually more aggravating than destructive. If the player’s behavior begins to interfere with the work, however, then it needs to stop. • Avoid getting hooked. Never, under any circumstances, try to top a Superiority player with a story of your own. This just leads to an endless cycle of one-upmanship. • Don’t reward annoying behavior. When you ignore self-promoting comments and attempts to control the conversation, these inappropriate behaviors will diminish. But if you ask Charlotte one polite question about her big project, you may waste fifteen minutes listening to her answer. • Address problem behaviors directly. When a Superiority player is interfering with others’ performance or productivity, then you should ask them to stop the disruptive behavior. “Charlotte, I need for you to make other arrangements for your calls when we’re having a meeting. The cell phone interruptions are making it difficult to have a discussion.” • Remember the motive. Anyone who tries this hard to look important doesn’t really feel that way. If you can remember that Superiority players are actually quite insecure beneath all that posturing, then you may feel more sympathetic toward them. The End of the Game A Superiority Game is over when the player stops trying to impress you and acts like a normal person. Some people will only play Superiority to impress new acquaintances and drop the pose once they get to know you. The Put-Down Game: “You’re obviously an idiot, so I must be brilliant.” Recognizing the Pattern Put-Down Games require a player and at least one target. These players are pathetic little souls who can only feel good about themselves by making someone else feel stupid or inept. They specialize in sarcasm and criticism, making biting remarks that are unnecessary and hurtful. The Emotional Payoff “By demonstrating my superiority over others, I can feel less inferior myself.” Pitfalls for Players (1) Put-Down Games quickly produce resentful and angry adversaries; (2) with their constant belittling of others, these players actually appear insecure instead of superior. Exposing the Game The target can expose this game by calmly describing the reaction that the player is trying to produce: “Well, George, I guess you put me in my place.” Or, “George, you’re obviously smarter than I am.” Preferably said with a smile. Countermoves Because they are widely known as chronic complainers, Put-Down players are often politically toothless. They are most unpleasant to be around, however, so avoiding them is usually a wise stress management strategy. • Don’t give them what they want. Watching you tremble is most rewarding to a Put-Down player, so maintain a self-confident appearance. Always respond calmly to any assaults. Or just give them a dismissive look and continue with what you were saying. • Minimize contact. Why set yourself up for target practice? You should only interact with these attackers when you have no other choice. If you are unfortunate enough to work for a Put-Down player, then just remember that it’s your boss who’s the Dimwit, not you—and find another job as soon as possible. • Get other opinions. Never evaluate your own work by the reactions of a Put-Down player. Find some mentally healthy people who can provide a more balanced and rational view. The End of the Game This game only ends when one of you leaves. Put-Down specialists seldom change. The In-Group Game: “You’d like to be one of us, but you can’t.” Recognizing the Pattern An In-Group Game requires two separate and unequal groups. Everyone knows that one group is more desirable and that membership is restricted, but no one is supposed to talk about it. Members of the In-Group share some identifiable characteristic. For the “in” district managers, length of employment seems to be the distinguishing attribute. Unlike Shunning players, In-Group members are not necessarily hostile to the “out” group. They just enjoy being part of their special little clique. Communication between the two groups may be quite cordial and pleasant, but everyone knows that an invisible barrier exists (although members of the “in” clique will never publicly admit it). The Emotional Payoff “Being part of an exclusive group makes me feel special.” Pitfalls for Players (1) Resentment often festers beneath the friendly facade of out-group members, who can easily become vengeful adversaries; (2) divided groups are seldom as effective as cohesive groups, so the work usually suffers along with the relationships. Exposing the Game For safety’s sake, out-group members need to band together to expose an In-Group Game. A lone individual who attempts to disrupt this entrenched pattern risks being labeled as a deviant and treated accordingly. The reaction to the new district manager sitting in the “wrong” seat is a small example. Collectively, however, members of the out group can expose the game by simply describing it: “We’ve noticed that the four of you seem to spend a lot of time together. How about giving the rest of us a chance to get to know you a little better?” Countermoves The purpose of breaking up an In-Group Game is not to disrupt In-Group relationships, but to make the whole group more inclusive. • Bring the issue into the open. The existence of cliques can often be delicately acknowledged by making observations. “Sometimes decisions seem to have been made before we get into the meeting.” Or, “We always seem to be divided into two groups. Why is that?” • Build one-on-one relationships. Out-group members can safely initiate friendly individual relationships without taking on the whole In-Group at once. They may do this by asking for advice, requesting assistance, or just chatting about the weekend. • Suggest activities that either mix the groups or include all group members. Increased interaction often helps to break down cliques. As members become better acquainted, relationships will naturally develop. Strategies may include creating project teams with members from both groups or engaging in group social activities. The End of the Game The game is over when all members of the group can interact freely, without feeling that some “rule” is being violated. Unless the In-Group is really entrenched, this goal can usually be achieved. ESCAPE GAMES The purpose of an Escape Game is to avoid unpleasant consequences. In the two games described below, players are either actively trying to avoid blame or passively shirking responsibility The Scapegoat Game: “This problem was clearly your fault.” Recognizing the Pattern: The Scapegoat Game, which requires a target and a problem, can be played by individuals or groups. In Scapegoat, the target is quickly determined to be the cause of the problem, with no exploration of other possibilities. When Scapegoat is played between colleagues, their blame-shifting conversations sometimes resemble a tennis match. Taken to a higher level, Scapegoat can also be played by entire departments. If your boss is a chronic Scapegoat player, the game can be hazardous, because bosses often have the leverage to punish people. Politically inept players, who try to make their boss a target, usually meet with an unfortunate end. The Emotional Payoff: “If I’m not the cause of the problem, then I don’t have to feel responsible, guilty, or stupid.” Pitfalls for Players: (1) Resentful and angry Scapegoat targets will often try to return the favor when future problems arise; (2) successful Scapegoating usually means that the real issues are never identified, so the problem continues. Exposing the Game: As with many games, Scapegoat can be exposed by calmly commenting on what seems to be occurring. An observer might simply say, “We seem to be settling on advertising as the only cause of the problem. There may be other contributing factors.” Targets, however, will sound less defensive if they use a question: “Do you feel that advertising is the sole cause of the problem?” Countermoves: In Scapegoat, countermoves are designed to deflect attention from the target, broaden the scope of the discussion, and determine the true source of the difficulty. If you have a boss who likes to play this game, you may have to divert significant energy to ongoing CYA (“cover your ass”) activity. • Avoid getting into an argument. Because no one likes being blamed, Scapegoat discussions can turn into heated debates. Targets, who feel with some justification that they are being unfairly attacked, often respond in kind, turning the discussion into a free-for-all. • Acknowledge the possibility of partial responsibility. To avoid appearing defensive, targets may volunteer to assume some portion of the responsibility. “It’s possible that advertising could have played a role, so I’ll look into that and report back at the next meeting. But there may be more than just one factor at work here.” • Defend yourself subtly. Without firing back directly, try to incorporate a line of defense into your response: “Well, we did use the same ad campaign as last year, but it might not have worked quite as well with this year’s merchandise.” • Broaden the scope of the discussion. Invite people to consider other possible causes of the problem: “Advertising is certainly one possible factor. What else might have contributed to a decline in sales?” • Get the facts. One of the best countermoves in Scapegoat is to have facts available that support your case or point to the real reason for the problem. The End of the Game When Scapegoat is a group pastime, the game ends when members decide to adopt a more constructive method of problem solving. But if your boss likes to play Scapegoat, the game will only end when you get a new boss. The Avoidance Game: “I don’t want to do it, so I’m not going to do it.” Recognizing the Pattern Avoidance is really a one-person game with unfortunate side effects for anyone who depends on the player. The game is easy to spot: the player puts off unpleasant or difficult tasks until forced to confront them. Various excuses are used as delaying tactics. The Emotional Payoff: “I can reduce my anxiety by not thinking about an unpleasant task.” Pitfalls for Players (1) Because they create real problems for their colleagues, Avoidance players alienate potential allies and create unnecessary adversaries; (2) when their procrastination causes critical deadlines to be missed, these players often find themselves in hot water with important people. Exposing the Game: Exposing an Avoidance Game means talking about the player’s underlying motives: “I’m beginning to think that you don’t really want to deal with this, Gerald. Are you reluctant to talk to the CEO?” Countermoves: In Avoidance, all countermoves are aimed at getting the desired results without directly attacking the player. Although an attack might temporarily make you feel better, the result is likely to be even more procrastination. • Never leave the timeline open-ended. With an Avoidance player, you should always get a commitment to a specific date, even if you feel sure it will be missed. And you may want to build a delaying factor into your schedule. • Offer to help with the difficult part. If you can do part of the work for the player, you may speed things up: “Gerald, how about if I draft a list of all the policy exceptions in this contract and run it by the CEO?” Although this strategy gives you more work, it also gives you more control. • Increase your leverage. Sometimes you need to escalate the issue, but without appearing to threaten: “I understand that you’re really busy, Gerald, but since this is such a big order, I’m going to have to let the CEO know that the final booking will be delayed.” • Consider the power of copies. You never want to use the CC line on your e-mails to punish people, but sometimes a well-placed copy can help to heighten the awareness of a problem. When Avoiders see that their managers or other high-leverage people know about the situation, they often get moving. But be careful if the Avoidance player is your boss; pointing out your manager’s shortcomings to the higher-ups is a risky move. The End of the Game: Avoiders never change, so you’ll have to keep playing as long as they’re in the picture. SIGNS OF A TOXIC WORKPLACE Working in a toxic organization can be like living in an abusive home. Targets of abuse often have a warped view of reality, believing that they are the problem, not the abuser. I’ll never forget one woman I saw in counseling whose husband not only hit her, but also left town without warning every so often and had all the utilities turned off while he was gone. After describing the situation, this poised, attractive, intelligent woman said with all seriousness, “Is that normal?” She had been in a sick relationship so long that, as far as she knew, this might just be how a marriage worked. The same thing can happen to people who spend too much time in a toxic company. If you spot a few of these danger signs, it’s time to buy a new suit for job interviews. • Power struggles and power plays are common and ongoing. • Management egos need to be stroked on a regular basis. • Executives are primarily focused on increasing their power or fattening their purses. • People only talk to their managers if they absolutely have to. • Entire departments are at war with each other. • Management pays more attention to what employees do wrong than what they do right. • Employees spend a lot of energy on CYA activities. • Problems automatically trigger the search for a scapegoat. • Gossip, put-downs, blaming, and backbiting are common among coworkers. • Disagreements get personal and insulting. • Co-workers have a “my way or the highway” attitude and seldom help one another. • Unreasonably long work hours are a way of life. • No consideration is given to personal or family issues. Chapter End Notes What Games Are Played in Your Workplace? Assessing your situation: • Check any of the games that are played by the people with whom you work. ( ) The Suck-Up Game ( ) The Control Game ( ) The Shunning Game ( ) The Superiority Game ( ) The Put-Down Game ( ) The In-Group Game ( ) The Scapegoat Game ( ) The Avoidance Game • Do you actively participate in any of these games yourself? If so, what do you find rewarding about playing the game? What is your emotional payoff? If you’re not a player, are the games interfering with your work in any way? Or making the workplace less pleasant for everyone? Moving from assessment to action: • If you are a game player, what change in your behavior would stop the game? Would stopping the game improve your chances of accomplishing important goals? Would it make life more pleasant for yourself and others? • If you are an observer or target of the game, is there anything you could do to break up the game and get everyone back on a more productive course? Are You in a Toxic Organization? Assessing your situation: • Do you suspect that you might be in a toxic organization? See if any of these clues apply to your situation. ( ) Power struggles ( ) Huge management egos ( ) Unethical management ( ) Warring departments ( ) Abusive managers ( ) Pervasive CYA activities ( ) Constantly squabbling co-workers ( ) Blaming and personal attacks ( ) Everyone out for themselves ( ) Ridiculously long work hours ( ) No concern for family needs ( ) Constant intolerable stress Moving from assessment to action: • If you have found serious signs of toxicity in your workplace, there is only one question to consider: How do you get out of there? Identify the first step in your job search and take it now!Chapter 6 - How to Commit Political Suicide
Rhonda phoned one Friday afternoon, sounding rather agitated. “I’ve got this new employee, Travis, who’s driving me crazy,” she said. “The guy’s not doing a bad job, but he’s so demanding and difficult! There just isn’t time for all this drama right now. I’ve got to do something about him.” I had never met Travis but, given Rhonda’s description, his future didn’t sound too bright. If you want to commit political suicide, simply start engaging in any behavior that consumes a disproportionate share of management’s time and attention. Managers have limited tolerance for anyone who becomes an energy drain. Before long, you will be viewed as The Problem. And becoming The Problem is the kiss of death. THE DANGER OF BECOMING “THE PROBLEM” Sociologists and marketers describe a phenomenon known as the tipping point. A tipping point occurs when, for example, a disease unexpectedly begins to spread like wildfire, becoming an epidemic, or a new product suddenly catches on all over the country, quickly selling out in every store. Tipping points are also reached in troubled marriages: after accumulated stress and unhappiness, a particular event may “tip” one partner into seriously contemplating divorce. I often witness this “tipping” phenomenon when managers are grappling with difficult employee situations. The decision to demote or fire someone is seldom made suddenly. But the point at which such drastic action becomes an option—the tipping point—is when the person begins to be seen as The Problem. Once someone is tagged with that label, a marked shift occurs in the manager’s thinking: instead of considering how to either coach or cope with the employee, the manager is now starting to fantasize about how pleasant life would be if this bothersome person were gone, and to wonder how many “last chances” should be provided before the ax falls. The opposite of Political Intelligence is political idiocy. Most people don’t wake up each morning thinking, “Now what could I do to wreck my career today?” No sane person wants to become The Problem, yet many people rush headlong down the path to political suicide. Some are victims of their own chronic, self-destructive habits. Others simply make bad choices about how to act in difficult situations. There are four common causes of career destruction: (1) poorly controlled emotions; (2) a victim mentality; (3) self-centered goals; and (4) foolish reactions to change. THE HAZARDS OF UNCONTROLLED EMOTION Most business offices are fairly calm, orderly, rational places—at least on the surface. Beneath that placid facade, however, lies a hotbed of emotion. All workers have the same feelings on the job that they experience in every other aspect of their lives. They’ve just learned not to show them, which is actually a darned good thing; if people demonstrated their true feelings all the time, little would be accomplished and few colleagues would be speaking to each other. One guaranteed way to become The Problem is to let your emotions run amok on the job. The two emotions that most frequently lead people down the road to ruin are anger and anxiety. Everyone feels angry or anxious at work from time to time. That’s perfectly normal. But problems arise if persistent negative feelings create a pattern of destructive behavior that interferes with your results or relationships. Your emotions are completely private unless your behavior telegraphs the message to everyone around you. Anger is the most serious problem, because too much hostility causes people to walk the other way when they see you coming. Angry people intimidate others and are simply not pleasant to be around. Dangerous behavior patterns that arise from poorly controlled anger include complaining, rebellion, and confrontation: • Complaining: Tom is a salesperson who constantly gripes to his colleagues about his boss, gripes to his boss about his colleagues, and gripes to upper management about what’s wrong with the company. • Rebellion: Carol is a social worker who resents authority. She disagrees with her manager’s decisions, refuses to obey policies that she doesn’t like, and encourages her clients to bend the rules. • Confrontation: Ray is a manager who frequently yells and curses at his staff, berating them for making mistakes and ridiculing any new ideas they suggest. He has been known to literally bring people to tears in meetings. When these anger-based behaviors become too pervasive, the offenders begin to be viewed as more of a hindrance than a help. And at that point, they are just one short step from the exit. At the other extreme, overly anxious behavior sends the message that you are weak, worried, and dependent. Unless being a doormat is part of your job description, insecurity is not usually a career asset. Anxious people selfdestruct because they either fail to address difficult issues or appear to be totally dispensable. Timidity, neediness, and hiding are some of the troublesome behavior patterns in this category. • Timidity: Bob is an experienced engineer who is afraid to speak up in department meetings for fear that he may say something stupid. As a result, he sits quietly during discussions and seldom expresses an opinion. When faced with any disagreement, he capitulates quickly just to keep the peace. • Neediness: Because Anne constantly worries that her work may not be good enough, she needs frequent reassurance that everything is okay. At each step of a project, she checks with her boss to be sure she’s on the right track. She can be brought to tears by any negative feedback or critical comments. • Hiding: Dennis is a computer programmer who is uncomfortable around people. He prefers to work alone in his cubicle. If he sees an executive coming down the hall, he may duck into the restroom to avoid a conversation. Some of his colleagues don’t know Dennis’s name and many have no idea what he does. Having angry or anxious feelings is part of being human, but allowing them to control your behavior is politically disastrous. Succumbing to your emotions is like drinking too much: in the short run, an occasional binge may do little harm and make you feel better, but chronic abuse will inevitably lead to long-term problems. While we’re on this topic, a word should be said about one more emotion: lust. Some unknown wag once coined this sensible saying: “Don’t look for your honey where you get your money.” Politically astute folks direct. their desires, fantasies, and romantic overtures away from work colleagues. Most workplace romances eventually die out, leaving a trail of political debris in their wake. If you think you’ve found the one, true love of your life at the office, then you may want to take the chance. But weigh the risks carefully before you proceed. Regardless of whether the emotional issue is anger, anxiety, or lust, those who lack self-control will inevitably enter the Dimwit category sooner or later. And since Dimwits are destined to become The Problem, that is a risky place to be. SEEING YOURSELF AS THE VICTIM People talk to themselves all the time. As you go through the day, your mind automatically produces a running internal commentary about the events you experience and the people you encounter. You may sit quietly and smile while your boss critiques your project proposal, but an entirely different conversation is going on in your head: “This guy is really an idiot. He obviously doesn’t understand the project. In fact, he never takes the time to really understand anything. I don’t know why I stay in this job anyway. I think I’ll polish up my resume.” Is this hypocritical? Heck, no. Masking our internal reactions is an important skill in both office politics and everyday life. No one wants to know what everyone else is thinking. But here’s the problem: you have to be careful about what you tell yourself, because people tend to believe their own messages. If you fall into the habit of thinking “This guy is an idiot” every time your boss speaks, you will automatically begin looking for supportive evidence. “My boss is an idiot” will soon become an entrenched belief and eventually creep into your communication patterns. Before too long, your boss will start to get the message that you think he’s not too bright—and that realization will change the way that he talks to himself about you! Possibly leading to undesirable consequences. You must always be mindful of what psychologists call “self-talk,” because what you say to yourself shapes your attitudes and your behavior. Have you ever found thoughts like these going through your mind: “No one appreciates all the work I do around here”; “They just don’t want to pay me what I’m worth”; “I always get passed over for the really good assignments.” Occasionally throwing yourself a small pity party is a harmless indulgence, but if you have such thoughts on a daily basis, watch out! You may be creating a Victim Identity—one of the most politically destructive forms of self-talk. For some, mild paranoia just seems to be a natural state of mind. Put them in any job and they will find an enemy somewhere. Other victims start out as self-sacrificing Martyrs who go to great lengths to please others, then become resentful when their efforts fail to be fully appreciated. Sometimes a victim mentality is triggered by some “unfair” event that suddenly casts the world in a different light. All subsequent actions and interactions are then carefully screened for signs of unfair treatment—and, as always, when evidence is sought, it becomes easy to find. The aggrieved party soon accumulates a truckload of “proof” that her conclusion was correct: she is indeed a victim. Since every victim must have at least one persecutor, anyone assuming a Victim Identity will automatically identify certain managers or co-workers as adversaries, then begin to treat them accordingly. Thus begins a vicious cycle that can lead to political suicide. ... If “poor little me” is a recurrent theme in your internal (or external) conversations, you need to change your negative self-talk before you develop a victim mentality. What if you really are a victim, though? If you are facing true discrimination because of your race or age or some other illegal consideration, that gets a bit tougher, because you have some choices to make. First, be sure that your assessment is correct. Sometimes illegal treatment is easy to spot: I once knew an African-American gentleman who found a noose hanging in his work locker. Not much question about that situation. But consider this one: a young black woman who shared a secretary with her white boss complained that the secretary always did the boss’s work first. She attributed this situation to racial prejudice, but odds are that the secretary, knowing who would determine her next raise, had made a political choice, not a racial one. Fortunately, the young woman decided to talk the situation over with her HR manager, who was able to help her view it differently. A person’s true motives can be difficult to determine. If, however, you believe that you are indeed experiencing illegal discrimination, you have reached a fork in the road: Do you quietly try to overcome these prejudicial attitudes or do you file an official complaint? The gentleman who found the noose certainly needed to let someone know, but the best approach is less clear if you fail to receive a promotion or get a negative performance review. In a perfect world, you could make your protest, have the problem investigated, and go on to a successful and prejudice-free career. But I have to give you some unwelcome news. In the unjust and unreasonable real world, once you file an official grievance, you have crossed over an invisible line and become an adversary to management. No one will tell you this; no one will begin to treat you differently, at least if they have any sense. Yet I can guarantee that managers will be having hushed conversations about you and viewing you as a potential problem. Let me be quite clear: I am not suggesting that people should tolerate illegal treatment. I applaud those who are brave enough to take a stand against prejudice. When you consider going public with such a charge, though, you need to be aware of the political ramifications of that decision. Often the best course of action is to consult a trusted friend or colleague to get another perspective and discuss possible strategies. If you have a helpful HR department, you may find that they can provide good advice. Should you conclude that getting a fair shake is impossible, however, your best option may be to find a more enlightened place to work. WHEN IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU Selfishness is another contributor to political downfall. All Sociopaths have this problem. They just want what they want when they want it, with no regard for the common good—like basketball players who always take the shot and never pass off to their teammates. Sociopathic people can be found at all levels. One of my clients has an administrative assistant who feels that the job is beneath her. She will happily tackle any task that she views as “professional,” but routinely ignores mundane activities like copying, filing, and answering the phone. Why doesn’t she simply change jobs? I have no idea, but I don’t predict a long future for her in this one. ... Winners are able to view a situation from various points of view, but Sociopaths and cause-driven Martyrs see everything through the lens of their own desires, finding it difficult to shift their thinking to a different perspective. Extreme selfishness and misguided advocacy often lead to political self-destruction, because no organization can succeed if its members act only in their own self-interest. FOOLISH REACTIONS TO CHANGE For some previously successful people, their political decline and fall is triggered by a particularly stressful change. Suddenly their boss, job, or organization is no longer compatible with their belief about how work “should” be done. Sometimes we choose a change, as Debbie and Jack did when they accepted new positions. Other changes are thrust upon us by resignations, mergers, or reorganizations. But regardless of the cause, people who lack Political Intelligence may quickly decide that the new state of affairs is “wrong.” Then they reinforce this feeling with negative self-talk: “This company is totally disorganized.” “That woman just doesn’t understand how we do things around here.” “These managers don’t want to take time to do things the right way.” “Nobody cares about the employees anymore.” Because “they’re wrong” automatically implies “I’m right,” this politically suicidal reaction often marks the beginning of an adversarial relationship, which, left unchecked, can easily escalate into a power struggle. We all know how those turn out: the person with the least leverage loses. Life, as we have already established, is not fair. When circumstances change, things sometimes just don’t go your way. This is not usually a matter of right versus wrong, however, but simply a case of something being different. Your new boss will probably have different habits and expectations than your old boss. That doesn’t mean she’s wrong. When you change jobs, your new employer will probably have different policies and procedures. That doesn’t mean they’re wrong. If your business is acquired by another company, the culture will probably be somewhat different. That doesn’t make it wrong. Unless their actions are illegal or unethical, new people are not bad or evil or mistaken; they’re just not what you are accustomed to. So you have three options: you can either: (1) adapt to the new way; (2) leave for greener pastures; or (3) become a pain in the ass and eventually be deemed The Problem. The choice is yours. WARNING SIGNS OF POLITICAL TROUBLE Many political suicides are so caught up in their own concerns or delusions that when the ax falls, they are totally shocked. Others sense that they are in political danger, but haven’t the foggiest idea how to fix the situation. For the clueless group, the warning signs of political trouble are listed below, in order of severity. If you spot any of these signals, you have a problem that needs to be addressed. And it needs to be addressed quickly. Level 1: Something is not quite right. • You have been experiencing a growing uneasiness, with frequent angry thoughts about unfairness. (Sometimes people feel like a victim because they are actually about to become one.) • You find yourself alone a lot. No one stops by your desk unless they have a specific purpose. You don’t get invited to lunch, weddings, baby showers, golf outings, baseball nights, and so on. You seem to have become a social outcast. • Your boss ignores you, fails to notify you of meetings, neglects to give you information, or makes pointed remarks indicating that you are requiring too much time and attention. • Your boss has a Serious Talk with you about some aspect of your performance or your personality. If your manager tends to be a little wimpy, this talk may sound more like a chat than a reprimand. Consider your manager’s style—anything out of the ordinary counts as a warning. • A personal coach is hired to help you. The bad news is that you are seen as having some “issues” that need to be addressed. The good news is that someone is still willing to invest in your future success. Executives seldom spend money on people they consider hopeless. Level 2: The future looks questionable. • An important assignment that would logically be yours is given to someone else. If that someone else has designs on your job or is a rival for your next promotion, this is a troubling development. • You are turned down for promotions more than once. The first time, they may have just found a better applicant. But, more than that, you’re starting to see a pattern. And it’s not good. • After acquiring a new boss, your leverage seems to be slipping away. You are not consulted as frequently, given as much information, or included in as many meetings as before. If you don’t take some action, you are probably headed for that Serious Talk. • Someone from human resources initiates the Serious Talk. This is an indication that management people have been thinking unkindly about you for some time. You may already be considered The Problem. Level 3: A sudden career change may lie ahead. • Following a reorganization, you find that you have suffered a reduction in staff, title, responsibilities, or reporting level; or you’ve been physically shuffled off to the hinterlands. You were probably given some lame excuse for this change. If believing it makes you feel better, go ahead—but recognize that any kind of reduction is a bad sign. • Your boss’s boss gets into the act, reinforcing a Serious Talk that you have already had with someone else. This is not just a warning signal. It’s a huge flashing neon sign that says you’re about to become roadkill on the corporate highway. • Rumors of layoffs are going around and people are starting to avoid you or look at you sadly. If these are human resources people, start working on your resume. Unless you’re prone to paranoid delusions, these warning signs clearly indicate that something undesirable is going on. To start addressing the issue, you need to determine whether the trouble originates with you or with your environment. Here’s the Catch-22: the difficulty may be due, in part, to your inability to see the situation clearly—and if you can’t see things clearly, it’s hard to accurately determine the cause of the problem. Attribution error Social psychologists describe a common distortion in human thinking called attribution error, which is shorthand for, “It’s a heck-of-a lot easier to blame somebody else.” A simple example should easily demonstrate our propensity for attribution errors. Suppose you get a promotion or a big raise. Why did you receive this reward? Because of your superior abilities and performance, of course. But suppose you get turned down for the promotion—why did that happen? Probably because the interview process wasn’t fair, or because the person who got it has been sucking up for years, or because management doesn’t understand what’s really needed in that job. Or something, anything, other than your own possible shortcomings. These self-serving attributions bolster our egos: when something good happens to us, we credit this fortunate outcome to some positive personal characteristic —but when bad things happen, we look outside ourselves for the cause. If you feel that you have become a political target, self-serving attributions can seem like your best friend because they’re so comforting: all this pain and suffering is certainly not your fault. But if you really are contributing to your own downfall, such mental thumb-sucking just keeps you from correcting your destructive behaviors, habits, or attitudes. They will inevitably come back to haunt you in the future. To avoid attribution errors, you need to strive for objectivity and look for patterns. Say, for example, that you have decided your boss is an unreasonable jerk. Do others share your opinion? Is she an unreasonable jerk with everyone or just with you? And what about you—have you felt that many of your managers were unreasonable, or just this one? If your boss has difficulties with several staff members, then the problem may very well lie with her. But if you have a history of dissatisfaction with bosses, then you may need to look in the mirror. If neither one of you seems to have a problematic pattern, the difficulty may lie in the combination of your individual work styles. Some personality types just don’t mesh very well. When political warning signals start to flash, examine the patterns in the situation. First, take a good look at what’s going on around you. If everyone is working till midnight, keeping a CYA file, or worried about recording devices in the conference room, then you’re in a toxic workplace. Over time, remaining in a sick environment will either completely undermine your self-confidence or warp you so thoroughly that you will be unfit for normal employment. Forget political strategy and exit as quickly as possible. On the other hand, if your colleagues are happily and productively engaged while you’re fuming with rage, then you need to take a closer look at yourself. Review your work history, relationships, and reactions to authority, and look for any common themes. Have you been laid off or fired more than once? Have you been repeatedly turned down for promotions or important assignments? Have you frequently thought that you were misunderstood or being treated unfairly? Have you often felt angry toward colleagues or found them annoying? When talking to managers, do you become argumentative or defensive, or do managers tend to scare you? If you are a manager, do you often become angry or annoyed with employees? Have people complained about your management style? Such honest selfscrutiny is not easy, because our brains seem to automatically dredge up all the possible reasons to blame someone else. Recognizing the destructive patterns in your own behavior is the single most important step in averting political suicide. Once you’ve identified them, you need to immediately begin corrective action. POLITICAL PLASTIC SURGERY Forestalling career annihilation may not be easy, but it is possible. If you sense that you have become The Problem, then you need a political makeover—that is, your image must be quickly and drastically restructured. Consider the plight of Randall, a manager on the brink of being demoted. The high turnover rate in Randall’s district office had attracted the attention of his boss, who was becoming extremely concerned. Based on conversations and observations, she concluded that Randall was the cause of this turnover problem. She was right. Randall closely monitored his employees, obsessed about irrelevant details, got involved in the smallest decisions, and offered criticism much more frequently than praise. He was a classic micromanager whose behavior created serious morale problems. To save himself, Randall had to change. But altering ingrained habits is not nearly as simple as people think. The acronym AMISH sums up the five steps required to accomplish any personal behavior change: Awareness, Motivation, Identification, Substitution, and Habit Replacement. • Awareness: If you don’t know that a problem exists, how can you change? Without feedback to the contrary, most of us believe that we’re doing just fine. Many managers drop subtle hints about their concerns, so you need to be alert. “Seems like a lot of your salespeople have left for other jobs this year,” Randall’s boss might say. A politically obtuse Randall would reply, “Yeah, the company just doesn’t pay these people enough. You need to look into that.” But a politically intelligent Randall, recognizing this comment as a tiny little warning sign, would say, “I’ve been concerned about that, too. Do you think that our district office is different from the others somehow?” When you sense political trouble, you must find out what people are thinking, even if it’s painful. Unfortunately, some bosses practice “psychic management”: they think and think and think about an employee problem, but never share their thoughts with the offending party—thereby allowing the poor soul to become The Problem without ever being told. If your manager never comments on your job performance, soliciting feedback occasionally is a good idea. • Motivation: The fact that someone else has issues with your behavior doesn’t necessarily mean that you agree. If you don’t think you have a problem, you certainly won’t be motivated to change anything. Randall never saw himself as a micromanager. From his point of view, he was thorough and careful and concerned about quality. Can you see an attribution error developing here? But Randall will never resurrect himself politically if he maintains this denial. When someone indicates that your behavior is a problem, don’t automatically reject that possibility. Instead, try to understand how your actions may be affecting other people. Then perhaps you will be motivated to try some new approaches. • Identification: Even if Randall comes to accept that he is indeed a micromanager, he still must identify exactly which behaviors need to change. His “micromanagement” must therefore be defined in terms of specific actions: Which documents should he stop reviewing? What decisions can he delegate? Which details should he just let go? If your problem behavior has been described in broad, fuzzy terms—like “bad attitude” or “poor communication” or “lack of initiative”←you need to get more specifics. Then you can decide what you need to do differently. • Substitution: Stopping one behavior automatically implies that you will replace it with another. If you stop speeding, you will start driving more slowly. If you stop yelling, you will start speaking more softly. In fact, any behavior change has a greater chance of success when you define it in positive terms instead of negative ones. Saying, “I have to stop getting angry” doesn’t tell you what to do instead. But saying, “When I feel angry in meetings, I’m going to take deep breaths and speak calmly” will give you a positive goal. If you want to eliminate a troublesome behavior, you have to decide what helpful behavior to substitute. When Randall feels the urge to scrutinize the draft of a sales brochure with a magnifying glass, what will he do instead? Perhaps he could decide to compliment the designer on all the positive features and only red-pencil major concerns. Or he might decide to delegate brochure review to a lower-level manager. Always remember that you are capable of making conscious decisions about your behavior. To rehabilitate yourself politically, you must quickly learn to make wiser choices. • Habit Replacement: A successful political makeover means that new habits have been developed. You have permanently adopted more effective ways of acting and interacting. But old habits don’t vanish overnight, so expect a few relapses. No doubt Randall will occasionally become too involved in small decisions or overzealous in editing a document. If he persists in his efforts to act differently, however, his new habits will eventually begin to operate on automatic pilot. When you are trying to recast your image, remember that others will not immediately notice the change in your behavior. If you’re waiting for the applause, it may seem awfully quiet for a while. Even if Randall completely alters his management style tomorrow, people won’t detect the change immediately. Once they do, they still won’t believe that it’s going to “stick” until evidence accumulates over time. So when you are trying to change, be patient. Don’t expect instant acclaim for the new you. But, you may ask, what if I don’t need a makeover? What if I’m really not a problem and other people just take things the wrong way? Well, then you need to learn to do those “things” differently. Because if you’re not a problem, but people think you are, the political effect is unfortunately the same. One of my coaching clients, Tracy, was told by his boss that he had a negative attitude and was resistant to change. This completely puzzled Tracy, who insisted that he truly loved his job and had willingly implemented every change his boss proposed. Upon closer examination of his communication style, however, the source of this misperception became clear. Tracy has a real gift for seeing the flaws, risks, and hazards in any idea or proposal, which is a good talent to have. But Tracy exercised this ability a bit too quickly in conversations with his boss. Every time his manager proposed a new idea, Tracy immediately pointed out the possible problems. Tracy felt that he was being helpful, but his boss understandably interpreted these criticisms as “a negative attitude and resistance to change.” To avoid political trouble, Tracy needed to change this communication pattern even though he was doing nothing “wrong.” So he decided to develop a new habit: looking for—and mentioning—the positive aspects of an idea before describing the potential pitfalls. Problem solved. Regardless of whether political reconstruction requires major surgery or only involves a minor adjustment, we tend to resist it. Listening to criticism, admitting flaws, and changing habits isn’t anyone’s idea of fun. But the result of ignoring obvious warning signs is almost always political suicide. Chapter End Notes Are You a Candidate for Political Suicide? Assessing your situation: • Think honestly about your situation at work and answer the questions below.
• If you have more than a couple of “yes” or “maybe” answers, then you could be on the verge of political problems—or you may already have them. Moving from assessment to action: • In any area where you checked “yes” or “maybe,” you need to start adjusting your thoughts, attitudes, and actions. The fact that others may be behaving badly or treating you poorly is completely irrelevant. You need to clarify your goals, focus on the future, and concentrate on things that are within your control. Start by deciding if your current job is right for you. If not, what is your first step toward leaving? If so, what can you do to improve the situation? Do You Need Political Plastic Surgery? Assessing your situation: • If you have become your own greatest obstacle to success, then you need to start your political makeover. Take a good look at your own behavior. What is causing others to conclude that you are a problem? What behaviors do you need to stop? What new behaviors do you need to adopt? Fill out the AMISH chart below.
Moving from assessment to action: • Now that you have defined your desired behavior, identify the situations in which you need to use it. Anticipate the people or events that are most likely to trigger your old, unproductive actions. Mentally rehearse how you will handle those difficult situations. Visualize success! • Determine whether you need to have any discussions to start repairing perceptions. Do you need to tell anyone about your intention to change? If people from management or HR have had a serious talk with you, then you should definitely follow up with them, especially if you were initially unreceptive to their feedback. The purpose of these conversations is to declare your desire to change and describe what you plan to do differently. You must not get defensive, argue, complain, or blame. If you don’t have this much selfcontrol, then don’t have the discussion. • After a while, request some feedback to see how things are going. Follow-up meetings with your boss, colleagues, HR, or other relevant people will not only give you a progress assessment, but also send the message that you are motivated, open to communication, and trying to do things differently.
Chapter 7 - Power, Power, Who Has the Power?
POSITION POWER AND PERSONAL POWER Both your position and your personal characteristics contribute to your power allotment. Position power, which comes with the job, is automatically available to any occupant of a particular role. Hierarchical authority is the most obvious example: the higher your level on the organization chart, the more decisions you get to make. If you’re the senior vice president of international something-or-other, you can probably order lots of people around. And, the higher you go, the more access you have to information and resources. However, position power is not solely related to organizational level. For one thing, every organization has higher-status and lower-status jobs. In any company that has a product on the market, sales will be a high-status function. Physicians will top the pecking order in a medical center, and design engineers will be given more status in an electronics company. Why? Because these are the bet-the-business functions, without which the company cannot succeed. But you don’t have to be high-level or high-status to find sources of power in your job. Many humble positions can provide access to important people, opportunities to develop expertise, or a platform for leveragebuilding activities. Consider the job of receptionist. Receptionists can’t tell anyone what to do, but they talk with many people, leading to the development of valuable relationships. If they put forth the effort, receptionists can use this rather low-level, low-status position to acquire business knowledge and a network of allies. If you’re thinking, “That’s all well and good, but receptionists still don’t have any real power,” then you’re missing the point and confusing power with authority. True, a receptionist has little authority, but she does have access to information and connections. Another source of power, specialized knowledge, is available to those in “expert” positions, jobs which exist to provide in-depth expertise in a specific area. Such as: % Greg with extremely detailed knowledge of the tax code % Bert with the position of senior consulting engineer, a title given only to those who had reached the pinnacle of technical excellence. Personal power Personal power derives not from your position but from your own special characteristics and abilities. We all have innate strengths that can increase our personal power. Jessica, a secretary in an office that I visit regularly, is a cheerful, outgoing person who always remembers my name and the fact that I drink tea. Her friendliness is completely genuine—it’s just part of being Jessica. Because she is a natural people magnet, Jessica has a lot more personal power than those secretaries who barely look up when someone walks in. Her warm and friendly nature automatically creates allies and will serve her well in any job she ever holds. Evaluating someone’s political power is not always simple. Even in the Army, where everyone is labeled, one threestar general is not necessarily the political equal of another. Here are some questions to consider in determining a person’s power level: • Do top managers know who they are? • Could the CEO find their office without a map? • Do they talk more about the past or the future? • Is their body language confident or submissive? • Do people listen when they speak? • Do people trust them with information? • What meetings do they attend? • How many people know who they are? • With whom do they have lunch? • What email distribution lists are they on? • Who can they go to see without an appointment? • When they want something, do they get it? Being able to accurately assess the distribution of power is a fundamental aspect of Political Intelligence, one which can help you safely navigate political minefields and avoid political pitfalls. These power clues may be helpful:AVOIDING FOOLISH POWER MISTAKES % One common mistake is to give domineering people more power than they should have, simply because they wear you down. % Another power failure occurs when people shy away from valuable leverage-building opportunities. % Perhaps more damaging is the opposite tendency: trying to use power that you don’t actually possess. At best, this can cause you to appear a bit foolish; at worst, it can cost you your job. Sometimes people blunder into this error out of ignorance. % Ego and arrogance also cause people to overestimate their power. % Power mistakes sometimes spontaneously erupt from lapses in emotional control. During a tense meeting with the CEO and several other managers, Mary Ann, a young executive, was becoming angrier and angrier. Finally, after a particularly sarcastic remark from the CEO about her quarterly results, she loudly declared that she was not going to be treated that way, left the table, and slammed the door on her way out. Bad idea. When the other person’s nameplate says CEO, you’re going to lose the argument even if you’re right. Fortunately, Mary Ann had built up some political capital, so the only immediate consequence for her was a referral to an executive coach. Someone with less leverage would undoubtedly have been fired. WHAT IS YOUR POWER HISTORY? % Power mistakes are usually triggered by our temperament and our history. As anyone with multiple siblings or children knows, people are definitely not a blank slate at birth. Some of us are hardwired to be more aggressive, while others are innately more reticent. Our reactions to power are also learned, however. And personal power lessons always begin at home. % Behaviors acquired at home often resurface at work because the power relationships are so similar. As kids, most of us had a Mom, a Dad, and some combination of brothers and sisters. At the office, we now have a boss and an assortment of co-workers—and those who choose to become managers even acquire some “children.” Many years ago, in the book, I’m OK—You’re OK, Dr. Thomas A. Harris described three emotional positions from which we relate to others: Parent, Adult, or Child. At work, of course, we are expected to consistently operate as Adults. But despite being physical and chronological grown-ups, many people automatically lapse into their familiar Parent or Child behaviors. % Culture also plays a role in our reactions to power. Western cultures, such as the United States, tend to value individual achievement and to reward assertive behaviors, such as standing up for yourself, expressing opinions, suggesting improvements, and pointing out mistakes. Eastern cultures, on the other hand, emphasize group harmony; they value cooperative behaviors like listening, collaborating with others, striving for consensus, and showing respect for authority. When placed in the opposite culture, Westerners can resemble raging bulls, while Easterners may seem like timid rabbits. To succeed in a different culture, you must model the accepted power behaviors—an observation confirmed by many of my Asian clients who have come to work in the United States. MEN, WOMEN, AND POWER A recent column in our local paper described “gender tensions” following the election of our first female county commission chair, a petite woman who replaced a six foot seven man. After years of working with male, female, and mixed-gender groups, I have no doubt that a few tensions did indeed accompany this transition. For reasons of biology and socialization, men and women often have different approaches to power. The male power style focuses on dominance and hierarchy. In all-male groups, the members will quickly, although often subtly, establish a pecking order. No one may ever mention it, but everyone knows who’s the top dog—and who’s on the bottom. That’s why physical size and strength often give men a few extra power points. The criteria for being the alpha male will shift with the situation, however. My husband manages a recreational baseball team, whose members come from a wide variety of occupations. But on the team, status derives almost solely from batting average—the mechanic who’s hitting .350 definitely has more status than the physician batting .143. Women, on the other hand, approach power differently, building relationships and looking for connections. Female groups may eventually develop some status differences, but that’s not where they start. Put a group of unfamiliar women together and they will immediately try to discover what they have in common. Although overt expressions of dominance are frowned upon, women often exercise power through inclusion and exclusion. They are much more likely than men to play Shunning Games, for example. While the male power dynamic is “up or down,” the female version is “in or out.” Practical jokes and friendly put-downs provide an interesting example, because they are almost the exclusive property of men. Women hardly ever engage in either of these exchanges, since the aim of both is one-upmanship. Men, conversely, often know little about each other’s personal lives, since they feel no need to connect in that way. If you’re thinking that these are broad generalizations, you are absolutely right. Because individual power styles are also shaped by family history, temperament, and culture, you do find women who use a “male” style, and vice versa. The most effective people borrow the best from both approaches, developing a more androgynous approach to power. The basic gender differences are still quite common, however, so anyone trying to operate with Political Intelligence should take them into consideration. A frequent power problem in all-male groups is that the preoccupation with dominance often impedes collaboration. Each member may feel that others have no right to interfere in his “territory,” so everyone limits conflict by operating autonomously. If you never collaborate, then you automatically avoid situations where you might have to give up some of your power. In all-female groups, problems are more likely to result from entanglement in relationship “issues”: who’s friendly or unfriendly, who’s gossiping too much, who’s getting more attention, who’s being too critical, and so on. Interestingly, these matters are often put aside if someone has a personal crisis. Squabbling women can become quite supportive when health or family issues arise. (Men, of course, can also offer mutual support —but they may not know that anything is going on.) Most groups, of course, are composed of men and women, and, most of the time, everyone gets along just fine. But because of the style differences, men sometimes view women as weak, while women occasionally see men as overbearing. Any group member who is the lone representative of a gender may have some adjusting to do. One of my clients was the only woman on an all-male management team whose members were constantly engaged in verbal pissing contests (an unquestionably male expression). To be a full participant in these discussions, she had to learn to speak up and stand her ground. The real challenge for a woman in any male group is that she has to walk a fine line. While she must adopt some characteristics of the male power style in order to be respected, she still needs to retain enough female traits to avoid being seen as a gender deviant. She has to be “one of the guys” without really acting like a guy. The higher a woman rises, the more important this balancing act may become, because most executive groups are still largely populated by men. On the other side of the equation, I know one gentleman who joined an all-female department after he retired from the military. As you might imagine, the gossiping and little snits among his colleagues nearly drove him nuts. “Why can’t they just forget all that stuff and focus on work?” he exclaimed one day. Another male manager had a short tenure in a largely female health-care organization because he could never adopt a more relationship-oriented style. Women at all levels, including the CEO, found him to be “too aggressive.” When acting in accordance with their natural styles, men and women alike can inadvertently give power away. In the presence of someone they view as the alpha male, men may become overly submissive and deferential. I have a very clear snapshot in my memory of a group of highly paid, expensively dressed senior vice presidents gathered on a stage around their CEO, who was preparing for a presentation. They might as well have been panting, drooling, and wagging their tails. I honestly can’t imagine a group of women executives surrounding a female CEO that way. But women have power problems of their own, which are frequently reflected in the way they talk. Women are often much too tentative and conditional in their speech: we should probably do this, we might try to take this approach, maybe we should reconsider. When they have definite opinions, women need to make definitive statements. Women also have a tendency to politely defer to men, allowing them to interrupt and take over the conversation. Finally, women sometimes overapologize. I occasionally work with a highly competent woman who says “I’m sorry” in response to almost anything, thereby automatically putting herself in a subservient power position. When I pointed this out one day, she seemed a little irritated by the feedback—but at least she didn’t apologize! So to summarize, your own personal power profile has developed from your innate temperament, your early role models, the culture in which you grew up, and some gender-specific behaviors. Because we each have our own automatic, built-in responses to power, you can greatly increase your Political Intelligence by learning to modify any knee-jerk reactions that might lead you into hazardous power mistakes. MAPPING THE POWER GRID To provide a method for organizing power assessments, let’s create a Power Grid (shown opposite) that considers two factors: Level of Position and Degree of Influence. Level of Position is easy to rate, because it simply reflects the hierarchy: the CEO gets a 10, the lowest-paid employee a 1, and everyone else is distributed accordingly. Degree of Influence requires a more subjective assessment. You need to evaluate how many people someone knows, how highly the person’s opinion is regarded, how many opportunities he or she has to interact with others, and so forth. To determine a particular person’s power level, you must do the following: (1) Assign the person a rating on both Level of Position and Degree of Influence. (2) Add the ratings together to get a total Political Power Score. A successful CEO might get the highest score (twenty), while a poorly performing mail clerk might get the lowest (two). (3) Find the point where the two ratings intersect to place the person in a power category.
THE POWER ELITE CREATE THE CULTURE Careful observation and a little detective work can help you determine the values of your own Power Elite members: 1. Don’t just listen to what they say. Watch what they do. Why do the public pronouncements of all companies sound exactly the same? Because they all want to project a positive image. Don’t rely on press releases or the annual report to clarify the true values of the Power Elite. Only an insane executive would ever publicly say: “Customer service is somewhat important, but we’re really much more interested in getting their money,” or “We don’t want to do anything illegal, but we do want to use as many accounting tricks as we can.” Actions are much more revealing than words. % Do they care about customers? Watch the staffing level in the customer service department. % Is quality important? Take a look at the acceptable error rate. % Do they really mean that stuff about work/family balance? Check out how many managers are coming in on Saturday. 2. Notice what they like to talk about and how they work. People tend to talk about things that interest them. So if you have opportunities to chat with the Power Elite, take note of the topics that turn them on. A vice president who enjoys discussing new programs and innovative ideas is likely to appreciate creative suggestions, whereas one who gets excited about procedures and policies may welcome efforts to standardize operations. Personal work habits also provide a clue. Does your CEO work long hours? Always start meetings on time? Like to brainstorm new ideas? Spend time getting to know people? A personal work style often reflects what someone expects of others. 3. See who gets recognized, praised, or promoted. The Power Elite control various types of rewards, so notice where those rewards go. One of my clients was recently told by her vice president that she should look to a particular colleague as a role model. Even though she personally believes that this colleague is a moron, she needs to recognize that the VP views him differently. Her boss is trying to send her a message about what he thinks is important and is probably suggesting some changes in her behavior as well. 4. Ask your boss or connected colleagues. If you seldom have direct contact with the Power Elite, then learn from those who do. Cultural coaching is one of the most valuable contributions that a mentor can make to your career (so select a mentor who has enough sense to make accurate observations). If your boss is a decent human being and reasonably bright, he or she is your most obvious and available source of inside information. As long as they know you won’t repeat their candid remarks, bosses generally love sharing their views. It’s a kind of therapy for them. 5. Observe what they change. When someone new joins your Power Elite group, remain hyperalert for anything that signals a shift in the culture—or in what’s expected of you. I once worked in a department that experienced a major change in decision-making style with the arrival of a new vice president. Whereas his predecessor had liked face-to-face discussions and quick decisions, the new VP preferred written proposals and consensus-building processes. This was neither good nor bad, but it was definitely different—and we all had to adjust our behavior accordingly. Chapter End Notes How Much Power Do You Have? Assessing your situation: • Think of someone you regard as a role model for exercising power and influence wisely. Now compare yourself to that person in the areas listed below. Use the following scale:
Moving from assessment to action: • Look at the items on which you gave yourself a low rating. What could you do to increase your score in that area? If you scored your role model high on any of those items, what can you learn from that person’s behavior? Might he or she agree to become a coach or mentor for you in that area? • Think about the Power Elite in your organization. List the results, values, and behaviors that seem to be rewarded by this group. (Remember to consider what they do, not what they say.) Do you need to make changes in order to be perceived more positively by Power Elite members? If their values and priorities don’t match your own, are you in the right organization? What Is Your Power Profile? Assessing your situation: • Consider the factors below that may affect the way you react to power. Give some thought to your “power lessons” and how they influence your behavior at work.
• What kind of “power mistakes” are you most likely to make? Are you too controlling and dominant or too reticent and afraid to use power? Do you defer too quickly? Or become too aggressive? What would you like to change about: (a) the way that you handle power yourself or (b) the way that you react to others with power? Moving from assessment to action: • Identify the specific power situations that may cause you to make power mistakes. Do you get frustrated in meetings and react aggressively? Do you get easily intimidated by managers and give in too quickly? Do certain people just seem to activate your unhealthy power reactions? Determine how you will handle these situations differently in the future. Practice these behaviors until they feel comfortable.
Part III - HOW TO BECOME A WINNER Chapter 8 - Increasing Your Political Power
When you think about your own political situation, you probably have something in mind that you would like to accomplish. Perhaps you hope to achieve certain career objectives or resolve some dilemma at work that is driving you crazy. Or maybe both. Whatever your current concerns, here’s an important fact to keep in mind: "To achieve any goal, you must have sufficient power." Having a sense of power is important, because people who feel powerless almost always feel hopeless and trapped as well. Hopeless, trapped people don’t contribute much to the greater good; they typically spend a lot of time wishing things would change, but seldom set any specific goals. If you need help differentiating an unrealistic wish from a realistic goal, try a political power check. For instance, you might wish with all your heart that you could get rid of your boss, but you probably don’t have the power to pull it off. However, you almost certainly have the power to make that relationship better if you choose to do so. Dumping your boss is a wish; improving communication with your boss would be a goal. Enhancing your political power will automatically increase the number and variety of goals that you are able to achieve. If you are a Winner, the desire to increase your power is not merely self-serving, since you will always be working for the success of the business. THE FOUR P’S OF POLITICAL SUCCESS Although “politics” is a pretty fuzzy term, there is a clear formula for political success—and it does not involve sucking up, groveling, or backstabbing. If everything is rolling along smoothly in your working life, that’s terrific. But if not, the Four P’s of politics can help you put together a Political Game Plan to improve the situation: • Power Assessment: How can you improve your leverage position? • Performance: How can your work make the business more successful? • Perception: How can you enhance your reputation, especially with those who can help you achieve your goals? • Partnerships: How can you increase your network of allies and supporters? By thoroughly evaluating these four factors and making necessary improvements, you will automatically increase your political power. Does this formula guarantee a quick and painless solution to all your problems? No. Ruthless honesty and difficult changes are often required. But the reward is that you are more likely to achieve important goals and feel in control of your life. As we focus on increasing your power, however, you must remember the Political Golden Rule: Never advance your own interests by harming the business or hurting other people. The Performance Principle True political power is based on valued contributions. DEVELOP AN ROI MIND-SET Implementing the Performance Principle requires an ROI (return on investment) mind-set. ROI simply means that every monetary investment is expected to return certain benefits and is therefore evaluated on how well those expectations are met. To your organization, you clearly represent an investment on two levels: management made the first investment decision when they created your position, then another when they hired someone with your particular experience and qualifications. Although they may never have been clearly stated, expectations do exist about the return that you should provide. Here are some questions to consider: Do you know why your organization decided to invest in you? Do you know what return management expects? Do you know how to maximize that return? To increase your political power, you must deliver more than the minimum expected ROI. Applying ROI to your own position may seem a bit odd, because managers seldom think or talk about jobs this way. If you say to your boss, “What does this company expect from its investment in me? And how can I maximize that return?” she’ll probably look at you a little oddly and wonder if you were paying attention during your last performance review. However, evaluating your personal ROI requires a broader view than simply understanding your current work objectives: you need to know how you, in your particular role, can make the company more successful. Having a specialty may give an employee a slight advantage, but any job can be viewed with an ROI mind-set. Let’s consider a more common, less specialized position: customer service representative (CSR). These are the folks who typically spend their days on the phone solving problems for unhappy, stressed, and frustrated customers. A manager bright enough to consider personal ROI might say this to a group of CSRs: “You are a crucial link between this company and our customers. To them, you are the face (or voice) of this business. You can influence their decision to purchase our products in the future. Collectively, you probably know more than anyone else about what is making our customers unhappy.” Because few managers think like this, my guess is that most CSRs never hear that speech. They are more likely to be told to shorten their customer calls. Even if no one else sees the potential of this position, however, a CSR with an ROI mind-set will have a more enlightened view. With that ROI attitude, he will make every effort to give customers a positive impression of the company, solve problems quickly and accurately, and find opportunities to promote company products. If obtuse Power Elite members see customer service as a necessary evil that sucks up money, a few CSRs with an ROI mind-set might change that opinion, increasing their own political power in the process. Developing an ROI mind-set means thinking like a business owner and seeing how your part fits into the whole. The more you learn about overall business goals and the activities of other functions, the more your perspective will expand. For example, customer service reps who understand the needs of the sales and accounting departments will be more likely to recognize and share useful information—like unusual complaints about a new product or a sudden increase in billing inaccuracies. These helpful actions will automatically gain them political points in the areas of Perception and Partnership as well. Apart from your position, you should also consider the ROI expected from you, personally. Unless you’re a relative of the CEO, you apparently have experience or abilities that someone felt would be especially useful in your job. Why did they choose you over the other fourteen people who may have applied? Have you ever asked? The answers may reveal some hidden expectations—and clarify the most important ones to meet. Of course, if you’ve been in your current slot for some time, this question may be less relevant. But if you’re getting bored with your daily grind, perhaps a different question is in order: How could you get management to change their investment in you—that is, to use you in a different way? You may need to expand their view of your potential contributions. DELIVER THE GOODS Having an ROI mind-set can help you spot opportunities to increase your value, but you also have to deliver the goods. For starters, you need to understand what is particularly important to management, beginning with your boss. Whether or not you like your manager, respect your manager, or agree with your manager, remember this Organizational Fact: Your boss has control over much of your life. Understanding her goals and preferences is therefore a high priority. You must also recognize the values and priorities of the Power Elite. While your boss certainly has the greatest impact on your immediate circumstances, the people above her may control your future. Should you determine at any point that management’s values differ greatly from your own, then you are in an uncomfortable situation. An experienced software engineer did not agree with some of the shortcuts in product design required by his VP of engineering. A young project manager found that the highly traditional company where he worked did not value his innovative ideas and creative approaches. When such differences begin to make work unrewarding, the best solution may be to find a more compatible environment. With a change in management, the perception of your contributions may also shift. So following any turnover in leadership, you might need to recalibrate your priorities. During my years in human resources, I worked with three CEOs in the same company who all valued different aspects of the employee relations function. CEO #1 truly believed that employees were the heart of the business. “Take away the people,” he used to say, “and all you have left are empty buildings and idle machines.” When we proposed a quarterly employee breakfast, where he could interact directly with a group of “regular folks,” he enthusiastically approved the idea. His successor, CEO #2, preferred written communication and greatly appreciated the letters, announcements, and newsletter articles crafted for him by our department. CEO #3 was more interested in information about employees than in the employees themselves, so he quickly became engrossed in the data from our employee-opinion survey. Once you’re doing the right things, then you must be sure to do them right. In any job, this means focusing on fundamentals. If you want people to feel that you add value, then you must produce quality work, meet deadlines, follow through with commitments, and anticipate and prevent problems. When anyone thinks of you, the words “reliable” and “dependable” should always come to mind. However, you can only deliver outstanding results if your innate abilities and talents are a good match for the requirements of your position. You will never excel in a job for which you are inherently unsuited. Neal, a salesman who had been failing spectacularly for nine years, provides a sad example of such a mismatch. The expected ROI for salespeople is pretty clear: sell as much as possible and develop positive, lasting customer relationships. Successful salespeople are usually outgoing, assertive, persuasive individuals who love to interact with people. Neal, however, was just the opposite: a quiet, introspective, analytical fellow who enjoyed working alone and solving complex technical problems. From childhood, Neal had heard his father say that sales was the path to success. So upon leaving college, with this paternal directive burned into his cerebral cortex, Neal went in search of a sales job and started down the road to failure and depression. The first step in Neal’s Political Game Plan was to start preparing for a career change. The Perception Principle Invisible contributions have no political value. Imagine this scene: a crowd is gathered in front of a burning house. Suddenly, a teenage neighbor bursts through the front door carrying two young children to safety. Cheers erupt, a television reporter gets the young hero on camera for an interview, and the story is carried on the evening news. The news report is seen by the president of a local civic organization, which decides to give the teen a college scholarship in recognition of his bravery. This scholarship changes his life by allowing him to eventually complete medical school and become a skilled, respected surgeon. Now rewind this heartwarming story to the beginning and change one detail. While the crowd gathers in front of the burning house, the teenager carries the children out the back door and puts them down on the lawn. The kids rush to the front yard to find their parents, and the teenager follows a short distance behind. No one realizes that he actually rescued the children. No TV report, no civic organization, no scholarship, no medical school. This is a clear example of the Perception Principle in action: outstanding performance only has political value if the right people know about it. Some people are quite content to toil behind the scenes with little notice, and that’s just fine. Others, however, feel unappreciated and neglected and believe that someone should be paying more attention to them. They say things like, “No one has any idea how hard I work” or “Nobody recognizes the challenges in this job.” Anyone who engages in this kind of whining is striving mightily to become a Martyr. If you want people to know more about what you’re doing, then you need to stop complaining and start looking for ways to increase their awareness. Perception is important, because most of us have goals—either personal or organizational—that cannot be met unless people with power support them. Several years ago, I was asked to do a workshop for a group of county Clean & Beautiful directors. The mission of Clean & Beautiful organizations is to enhance the appearance of communities—by planting flowers on downtown streets, for example, or getting people to quit tossing trash out the car window. In one workshop activity, the directors were asked to think of someone with whom they had a politically difficult relationship and describe the world from that person’s point of view. After giving this some thought, one director, whose county manager was his “politically difficult” person, exclaimed, “You know, I just realized that my program is not even on his radar screen!” If this Clean & Beautiful guy wants more program funding, then he needs to attract the attention of the person who controls the budget. All Winners recognize that the positive perception of an accomplishment is almost as important as the accomplishment itself. MAKE YOUR VISIBLE RESULTS “SPARKLE” “Visible results” refers to any part of your work that is viewed by other people. This may be a report, a design, a prototype, a presentation, an event —or some less tangible product like your participation in a meeting. One way to think about the “sparkle” factor is to categorize your work by level of visibility and importance, giving you the four groupings below.High-importance, high-visibility activities are Starmakers, with significant potential for increasing political power. On the other hand, activities that are highly visible, but low in importance, represent Maintenance. Simply be sure that they are carried out reliably enough to avoid attracting negative attention. I think of this as the “clean bathroom phenomenon”—no one will notice if you keep your bathroom clean, but everyone will notice if it’s dirty. Low-importance activities fade into the background unless something gets screwed up. Any task low in both importance and visibility is a Time Waster that should either be eliminated or receive only the minimum attention necessary. These chores have no political payoff. Sometimes, for one reason or another, important work is relatively invisible. With these Transparent Tasks, your goal is to get them into the spotlight. ACT LIKE THE PERSON YOU WANT THEM TO SEE Your thoughts and feelings are known only to you. Other people base their perceptions on your behavior, because that’s all they see. Whether you feel confident and comfortable doesn’t really matter, as long as you can act that way. When people are learning new roles or trying to change their behavior, psychologists often recommend a technique called “acting as it”—so if you’re not accustomed to public speaking, try acting as if you were; if you don’t like your boss, try acting as if you do; if you’ve never made a sales call, try acting like a confident salesperson. After a while, it may no longer be an act. The Partnership Principle: Every positive working relationship increases your political power. INVITE PEOPLE TO YOUR PARTY % Few, if any, jobs can be performed in isolation these days. % When you develop the habit of inviting people to your party, you increase your political power and usually improve the quality of your results. % Sometimes we simply forget to reach out to people, but in other situations we create unconscious barriers. % The Partnership Principle may also lead you to “joint ventures” with other departments or organizations. Joint ventures are particularly useful when two functions have complementary knowledge or skills. Engineers who design products can gain valuable information from salespeople about customer habits and preferences. Training departments that want to “sell” their programs and services internally can learn some useful lessons from the marketing folks. Such collaborations produce twofold political rewards, simultaneously improving your results and increasing your network. Partnering is especially smart when you share common goals with another group. % People with common goals automatically increase their political power when they band together. STRETCH YOUR TOLERANCE ZONE Even if you are a kind, amiable, inclusive person, I’m willing to bet there are certain people you simply do not want to invite to your party, no matter what. Whenever you try to work with them, you wind up frustrated, aggravated, or disappointed. Because we all tend to feel that our own way is the right way, we often have limited tolerance for people who do or see things differently. However, the fundamental lesson of the Partnership Principle is this: the more people you can work with, the more your power will increase. A wide tolerance zone gives you a definite political advantage. Unless you are dealing with a complete Dimwit who can’t get along with anybody, your frustration with a co-worker may well be the result of work style incompatibilities. Because people are born with different brain chemistry, raised with different values, and exposed to different life experiences, it’s not surprising that we have different ways of approaching tasks and projects. But certain pairings seem to inevitably lead to predictable problems. The table below lists some of the most common work style opposites. See if any of your own difficult relationships reflect one or more of these differences.
Chapter End Notes How Can You Use the “Four P’s”? Assessing your situation: • Start by defining your current goals, since your energy should be directed toward achieving them. • Answer any of the questions below that might be helpful in increasing your political power and accomplishing your goals.
Moving from assessment to action: • Turn the answers to the above questions into an action plan. List specifically what you plan to do and when. Set a time to follow up and assess your progress.
Chapter 9 - Sharpening Your Influence Skills
THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-MANAGEMENT To earn your black belt in influence skills, you must be a master of selfmanagement, because this is the only way to make wise decisions about your behavior. When you wish to influence another person, you’re usually hoping that they will change. But instead, you should first consider how you might change, because you can only control your own actions. My extremely wise mother taught me this lesson when I came home from college for a holiday visit. After several days of listening to complaints about how my roommate was driving me crazy, Mom looked me in the eye and calmly said, “You know, you probably can’t change her. All you can change is your attitude toward her.” To my surprise, this advice actually made all the difference. When I became more friendly and accepting, my roommate began to act differently as well, and we eventually became fast friends. Here’s the Paradox of Influence: To get other people to change their behavior, you have to change your own. Mastering self-management means developing three skills: (1) self-observation; (2) self-control; and (3) selective behavior. Self-observation means that you are always aware of what you’re doing. Although this doesn’t exactly constitute an out-of-body experience, you do need to scrutinize your actions with the eye of an outside observer. During his onesided conversation with Frank, a self-observant Brad might be thinking, “I’m certainly talking a lot. Could that be why Frank is so quiet? The more I talk, the less interested he seems. Maybe I should stop talking and ask him a question. What could I ask him about?” Self-control is a concept that everyone understands, but many fail to practice. Simply put, self-control means the ability to put on the brakes, to rein in your impulses. You consciously decide not to do something that you want to do or say something that you want to say. While walking through the company cafeteria after lunch one day, Eileen stopped to talk to a colleague about an issue involving their new boss. “Boy, Jack’s a real little dictator, isn’t he?” Eileen exclaimed, unfortunately conveying that sentiment to everyone within earshot. For talkative souls, developing self-control often means putting a filter between their brain and their mouth. At the other end of the spectrum, Carlton, the new president of an electronics company, would become so deeply lost in thought that he walked right by people without even seeing them. Employees quickly spread the word that Carlton was arrogant and unfriendly. For him, self-control meant maintaining some contact with reality when he was around other people. The final component of self-management is selective behavior. If you can observe your actions and restrain yourself from doing what comes naturally, then you are in a position to increase your influence by making better behavioral choices. Carlton, for example, might want to try saying “good morning” when passing someone in the hall. Eileen, instead of publicly proclaiming her unhappiness, might choose to occasionally mention some of her new boss’s good points. Successfully mastering self-management will put you in control of your behavior and prevent you from inadvertently drifting into the Dimwit category. THE PROCESS OF INFLUENCE For any ability you can name—playing basketball, painting portraits, making speeches, performing mathematical calculations—there are three categories of people: - those who are blessed with natural talent, - those who can become competent with training, and - those who will simply never get it. Although a few do seem to have a natural genius for influence, most of us fall into the “trainable” group. Influence training begins with an understanding of how the process operates.• You have a goal that is important to you. • Another person can help or hinder your accomplishment of that goal. • To reach the goal, you need for that other person to engage in certain behaviors. • To produce these desired behaviors, you must use the appropriate influence strategy. • If you choose the wrong strategy, the person may not want to help you. If you are worried about becoming overly manipulative, remember that the Political Golden Rule prohibits you from using any influence strategy that could be harmful to the other person. Assuming that your goals are worthwhile, encouraging others to help you accomplish them is simply smart. Actually, acting without thinking usually does more harm to others, which is why we refer to rude and offensive people as “thoughtless.” CHOOSING YOUR INFLUENCE STRATEGY Once you shift your thinking from control to influence and from changing others to changing yourself, you can begin to make politically intelligent decisions about your actions and interactions with others. To become more influential, you must remember this: You always have choices about your behavior. % Whenever you act without thinking, you give up your power to choose and often move farther away from your goal. % Politically intelligent people always seek a strategy that is both aimed at their goal and suited to the person whose help they need. % When one strategy isn’t working, you need to shift your approach and try something different. Unfortunately, refusal and rejection often cause us to simply escalate our current behavior. We speak louder, plead more pitifully, or become more insistent in making our points. This is like shouting at someone who doesn’t speak your language—raising the volume will not help them understand. If the other person seems to be tuning out your brilliant logical arguments, shift your focus and ask a question. Or if your subtle hints are being ignored, try directly stating what you need. The more tools that you have in your influence toolbox, the more successful you will be. One way to broaden your repertoire of influence behaviors is to watch what others do. UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER SIDE To choose the best influence approach, you must consider the world from the other person’s point of view. Each of us travels through life in our own little “box.” That is to say, our view of the world is limited, or “walled in,” by our values, beliefs, experiences, and goals. As we peer out at the world through the walls of our box, everything we see is shaped by our own point of view. But to influence others, you have to mentally visit their box and see how the world looks to them. If you can develop the ability to adopt another person’s viewpoint, you will have taken one huge giant step toward becoming a political Winner.
Few steps one might take to making the other side understand: % Make request in terms of shared goals. % Anticipate objections and concerns. % Assess the leverage equation. % Soliciting othher person's point of view. The best way to get inside someone else’s box is to ask questions and really listen to the answers. ... Suppose you find yourself in a situation where you feel absolutely certain that another person’s idea, plan, or behavior is absolutely wrong. What then? This is when it is most difficult to see the other side—and when it’s also most important to make the effort. In most conflicts, people are not disagreeing about the facts. “They’re wrong” usually translates as “they don’t agree with my opinion.” Keep this in mind: "Facts can be wrong. Opinions are simply different." KEEPING YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE % The ability to maintain a laserlike focus on your true goal is another critical influence skill. In complex and emotionally charged interactions, people often lose sight of their objectives and lapse into counterproductive behavior. Before becoming hopelessly entangled in these confusing scenarios, you must clearly define exactly what is most significant to you and keep your eyes on that prize. Whenever you become angry or frustrated, just continue to ask yourself, “What specifically is most important to me in this situation? What do I want?” and then manage your behavior accordingly. % When people feel they are being criticized, they often employ diversionary tactics to distract you from your goal. Such distractions can take many forms, including anger, tears, excuses, or shifting the focus elsewhere. % Sometimes, especially when emotions are running high, people get so carried away that they fail to recognize when their goal has actually been reached. % If you are not clear about your objectives—both long-term and shortterm— then you will be driven by your immediate needs, wants, desires, and feelings. You may ultimately find that the greatest obstacle to achieving your goals is staring back at you in the mirror. To make a wise decision about your influence strategy, you have to know what you want. BALANCING YOUR INFLUENCE TOOLBOX Direct influence: Telling people exactly what he thinks and attempts to convince them that he is right. Indirect influence: Watche people’s reactions, ask questions, and learn from their responses. In your influence toolbox, direct and indirect skills are like a hammer and screwdriver: both are useful, but you need to use the right tool at the right time. If you only possess one of these implements, certain situations may be challenging. Driving a nail with a screwdriver can be tough.
Ask and Listen The very best consultants, counselors, and salespeople are all masters of asking and listening. They understand that the more you know about another person, the more influential and helpful you can be. Think for a moment about your own conversations. When someone else is speaking, do you actually listen or are you mentally rehearsing your reply? Really listening means being fully focused on the other person—not fidgeting, multi-tasking, or impatiently waiting for your turn to talk. You already know how to do this. Suppose your CEO walks in and says, “I have something very important to tell you.” I guarantee that you will listen, with rapt attention. No need to waste your time or money attending a listening workshop—simply turn on your listening skills during any important conversation, not just those with the CEO. Those who neglect their indirect skills often miss opportunities to fully understand others’ concerns, problems, values, or opinions. But the true motormouths never even get to hear what other people might have to say. Their compulsive talking is so extreme that it appears to be a pathological disorder. They almost literally never shut up. If you are in this category, no one is likely to tell you—well, how could they?—but if this sounds at all like you, get some help. You will rarely influence anyone unless you improve your verbal self-management, because the more you talk, the less people hear. The artful use of questions can be a wonderfully effective method for influencing others. To be meaningful, a question must be an actual inquiry, not merely a statement ending with a question mark. “I think this vacation policy is really stupid, don’t you?” is not a real question. Nor is, “What idiot came up with the new vacation policy?” But, “What do you think of the new vacation policy?” actually asks for an opinion. In your influence toolbox, questions are like a Swiss army knife: they can be used in many different situations. • Exploratory questions help you understand the other person’s point of view and convey that you are interested in their experiences, opinions, or ideas. Example: A product manager wants to learn about customer reactions and decides to talk with a salesperson. Instead of saying, “I’ll bet your customers love the new product line, don’t they?” he should ask, “What have your customers had to say about the new product line?” • Involvement questions aim to increase buy-in by inviting others to participate in a project or help plan a change. Example: A human resources specialist wants to implement a new dress code for employees. Instead of announcing, “We will be sending out a dress code to improve appearance in the office,” she should first ask employees, “How would you define professional and unprofessional dress at work?” Then implement some of their suggestions. • Softening questions reduce defensiveness and help you bring up a topic or get a point across in a less confrontational manner. Example: A project team member feels that the group is having too many meetings and has decided to bring this up to the team leader. Instead of saying, “You’re wasting too much time having all these meetings,” she should ask, “What would you think about reducing the number of meetings we’re having?” Asking questions is a pointless exercise, of course, unless you plan to listen to the answer. Asking and listening can also be overdone. Too many questions, one right after another, can make the other party feel like a suspect under interrogation. And if you only listen, without ever sharing your own opinions, people may eventually decide that you have something to hide. The most effective communication is always two-way. Persuade and Convince How do con men (or women) separate people from their money? How do preachers inspire people to live right and do good works? How do recruiters get young folks to join the army and be all that they can be? By being persuasive, convincing, and masters of direct influence. If you give yourself high marks on indirect skills, then you may need to get more comfortable with the direct approach. To help you become more directly persuasive, here are ten tips to consider: 1. Do your homework. You will adopt the persuader role more comfortably if you are fully informed about your subject and able to answer questions intelligently. 2. Speak up. Psychic persuasion is seldom successful. Talking is usually required. 3. Demonstrate confidence. Should the car salesman start his pitch by saying, “I don’t know if you’re really going to like this model very much” or “This is really a great car”? You get the idea. Remember that confidence is conveyed not only by your words, but also by your tone, posture, and expression. 4. Don’t try to fake it. If you don’t know something, say so. Attempts at bluffing are usually obvious and just make you appear foolish and insecure. Truly confident people readily say “I don’t know,” then follow it up with “but I’ll find out.” 5. Believe in your product. Regardless of whether your “product” is an idea, a suggestion, a policy, or a program, you can only convince others of its worth if you are a believer yourself. 6. Know your audience. Exactly who are your objects of influence? Consider their background, experiences, hot buttons, needs, fears, and attention span. Then shape your communication accordingly. 7. Look for shared goals and common interests. Determine how your proposal would benefit the other party. “What’s in it for me?” is the first question on anyone’s mind. That’s just human nature. 8. Generate excitement! Paint a mental picture. Tell a story. Catch their attention. Be upbeat and positive! After graduating from college, my daughter, an advertising major, began her letter to prospective employers with this opening line: “I’m quick, sharp, and smart! Hire me now while I’m still inexpensive.” She got a lot of interviews. 9. Get them involved. If you drone on too long, people will tune you out and start thinking about what they want for lunch. Engaging them in discussion will hold their interest and make you more persuasive. You can’t convince someone who has stopped paying attention. 10. Don’t forget your indirect skills. The most effective persuaders also know when to shut up and listen. Finally, always be on the lookout for role models. When you spot a master of persuasion, study any useful techniques and adapt them to your own style. Order and Act Sometimes you only get results by being extremely direct. During a recent workshop, the participants and I noticed an odd smell wafting into the room and found a work crew painting the patio outside our windows. I nicely explained that because the fumes were quite strong, we would appreciate their completing the painting after we left for the day. But when they came back half an hour later, with the smell worse than ever, a more direct approach seemed to be in order. “I need for you to stop painting now,” I said to the crew leader. “If this is a problem, I will be glad to explain it to your supervisor, but we can’t have any more painting while we’re in this room.” I stood there until they stopped. Being direct does not mean being rude or offensive, but it does mean being firm. “Order and act” is an appropriate strategy whenever the situation calls for strong leadership. After being appointed to head a state government agency, Joan discovered that important fiscal policies were not being followed and that some managers were engaged in questionable ethical practices. She quickly issued new policy directives, installed tighter financial controls, fired the ethical offenders, and met with every management team in the agency to make her expectations clear. In these circumstances, an indirect approach would have been useless. Direct skills can also be helpful when a group lacks clear direction, has difficulty making decisions, or includes many inexperienced members. On the home front, use direct influence to set clear limits for children, let your spouse know what’s bothering you, or assertively deal with annoying relatives. Relying too heavily on direct skills can provoke resistance and defensiveness, because people may feel they are being inappropriately ordered around. If the term “control freak” has ever been applied to you, then you undoubtedly need to beef up your indirect influencing ability. Ironically, those who most want to take control are often the least influential members in a group, because others fear that they may be too powerhungry. So what does it take to be influential? (1) An awareness of what you’re doing and how others are reacting to you; (2) a clear focus on your goals in every situation; (3) the willingness to understand another person’s point of view; (4) the ability to make conscious choices about your behavior and not be blindly driven by your emotions; and (5) a full set of influence skills to keep you from overdoing your natural tendencies. Chapter End Notes How Good Are You at Self-Management? Assessing your situation: • Using the chart below, rate yourself on your selfmanagement ability.
Count the number of 4, 3, 2, and 1 scores that you gave yourself and put those numbers in the table below.
The more scores you have on the left side of the chart, the better your self-management skills. (This assumes, of course, that you are able to evaluate yourself accurately, which is not always the case.) The more scores on the right side, the more problems you may encounter in this area. Moving from assessment to action: • Identify the times when your actions, reactions, or statements have created problems for you. Can you find any patterns in these situations? If you could relive them, what would you do differently? When do you feel you need to be particularly aware of your effect on others? List some specific behaviors that you might need to change. Which Influence Skills Do You Need to Improve? Assessing your situation: • Think about the direct and indirect influence skills discussed in this chapter. For each category below, use a percentage to indicate how frequently you use each set of skills in influence situations. Your percentages should add up to 100.
Moving from assessment to action: • Do you tend to overuse either direct or indirect skills? In which categories do you need to improve? Set some specific goals for using new influence skills. In what situations or with which people do you need to use these skills? Decide what you will do differently the next time you are in these situations. • Think of someone you would like to influence. (1) What is your goal in this situation? What do you need this person to do? (2) Try to describe the world from the point of view of your influence target. What are this person’s goals and problems? How would the person describe you? How would the two of you describe the issues about which you disagree? How do these viewpoints differ? (3) Consider how you or others have tried to influence this person in the past. Should you try any new strategies? What strategies have not worked well? What approaches seem to work best with this person?
Chapter 10 - Managing Power Relationships
THE “FULL CIRCLE” OF INFLUENCE Imagine that a group of people are going to rate your work effectiveness. This group will include your boss, your colleagues, and (if you are a manager) your employees. You will also rate yourself. Then suppose you are given a report that compares all these responses—letting you see, for example, whether your boss and your co-workers view you the same way. How do you think it would turn out? This process is known as 360° Feedback, which many organizations use to help people get a clearer picture of the way they are perceived at work. If you received a 360° Feedback Report, would people in all power positions view you positively? • Would your boss describe you as helpful, cooperative, and easy to work with? • Would your colleagues say that you regularly listen to other points of view, share information, and provide assistance willingly? • If you are a manager, would your employees describe you as supportive, respectful, and willing to listen? Would they say you set a good example as a leader? If you have any doubts about the answers, then you may want to examine your power relationships. Power difficulties often grow out of the Parent, Adult, and Child roles that were discussed in chapter 7. Because power relationships at work often mirror those in families, certain events or circumstances can activate an entrenched Parent or Child reaction that overrides our normal Adult behavior. When this happens, our self-management skills vanish, we act unconsciously, and our ability to influence others is automatically diminished. Put more simply, we do some really stupid things. % Upward influence is a challenge for people who automatically view anyone in management as a Parent, then react like a Child, becoming either rebellious and hard to manage or submissive and overly compliant. Rebellious employees tend to be oppositional and antiauthoritarian, just like two-year-olds and teenagers. % Submissive employees, on the other hand, are eager to please and afraid to disagree. % Lateral influence problems arise when people take an inappropriate Child role with their colleagues, often reflecting childhood patterns with siblings and playmates: the competitive youngster who always has to win, the selfsufficient child who prefers solitary activities, and the playground bully who likes to push other people around. For competitive co-workers, life is a contest and winning is the goal. They have little interest in the needs, concerns, or problems of colleagues. Unless there is a clear and immediate personal payoff, teamwork and collaboration are viewed as useless distractions. % Solitary colleagues prefer to work on their own. Like lone wolves, they hate hunting in packs. Because they don’t find interaction particularly rewarding, their enjoyment at work comes from the tasks, not the people. In their view, teamwork and collaboration interfere with more meaningful pursuits. % Bullying co-workers want to get their own way. If they can push others around a little, that only makes it more fun. % Downward influence is essential for leaders and managers. Because management tasks need to be performed by Adults, problems inevitably occur when managers operate in either Parent or Child mode. Parental managers come in two varieties: dominating and smothering. Dominating bosses overuse their direct authority by issuing orders, directives, and reprimands. Although they may comply, employees seldom respect these little tyrants. % Smothering managers, who get intensely involved in the details of their employees’ work, usually see themselves as concerned, conscientious, and helpful. But employees are more likely to view this hovering attentiveness as interference and micromanagement. % Managers who operate from the Child position are uncomfortable having authority over others. Because they worry about being liked, they try to be everyone’s pal. Although most employees don’t want a domineering boss, they don’t want a spineless jellyfish either, so buddy-buddy bosses get little respect. Operate as an Adult If you see yourself in any of the above descriptions—or if you just want to further hone your influence skills—then check out the strategies below. As you’ve probably figured out, consistently operating as an Adult is a basic requirement for managing power relationships. UPWARD INFLUENCE: MANAGING YOUR BOSS 1. Accept the fact that your boss has been given the power to direct your activities. 2. Don’t expect perfection. Managers are people, not androids, so they have an endless variety of quirks and eccentricities and odd little habits. Recognize your boss’s hot buttons and, for heaven’s sake, don’t push them! There’s a name for people who annoy their managers on purpose—masochists. If you have a wonderful boss who is a pleasure to work with, celebrate! Be grateful every day for as long as it lasts. If not, lower your expectations. 3. Study your boss’s management style and figure out what makes her happy. 4. Try to make your boss look good. 5. Never, never, never complain to others about your boss. 6. Give your boss a sincere compliment from time to time. 7. Finally, don’t forget the old saying, “It’s not your boss who protects your job, it’s your boss’s boss.” Look for opportunities to interact with higher-level managers. If they know who you are and think well of you, then you will have enhanced both your political power and your job security. THE VIEW FROM THE TOP: HOW TO WORK WITH EXECUTIVES 1. Don’t ever tell executives that they “can‘t” do anything. 2. Talk fast. Executives are busy people with tight schedules. They are also very bright people who can absorb information quickly without a lot of explanation. And even if more explanation would be helpful, you’re not going to have a chance to give it. Start with your most important points and move quickly, but be prepared for them to pepper you with questions after about three sentences. Executives don’t want to listen to a monologue. They want to control the conversation, get the information they need, and move on to their next appointment. 3. Don’t expect specific instructions. Executive brains are usually shifting quickly from one big, important issue to the next, so their instructions are typically about half clear. If you press for specifics, they will become annoyed and decide that you are not too bright. To successfully work with executives, you must possess a certain amount of psychic ability. You must also develop a solid relationship with the person’s administrative assistant, who has already learned to read the executive’s mind. If you will be working with the executive on a regular basis, the AA is your new best friend. 4. Make it happen. Once they have issued some vague directive, executives don’t want to hear about that issue again. In their mind, it has been dealt with—by giving it to you—and they have moved on to other matters. They will only return to it if something seems to be going wrong—and you don’t want that kind of attention. Avoid going back for more instruction or information. If you can’t figure it out yourself, use your networking contacts or pay a visit to the AA. 5. Take care of the details. 6. Don’t take any abuse personally. Executives can talk to people pretty much any way they want, because, after all, who’s going to stop them? That doesn’t make it right, of course. It’s just another unfortunate fact of life. If you’re forced to deal with an executive who yells, curses, or hurls insults, keep in mind that it’s not about you. This is just a high-level person with bad manners. Of course, if the abuse becomes intolerable, you always have the right to stand up for yourself—just recognize that you may be risking your job. When you have the opportunity to exercise power yourself, please do not emulate this childish behavior. Try to be an Adult. 7. Lose your ego. Executives were good enough to make it to the top —or very close to the top. They are paid high salaries, given expensive cars, and surrounded with fawning underlings. Hardly anyone ever tells them if they screw up. So executive egos are usually huge, leaving no room for your own little ego problems. If you bring your ego to the party, you’ll soon find yourself in a power struggle with an executive—and guess who usually wins those? 8. Keep your self-confidence. Ego is not helpful, but self-assurance is a must. Executives despise wimps. They stepped over plenty of those mealymouthed people on their way to the summit. You must therefore master the art of displaying self-confidence while respectfully acknowledging their authority. If you are too deferential or submissive, you will lose all credibility and be viewed as having limited potential. 9. Hang on to your sense of humor! You will definitely need it. LATERAL INFLUENCE: COOPERATING WITH COWORKERS 1. Watch for opportunities to help your co-workers. 2. Return phone calls, answer e-mails, meet deadlines, keep your commitments. 3. Don’t expect co-workers to be your therapists. 4. Avoid blatant self-promotion, especially at your colleagues’ expense. 5. Be consistently polite and pleasant, even to people who are not. 6. Discuss concerns with the person involved. Talking behind someone’s back is much easier—and certainly more fun—than facing the person directly. That’s probably why the gossiping disease is so widespread. On teamwork surveys, we find that almost every group scores low on co-workers discussing problems directly. But backbiting is the coward’s way out, so when you have an issue with someone, screw up your courage and talk about it face-to-face. 7. When you have difficulties or disagreements, discuss them in an Adult manner. If you become insulting or critical, you are being a punishing Parent. If you whine or pout, you are acting like a sulky Child. Adults are able to discuss problems, identify shared goals, explore possible solutions, and agree on action steps. 8. If someone acts rude, impolite, offensive, or insulting, resist the temptation to respond in kind. Retaliation just brings you down to their level. Maintain an Adult demeanor and eventually they’ll calm down. And probably feel pretty stupid. If you experience some quiet satisfaction at this point, that’s fine. Just keep it to yourself. DOWNWARD INFLUENCE: THE SECRET OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP Your company can make you a manager, but your employees decide whether you are a leader. Sadly, many managers fail to see that true leadership has nothing to do with the position they hold. Here’s a definition to remember if you want to excel at downward influencing: "A leader is someone that people choose to follow." Here are some general suggestions for downward influencing: 1. Realize that you’re a manager, not a monarch. 2. Worry about being respected, not being liked. Leadership is not a popularity contest. Successful leaders focus on earning respect, not developing friendships. If employees both respect and like you, that’s great—but if you’re too anxious about their opinions, you’ll have trouble making difficult decisions. To have influence, a manager must be able to make the tough calls. So if you have high needs for acceptance, find some fawning friends outside of work. Should this seem to be a persistent and deep-seated problem for you, however, consider whether you really enjoy being a manager. Not everyone does. 3. Learn to successfully manage the performance of other people. 4. Appreciate the power of inclusion. 5. Help your employees “be all that they can be.” PORTRAIT OF A WINNER A true Winner builds positive relationships in all directions. Sociopaths, by contrast, focus most of their energy upward. They don’t waste much time on peers and employees, because management controls their rewards. Cause-driven Martyrs automatically alienate anyone who appears to be “on the other side” of their chosen crusade—although, ironically, these are usually the very people that they most need to influence. Those Martyrs who wish to please often diminish their political power by spreading themselves too thin, trying unsuccessfully to meet the needs of everyone they encounter. The Dimwits, whose behavior is driven by intense anger or anxiety (or both), will eventually distance themselves from everyone, regardless of power position. Chapter End Notes Do You Have Problems with Power Positions? Assessing your situation: • The chart below lists some common problems related to different power positions. Check any with which you identify.
If you see yourself in any of these descriptions, the odds are that others see you that way as well. All of these tendencies, beliefs, or actions can create power position problems. Moving from assessment to action: • If you feel that you may have problems with upward, lateral, or downward influence, review the suggestions at the end of the appropriate section in this chapter. Set some specific goals for changing the way that you relate to your boss, colleagues, or employees. You may also wish to ask for feedback from people in those positions —just be sure not to argue or get defensive if they give you some!
Chapter 11 - Developing Your Political Game Plan
When you think about your job, do you get excited or experience a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach? Does the future look bright or stretch before you like a vast, monotonous wasteland? Are you in control of your destiny or subject to the whims of unpredictable people? For most of us, work consumes at least 50 percent of our waking hours, and that’s a lot of time to feel unhappy. To ensure that the occupational part of your life stays on the right track, you should periodically update your Political Game Plan. Depending on your situation, a Political Game Plan can serve several functions: • Save you from an untimely political suicide • Help you identify and achieve specific career goals • Keep you from wasting time and energy on irrelevant distractions • Provide strategies for dealing with difficult people • Increase your leverage and build political capital • Reduce your stress and make your time at work more enjoyable SIZING UP YOUR POLITICAL SITUATIONStrategy #1: If you are in danger of becoming The Problem, then you need to take remedial action immediately. Typically, someone comes to be seen as The Problem for one of three reasons: 1. The person is a Dimwit who wreaks havoc in the workplace by making life more difficult for almost everyone. If you firmly believe that many of your colleagues or managers are obtuse, thoughtless, uncooperative, or difficult to work with, then you might fall into the Dimwit category. 2. The person has become the unfortunate victim of a toxic work environment. In a truly toxic workplace, normal people may be seen as The Problem because they don’t conform to the warped standards of a pathological organization. If this reflects your circumstances, then you should relocate to a healthier setting as quickly as possible. 3. The person is acting inappropriately in response to an unwelcome change or a difficult situation. If this sounds like you, then you must rapidly alter your behavior if you want to save yourself. The transformation will probably not be easy, however. If your reputation has deteriorated to the point that you may have been labeled The Problem, then you undoubtedly have some difficult self-management challenges ahead. Your other option, of course, is to take your talents elsewhere. Strategy #2: If you are not clear about your goals, then you need to decide what you want. Consider these fundamental questions about your career goals: • Do you want to continue in your current type of work? If not, what sort of change sounds appealing? If you could wish for any type of job, what would it be? You may want to review the steps that led you to your profession. Did you just take the first position that came along? Did you succumb to pressure from parents, spouse, friends? Or was it a conscious choice based on your interests? Determine whether your career decision was a wise one. • Do you want to stay with your current organization? Is the culture a good “fit” for your temperament and lifestyle preferences? Do you respect the people in leadership positions? Does a meaningful career path exist for you? How does this compare with other places where you have worked? Think about whether you would still like to be there in five years. • Do you want to remain in this particular job? Do you like what you’re doing? Is the work challenging enough? Do you enjoy working with your colleagues? Your manager? Are you interested in a promotion? A transfer to another position? Consider how long you are likely to be happy in this role. Strategy #3: If you are not using your energy wisely, then you need to adjust your thinking or your activities. Sometimes we are thrown off track by internal or external distractions that represent “energy leeches.” Try observing yourself for a couple of days with the screening question in mind. See if any of these energy leeches are interfering with your goals. • Difficulty focusing: Do you find yourself bouncing from one task to another with little rhyme or reason? Is your attention easily distracted by anyone who wanders into your office? Do you fall in love with a different idea every week? Multitasking is a useful ability, but when flexibility escalates into being completely scatterbrained, little is accomplished. If this is a challenge for you, then better self-management should become your first priority. • Negative emotions: Some people have a tendency to ruminate endlessly—that is, they obsessively replay past difficulties in their mind, constantly reliving the accompanying unpleasant feelings. Others habitually engage in negative self-talk, focusing on how incompetent, idiotic, or unfair people are. A few hapless souls constantly run the “woe is me” tape, telling themselves how they can’t do anything right, are doomed to fail, and on and on. Regardless of the particular script, all negative feelings drain energy from more productive pursuits; so if you have this problem, you need to begin working on your internal dialogue. • Seductive tasks: Given a choice, we all prefer some tasks and responsibilities over others. But if the stuff you like to do is edging out the stuff you need to do, you may have an energy-use problem, because the stuff you need to do will catch up with you eventually. Put off paying those bills too long and someone will cut off your utilities. You must force yourself to occasionally abandon the fun things and devote sufficient time to the unpleasant but necessary chores required to reach your goals. • Toxic people: Some colleagues add nothing to your life but grief. You may have to work with them, but you have no obligation to eat lunch with them, take breaks with them, listen to their endless complaints, or become their therapist. If this is a problem for you, you’re probably being too polite. Strategy #4: If you face opposition in reaching your goals, then you need to manage your adversaries. If you are currently being thwarted by an adversary, here are some questions to consider. • Have you allowed feelings about your adversary to distract you from your goals? When dealing with an obstructive or difficult person, anger and resentment can hijack your brain and crowd out more productive thoughts and plans. If defeating the adversary becomes your primary goal, then whatever you were originally trying to accomplish is going to get lost. • How have you “framed” the situation? “Framing” is the psychological term for the way we describe our circumstances. The way that you frame a situation usually determines how you act. So if you mentally define the relationship with your adversary as a fight, you are likely to focus your efforts on winning. This thought pattern may cause you to act in a more adversarial manner yourself, thereby escalating the conflict. But if you frame the problem as a difference of opinion or misunderstanding, you are more likely to act in a way that promotes cooperation. • Are you sure that the person has evil intentions? Unless you’ve developed telepathic abilities, you can’t really know another person’s motives—you can only make a guess from observing their behavior. If your adversary is belittling your ideas, refusing to share information, failing to meet commitments, or undermining your efforts, it’s easy to assume that the person’s objective is to see you fail or make your life miserable. But unless you have definite evidence to support this conclusion, cut such people a little slack. They may simply be focused on some goal of their own that has little to do with you personally. • Have you considered their point of view? One way to explore adversaries’ possible motivation is to consider various explanations for their antagonistic or annoying behavior. Make an effort to see what the world looks like from inside their “box.” What are their most important goals? How is “success” defined in their job? What does management expect from them? What obstacles are they confronting? Are you making their life more difficult in any way? Or blocking the path to their own goals? Try to imagine how they would describe you and your role in this situation. • Could the person be “converted” to an ally? No matter how angry or frustrated you are with your adversary, there’s a chance that you might become allies. “No way!” you may be thinking. But consider this: you’re running into conflicts because you have to work together, and if you have to work together, then at some level you must have common goals. People with common goals are always potential allies, unless one of them is a Dimwit or a Sociopath. To test this out, you need to engage the other party in a conversation. This may not be an easy or cordial discussion, but if you both have positive intentions, it should be helpful. First, the two of you must agree that you are focused on the future, not the past, and that the goal is problem solving—no blaming or fingerpointing allowed! Then try to follow this agenda: (1) Define your shared objectives; (2) have each person share their point of view while the other listens and does not debate; (3) identify potential strategies for assisting each other; (4) outline steps for a more effective future working relationship. If the other person continues to be hostile, then consider the next two questions. At least you tried. • Do you need to increase your leverage? When you are unable to elicit cooperation from an adversary, then you at least need to prevent the person from impeding your progress. Engaging in a power struggle is seldom a wise move—for one thing, you might lose. However, taking steps to increase your leverage is often the politically intelligent thing to do. First you must calculate the existing leverage equation with this adversary, then figure out how to put more weight on your side. • Are other steps needed to “contain” the person? When collaborative or leverage-building strategies fail to do the trick, then more assertive methods may be needed. Sometimes a direct request to stop disruptive behaviors will succeed where more indirect approaches have failed. Insisting on a clear agreement about job responsibilities, project boundaries, or lines of authority may also be helpful. As a last resort, higher-level managers can be brought in to help resolve the situation, but this tactic should only be used as a desperation measure. Involving higher-ups usually makes them unhappy and may lower their opinion of your ability to solve your own problems. Their participation can also produce all sorts of unintended and undesirable consequences. Strategy #5: If you don’t have the leverage to get what you want, then you need to increase your political power. The key to enhancing political power is the Four P’s formula that we discussed in chapter 8. See how it may apply to your present situation. • Power Assessment: First, evaluate your current leverage position with critical decision makers. In terms of your immediate goal, what factors are likely to influence them in your direction? Conversely, what could reduce your leverage? In Gina’s situation, for example, previous leadership experience would certainly increase her chance of getting a supervisory position, but a highly qualified competitor might interfere. • Performance: In relation to your goal, do you have the knowledge and experience that decision makers view as necessary? What aspects of your work history might be relevant? Would taking on certain responsibilities or tasks increase your leverage? How about attending seminars or workshops? Getting a degree? Gina’s leadership credentials would definitely be enhanced by any assignments that require her to head up a committee or lead a project. She might also consider signing up for available workshops on leadership and management. • Perception: How are you viewed by the people who control your desired outcomes? Do they know you? If so, what do they think of your performance? Your attitude? Your desirability as a colleague? What can you do to shape their perceptions? Gina’s odds of being promoted will increase if she’s viewed positively by upper management. If they’ve never heard of her, she will seem like more of a risk. And it’s a sure bet that she’s not getting a management position if she’s known as a difficult employee. • Partnerships: Whose help do you need to reach your goal? Are these people already your allies? Or are they adversaries? What could you do to enlist their support? If Gina wants to be a supervisor, a good relationship with her co-workers will be helpful, since management will be wary about promoting anyone who can’t get along with colleagues. She may also want to cultivate relationships in the human resources department, which usually has input into promotional decisions. Strategy #6: If you have none of the above political issues, then you need to move ahead! STOP, START, AND CONTINUE To implement your Political Game Plan you must shift your thinking from strategy to behavior. A simple technique called “Stop, Start, and Continue” can help you translate global goals into specific steps. The objective of Stop, Start, and Continue is to figure out three things: 1. What are you currently doing that may keep you from reaching your goals? Those are the behaviors or activities you should Stop. 2. What new behaviors or activities could help you reach your goals? These are the things you should Start. 3. Finally, what are you already doing that is important to achieving your goals? Be sure to Continue with those activities. Chapter End Notes What Is Your Political Game Plan? Assessing your situation: • As you follow the flow chart and review the political strategies, which seem most applicable to your situation? What do you need to do to begin implementing that strategy? Moving from assessment to action: • To turn general strategies into a Political Game Plan, create your own Stop, Start, and Continue list as shown below. Instead of listing generalities like “communicate better,” be sure to state specific behaviors, like “pay more attention when my colleagues are telling me about their projects.”
• Review your Stop, Start, and Continue list on a regular basis and grade yourself on your progress. As you achieve your goals or the situation changes, revise your game plan and update your list.
Chapter 12 - A Personal Political Note
1. Be honest and ethical in all your dealings with people. 2. Believe in yourself. If you don’t, why should anyone else? Insecure people usually compensate for their self-doubt in politically destructive ways. If you lack confidence, find a friend, mentor, or therapist who can help you discover your strengths. As a parent, remember that self-confidence is one of the greatest gifts that you can give your children. 3. Believe in your work. 4. Do the best job you can. 5. Keep your commitments. 6. Be a pleasant person. 7. Feel true respect for everyone. One of my favorite sayings, by Joseph Addison (1672—1719), is this: “The great essentials of happiness are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” Work is a large part of that equation. And politics are an inescapable aspect of work. So I wish you the best of luck with your political challenges and hope that you are able to achieve the goals that matter to you, whatever they may be.
Monday, November 16, 2020
Secrets to winning at office politics (Marie McIntyre, 2005) - Summary
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