John Eades* says the best leaders never stand aloof from office politics — in fact they are active participants.
In the United States we’ve just had an election. Many cared deeply about the outcome of this particular election (myself included).
While talking about politics can get most people’s blood boiling, there’s another type of politics that deserve your attention — office politics.
Before you shrug off the idea or claim you don’t get involved in office politics, let’s define what the term means.
Politics are the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups or other forms of power relations between individuals.
There isn’t an organisation in the world that doesn’t make decisions in groups or navigates power balance.
What I have learned in working with leaders many different organisations is that the best leaders not only recognise the politics in their organisation, they are active participants in it.
They do this because they recognise that if they want to make positive change, have influence, and be a part of the solution, they must be active participants and not passive bystanders.
One of the most popular things I hear from people: “I ignore the politics in my organisation; it’s not worth my time.”
I can absolutely understand this comment if their organisation has more people jockeying for position than working to advance its interests.
However, this isn’t typical and even in organisations like this, ignoring politics isn’t the answer; learning it is.
After studying leaders who navigate office politics well, here are some best practices you can implement to ensure you aren’t ignoring your organisational politics.
Rely on Relationships
One of the biggest mistakes any politician makes is thinking they can do it all by themselves.
Many professionals make the same mistake.
Instead of relying on strong relationships, they ‘go rogue’ and are blindsided when their initiatives are struck down or thrown out.
Political columnist and commentator, Mark Shields said it well:
“There is always strength in numbers; the more individuals and organisations that you can rally around your cause, the better.”
Start early and never stop building strong relationships you can rely on.
Build strong, trust-filled relationships at every organisational level by being reliable, consistent, and helping others get what they want.
If you are curious about the strength of a relationship in your organisation, ask yourself this question:
“Have I given my time or demonstrated my intentions through actions to this person?”
If the answer isn’t a resounding ‘yes’ it’s time to make a change with them.
Build a Resume of Accomplishments for Influence
Author, John Maxwell said leadership is influence.
That’s not all leadership is, but I know you can’t lead without it.
Influence, by definition, is the power to have an important effect on someone or something.
The best way to gain influence is to build a resume based on actions and accomplishments.
Too often, people assume that influence comes from how long you have been somewhere.
While this might have been true in previous generations, it’s becoming less and less important today.
The fastest path to influence is accomplishing meaningful things with others.
When you play an integral part on a team that takes action, solves problems, and gets results, your influence skyrockets.
Understand the Decision-making Process
Decision-making is choosing between two or more courses of action.
Some decisions are based on reason and others on intuition.
Each organisation has a decision-making process woven into the fabric of its culture. It can be defined in two ways.
The first is by centralised authority. These organisations make decisions in a slow, pragmatic, and hierarchical way.
Centralised authority decision-making is common in highly-regulated industries with significant financial or safety-related ramifications in most decisions.
The second is by dispersed authority. These organisations make decisions in a quick, decisive, and shared way.
It’s common for team members to be empowered to “make decisions where the information is”.
This is common in entrepreneurial cultures or in technology companies where innovation rules the day.
There are always exceptions to every rule, but in most situations, the better model is dispersed authority.
Be Patient
I learned early in my career that patience is a virtue.
Most people don’t have patience, and instead expect to build relationships, have influence, and make decisions in days, not years.
The leaders who navigate office politics the best are the ones who are patient and do the right thing day in and day out.
So do your best to stay patient while being an active participant in your office politics.
*John Eades is the Chief Executive of LearnLoft a leadership development company. He is also the host of the Follow My Lead podcast. He can be contacted at johneades.com.
This article first appeared on John’s LearnLoft blog.
