It’s Only Politics If You Think So

“Being politically savvy is a good hedge against unemployment.”  B. Bradley

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Survival of the Savvy: High-Integrity Political Tactics for Career and Company Success

Competencies: building strategic relationships, interpersonal effectiveness, political skills, influence skills

Who benefits: people who struggle with “office politics” or need to develop political skills at work

Consultant Usage: coaching, career development, management and communication training

What’s it about? A while back I received a request from a reader who wanted to know if there was any good information available on being politically savvy in the workplace.  “Good information” is, as always, in the eye of the beholder, but I have come across several books and couple of websites for those of you interested in the topic.

First, this editorial comment: After 35-40 years in the HRD field (more like 40+ if you count my slow slide into retirement), I am frankly sick and tired of hearing people complain about office politics.  The word “politics” is a neutral term used to describe a process of accomplishing an objective.  It has become such an over used word that it has lost most of its meaning. 

“Office politics” is an excuse use by many to describe their own frustrations and unstated inability to work effectively in the system.  Some lack political skills.  Some lack political fortitude.  Some lack political insight.  And some suffer from an outsized ego that prevents them from noticing that the system does not revolve around them.  Whatever the reason, the problem is internal, not external.

With that in mind, here are some sources for more information.  Survival of the Savvy (link in Title above) is written by a couple of executive coaches who are writing primarily for those who are “under-political”.  Lots of self-help material.

Political Savvy: Systematic Approaches to Leadership Behind the Scenes offers style assessments, quotes, case studies and other tools to leaders at all levels in the organization to help them operate ethically behind-the-scenes. 

Joel Deluca, the author of Political Savvy, also has his own website which offers his book, CDs, seminars, coach/trainers and other resources.

University of Southern California professor Kathleen Reardon is a no-nonsense, cut to the chase author with lots of advice in It’s All Politics: Winning in a World Where Hard Work and Talent Aren’t Enough.  She also is the first (that I know of) to suggest PI (Political Intelligence) be added to ranks of IQ and EI.

The 12 Bad Habits That Hold Good People Back: Overcoming the Behavior Patterns That Keep You From Getting Ahead is a book with a long enough title that it is an effective summary of the whole book.  Written by two Harvard professors, the 12 habits described may also be viewed as descriptors of poor political skills.  Their advice: “Break bad habits before they break you.” 

And finally, Leveraging Your Political Savvy is a training course with details provided at the website. 

My bosses like me to keep my postings short…so being a politically savvy kind of a guy I will stop now.  Catch you later.

 

[tags]politics, office politics, politically savvy, political intelligence, political skills, positive political skills, political behavior at work, bill bradley, william bradley,  bradley[/tags]

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.