What Is Political Savvy and Why Do You Need It?
Anyone who has spent more than a few years in a corporate job knows that in any organization there are always going to be competing interests. And oftentimes, key people don’t particularly want to admit that this is going on. In fact, given the collaborative team dynamics organizations are supposed to value today, executives and managers are less likely than ever to admit that politics happen.
But politics are always a factor and are an important element in most organizations—in ways both good and bad. Situations come up every day where you need to have critical information if you are going to be effective and achieve the results you want within your organization. The only way you’re going to get what you need all the time is to be both politically and socially savvy. Or, to put it another way, you have to have the right radar so you can know what’s coming and prepare for it.
Some say that being politically savvy is like reading the tea leaves. Maybe so. It’s certainly not always straightforward and it’s never found in an employee handbook. But, for sure, the people most adept at leaf-reading are the ones who get promoted, are recognized for their hard work, and are most likely to achieve their personal and organizational goals.
Many women are not sure how to grasp this concept and some are reluctant to be political because they associate politics with people who are controlling, self-serving, dishonest, or even fake. But actually, the opposite is true. Gerald Ferris, a management and psychology professor at Florida State University says, “What sets apart a leader who is politically skilled from one who isn’t is that the former can skillfully execute behaviors that are associated with politics and perceived as genuine, authentic, straightforward, and effective.” Gerald says that, “Leaders who are not politically skilled are those most often seen as manipulative or self-serving.” Often women are reluctant to be political because early in their career they saw someone, probably a manager who had a direct impact on their work, use his or her political power in a way that spurred distrust or that had a negative effect on the people around them. Certainly there are people who use their political power for their own benefit, but this approach seldom works in the long term and sometimes backfires even in the short term. In contrast, to have ethical political savvy is to operate in a way that achieves the right business results for the organization, its people, and for you. If you apply your political savvy this way, you will always be able to offer a great value proposition for how you fit into the organization. Good, ethical political savvy boils down to a few things: always having sources of reliable information so that you are ahead and on top of coming changes instead of chasing after them. It means disseminating information that makes you visible and garners the support you need for your initiatives. And it means knowing who your go-to people are for hearing the latest inside scoop and talking up the information you want disseminated. People who are politically savvy have a few things in common. They: Know where to get the right information Understand what people want to know . . . and what they don’t want to know! Know how to rally support for their agenda Are able to build bridges between their own and other people’s best interests Are able to “read between the lines,” which means knowing what people are really saying or feeling Know how to anticipate resistance in the organization and prepare to address it proactively Know what’s going to happen before others do so they can refocus the right priorities at the right time and with the right people.
Rebecca Shambaugh is the author of It's Not A Glass Ceiling, It's A Sticky Floor: Free Yourself from the Hidden Behaviors Sabotaging Your Career Success
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