An article in the Sunday Times of 21 October echoes the growing recognition of the need for managers to add effective political skills to their repertoire. The following extract gives a flavour of the argument:
‘It is still a delicate subject, but an ability to understand and participate in office politics is becoming more openly acknowledged as an essential skill in the work-place. Adrian Hitchenor, chief executive of the search and selection consultancy Hitchenor Wakeford Group, said: “Politics is no longer a dirty word in the work-place. Politicking is an increasingly important skill for managers but it still has negative connotations, and few people would openly claim to being good at office politics.”
He argued that enlightened business leaders regarded politicking as about forging partnerships and overcoming differences, rather than about protecting turf and pursuing personal advantage.’
The article also refers to the research carried out jointly by the Chartered Management Institute and Warwick University that I referred to in an earlier post.
At the head of the "Acting Politically" chapter in Informal Coalitions, I quoted from Samuel Culbert's Mind-Set Management:
'It's almost as if people treat organizational politics as a low-grade virus infection, hoping that if they ignore it and think positively it will go away."
Thankfully, a coalition of support is a growing around the view that political behaviour can enhance organisational value and interpersonal dynamics, as well as destroy them. From this perspective, the challenge for leaders is to:
- recognise the nature of the in-built structural tensions and inevitable personal differences that unavoidably affect organisational decision-making, actions and outcomes;
- understand the contribution (positive and/or negative) that their own words and actions are making to the ways in which these dynamics are played out by their staff, peers and own managers on a daily basis;
- take responsibility for engaging constructively - and creatively - with any issues that arise; and
- work with these natural dynamics, to build active coalitions of support for organisationally beneficial changes.
The full text of the Sunday Times article can be read here.
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