Aristotle told the Greeks: “Man is by nature a political animal.” Although the reference is to man, it still holds true for women. Office politics is a familiar term in all professional arenas. But in the dictionary of a professional woman, it almost spells like a dirty word. Most women choose to keep away from anything termed as office politics because a large percentage of them view it as unethical, manipulative, unauthentic behavior.
Research shows that the women in managerial roles are the most awkward with the navigating their career within parameters of office politics. They believe hard work and a positive work approach should be the basis for receiving opportunities for advancement, rather than playing the politics game well as men do. Research by Ruderman and Ohlott (2002) shows many women managers view politics as evil and engaging in political behavior as difficult and painful.
On the other hand, gender-based differences credit men with regarding political behavior as a natural and integral part of organizational life. They are more willing to trade favors than women are, which puts them in a better position to line up corporate sponsorship. Deals are made on golf courses and squash courts or over a drink, realms that are not considered as natural milieus for women.
We often find that in course of keeping their heads down and working very hard, women are confined to less visible support roles suffering a deficit of any real or attributed power in their roles. Corporate women also find themselves having difficulties in finding powerful mentors or being given lead in high-visibility project. In several multi-national corporations, we still observe the existence of the old-boys clique that comfortably bring in and give opportunities to men while being reluctant to offer the same to a female colleague.
Any real change we hope to achieve has to start with changing the perception of political behavior for female managers. One of the major challenges for women is in “understanding the nature of power, how to get it, how to use it, how to feel comfortable with the notion of power.”
Being politically savvy is not about being false; instead it is about the strategic use of your skills, behaviors, and qualities to be more effective in a corporate environment. Successful managers tend to use political savvy to lead to desired results in a positive manner. They build networks and use their influence in getting the resources for themselves and their team to work effectively.
In an HBR article (2012) authors Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath, and Mary Davis Holt assert, “politics is how power is managed on a practical basis everyday… It has very little to do with morality and everything to do with managing relationships and getting the job done”. And women are brilliant at it with centuries of experience behind them.
There are some simple techniques for ambitious women to build their influencing and leadership skills as well as getting good at playing the office game well.
Network
A) Identify people in your organization who have a reputation at getting things done. Notice how they behave and also observe those people who are in their particular network. It will help you to identify influencers and potential allies. B) Be proactive in informing your boss about everything in the team, key incidents, voicing group concerns and ask for his feedback and support in your actions. C) Try to identify a mentor who has a good network and who you think of as a good coach. A good mentor will help you navigate the intricacies of office politics as well as spell out the unspoken rules. D) Figure out the functional experts in the office and get to know them and their spheres of influence. Develop them as allies.
Observe
Observation and information gathering will help you in building your political skills. The old age that Information is power is true in today’s workplace. A) Be aware of everything going around you in the team, other department, and the larger organization. Pay special attention to ambiguous situations and especially to the group reactions and the word on the floor. B) Observe the vocabulary of the organization and the language spoken in the power cliques. Learn to speak their language. C) Pay attention to the organizational chart of leadership, map out those in power and their influence circles.
Inspire Trust
Power comes not from trying to manipulate people in order to achieve your desired outcome, but from inspiring the trust and confidence in your personal brand. A) Be impeccable on your word. Follow through and do as you have committed. B) Build a reputation of keeping confidences and maintaining confidentiality. C) Ask for advice from seniors on key issues to keep it more democratic as well as enable information sharing.
Act
Leadership prefers managers who are not passive observers or impulsive reactors, but instead those who based on information received try to create a Win-Win outcome. A) It is important to enhance one’s image by drawing attention to oneself and your accomplishments in order to ensure your credibility. B) Always volunteer for challenging assignments and new initiatives where you can effectively display your performance thresholds. C) Do not indulge in harmless or malicious talk and give your opinion when you hear false rumors or malicious gossip.
Help others get ahead
A) Share your expertise, experience and technical knowledge with others, especially juniors. It is important to start working on your top-down network. As people develop and advance, your network will expand and so will your allies. B) Observe and understand the goals and priorities of your manager and his superior. It will help you in synergizing your ambitions with those of the leadership and help you develop more in your chosen career path.
Women are naturally good at making connections and building communities. All that needs to change them to more active political beings in their respective organization is bringing in the understanding that “being politically savvy in the workplace is about communicating how what you do impacts on the team or how it adds value to the organization…being savvy is about looking at the nuances across an organization, looking at the dynamics, the relationships and the interconnections”. (Source: Statement from an interview of Jane Horan.)
