Political Savvy. We hear the first part of it and an immediate disgust comes to many of our minds: Political. The obvious connection to "Politics" makes many think of all the self-serving members of Congress whose only apparent focus is to do whatever is most advantageous to them personally. While this is true in relation to one side of politics, the other side is one of extreme strategic and organized decision-making that demonstrates the high competence of someone who is able to see the "big picture" in relation to themselves and their career.
Office politics is often a taboo and many individuals don't even like to think of their office as engaging in this practice. They feel they are above this and everyone is only promoted based on merit and expertise. While there is, of course, some component of this in many offices, to think that there is NO politics involved when it comes to decision making for new positions is highly naive. There is a different brand of office politics, however, (Politics 2.0) that is not the brand in which our parents partook. I will share this new brand of politics in next week entry in KMM Views, but for this week, I just want to focus on WHY office politics is important and alive and kicking in most organizations.
MOST PEOPLE ARE PROBABLY LIKE YOU
For those of you whom question whether there is any need for some political savvy in your career, you are the exact reason why there is a great need for it. Simply put: 90% of individuals never give one thought to politics within their office. They are either too good to participate in it or just oblivious to the fact that it occurs. News flash: Just because you don't make a conscious effort to participate in office politics doesn't mean you're not a part of it. You can no more not be involved in office politics than an actor cannot be a part of a scene in a movie. If you are in the movie, then you are participating, whether you know it or not. The question is, do you want others writing your script or do you desire to write it yourself? The great advantage of being conscious of this is that you have a great ability to control your own fate by interacting with the 90 percentile who don't have a strategic plan for their day or career. You are given a competitive advantage by identifying the various opportunities that others may see as "happenstance" while you are strategically placing yourself in a position for consideration when that specific opportunity presents itself.
ITS NOT WHAT YOU KNOW, BUT WHO KNOWS YOU
We have often heard the adage of "It's not what you know, but whom you know". This is still very true in today's workplace. To take this one step further, however, it is also very important to make sure that others know you. It's not so much that you have to have day to day interactions with top leadership, but you have to make sure that whatever you are doing, it is visible enough to top leadership that when your name comes up, it resonates some type of positive thought. A thought of indifference is actually more of a failure than a draw. You have to consistently identify ways to "put yourself on the map" to have some sense of recognition with these leaders. Often, many decisions are made well before individuals ever interview for a job based on what the person's reputation has been with the company in that respect. Just as a new artist or actress may come onto the scene to build a buzz about their work and what they bring to the table, you need to work to build this same type of buzz about what you have accomplished within the organization so far and your talent to accomplish more in the future.
ITS GIVE YOU ACCESS TO ADDITIONAL (UNSPOKEN) MENTORING
One of the greatest attributes of being politically savvy is that you will often have access to more information than your peers who don't consistently work to put themselves in this position. By navigating the internal workings of your organization and attending the various events that will give you exposure and notoriety with the top leadership, you will often have access to more intimate one-on-one conversations that could give you nuggets of precious advice and guidance. We often think that these things just happen to people because they are in the right place at the right time. As long as you believe that, you will continue to wait on your "lottery time" to show up. You have to be strategic to MAKE the right time and place by looking for opportunities that will give you access to that extra bit of knowledge to which others will not be privy. It can go a long way.
I know most of us hate politics with a passion. It seems cheap and of low character. The truth of the matter is, however, that our political representatives are some of the most strategic and forward-thinking people in the world. Their ability to identify opportunities within the marketplace and capitalize on them are second to none in relation to how they are able to navigate their way to success. To give yourself the best chance at ultimate success in your job, don't consider politics beneath you. Its only a dirty word if you make it so.
In the next week's entry, I will share with you how you can make it a clean word by keeping it all "above-board" with the new politics 2.0, while also still giving yourself the same competitive advantage.
Ken Middleton is an Account Executive at TEKsystems that specializes in IT staffing and services. He is a graduate of UNC-Pembroke and current MBA student at Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech.
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