RITA MCGRATH
THE ESSENTIAL ART OF SMART POLITICS
WHAT WE'LL DISCUSS
When I say “politics,” what’s your reaction? If you’re like most participants I have in my Executive Education course “Leading Strategic Growth and Change” the very idea elicits a groan. People think of politics as invariably negative, involving hidden agendas, self-dealing, backstabbing and worse! And sure, it can take on those features, no question. If you want to have an impact on an organization, however, I’m going to encourage you to consider an alternative perspective on politics.
ORGANIZATION POLITICS WHAT IS IT?
“In an organization, politics represents the action you take to get people to take action that they would not have taken absent your intervention. It’s essential to effective change and transformation.”
A Systematic Approach
1.
2.
3.
4.
Identify your goals
Identify as many key
Political mapping –
Strategize with
from the political
stakeholders –
how active is each
respect to each
situation in specific
individuals and
stakeholder with
category of
terms.
groups – as you can.
respect to the
stakeholder.
A stakeholder is
situation and how
someone who will
much they stand to
be affected by the
gain or lose from it.
decisions made.
IDENTIFYING YOUR GOALS It can help to take a page from the negotiation handbook to flesh out your own thinking. Try to be really clear about what success needs to be for this political situation. I suggest writing it down. “This situation will have been resolved to my satisfaction if A happens by B time while not costing more than C in money or D in social capital.”
Taking the time to map out stakeholders in your particular situation is always valuable, more so if the stakes are high. I’m always surprised then when I ask people who their key stakeholders are and I get a blank look. A stakeholder is anyone – person or group – that has a vested interest in the political outcome of your issue.
IDENTIFYING YOUR STAKEHOLDERS
POLITICAL MAPPING
The first dimension to consider is whether your particular stakeholder is likely to embrace your idea because they will benefit from it or resist it because they either will actually suffer or perceive that they will. And don’t assume that people are logical about this. People don’t live in your reality. They live in their perception of reality. This is a basic idea that a surprising number of people don’t understand.
DEVELOPING YOUR STRATEGIES
Heroes are people who support you. They think what you are doing is great, and you can count on them for backing. So where do we go wrong with heroes? We don’t nurture them, encourage them, give them the tools and resources to carry the message and make them look, well, like heroes! So don’t forget about people just because you think you can safely count on them for support. Check in, offer help, make sure they aren’t falling afoul of a political issue.
Power matters in political situations. That seems pretty obvious. Power differentials are why so often, people with incredibly valuable information are ignored; why good ideas are overlooked and even why a solid mix of voices aren’t even part of the conversation. But what do we mean when we say someone has power?
A NOTE ON POWER
A HISTORICAL STORY
The story of how Lyndon Baines Johnson got voting rights passed in the American Congress is illustrative. As told by his biographer, Robert Caro, Johnson was a genius at finding common ground between warring factions to drive the outcomes he wanted. Desperate to pass civil rights legislation once he had accumulated power (and after 20 years of refusing to support it in order to gain that power), Johnson had to figure out how to get enough votes in the Senate to get it through. Because of the Senate’s filibuster rules, his opponents needed only 33 votes to kill it (sound familiar?). Southern states have 22 senators and if you add in the senators from the Midwest and conservative Republicans, you don’t have to try hard to get to that number...*
Story continues on Thought Sparks*
https://thoughtsparks.substack.com/