You are an experienced leader in a new role. Your calendar fills rapidly in the first several months. This is especially true if you’ve been promoted from within. You don’t recall initiating many of these meetings. You say “Yes” because you know relationships are key to leading effectively, and because you are genuinely interested in getting to know people. You file these requests under Integration. Some, however, are best filed under Organizational Politics.
Organizational Politics: The Dating Scene
You are being seduced. These are political dates initiated by overly ambitious ladder climbers. Beware of lending too much time and energy to these self-promoting, ego-ensconced managers. Their highest purpose, within the organization, is to serve their own ambitions.
The political date is disguised as an offer to help, and in fact, the offer may seem like a good one. But the intent is to lobby for a place inside the circle of influence. The ultimatel goal is to advance the requester’s career and power base. File the meeting under Organizational Politics.
How will you know?
Consider your last meeting with Bill. He asked about your vision and priorities. He was right on board, anxious to align himself and support you in pursuit of these goals. He described, at length, how well-qualified he is to do so. “At length” being the operative clue. Bill’s sentences were filled with “me” “my” and “I”.
The scenario may vary, but at some point, you have the distinct sense that you are watching, or in, an info-mercial. At that precise moment, you know you are in the thick of organizational politics. You begin to tune out. Proof positive.
Organizational Politics: The Wallflowers
As would-be seducers form a line at your door, pay attention to the ones who are not there. Who among these wallflowers is focused on vision, purpose, goals? Who has a track record for growing the business year after year? Which managers receive calls from their direct reports thanking them following a formal or informal meeting? Get to know the wallflowers. Create your own organizational politics. Design a culture ruled by dedication to a purpose outside, and higher than, oneself.
Organizational Politics: A Short Tale
Several years ago, Dave became Senior Vice President, Engineering, in one of my client companies. At the same time, Elizabeth was promoted from within to SVP Customer Service. The two leaders shared common values and a forward looking vision for the organization. A culture change was in the making. As the scent of change filled the air, organizational politics and dating requests soared. Self-promotion began to seep into my coaching work with high potential leaders in the company. Two clients stayed focused on their development as leaders, while advancing their organization’s vision and goals. They had a sense of purpose outside themselves.
I sent the following message to the new SVPs.
Dave and Elizabeth:
Are you getting more requests for your time by people who want to talk about their careers? Are they convinced, and attempting to convince you, that they are uniquely talented to help you advance the organization?
How are you protecting your time and energy?
When you think about future leaders consider who is engaging you in discussions regarding their own careers, and who is keeping more focused on goals, vision, and purpose. Among the latter group you may find some of your most high potential leaders. I don’t think you will find them in the first group. Below is a quote on topic from an article by Herminiia Ibarra, et al, Insead
“When leaders become overly focused on being seen in a certain way in order to advance their careers, they become excessively concerned with meeting others’ expectations, unable to step outside their comfort zone, and disconnected from their core values (Quinn, 2004). In search of recognition and approval, they can easily lose sight of a larger purpose… When subordinates perceive leaders as self-interested, they trust them less and feel less committed to the organization (Fu et al., 2010). Hence, a central part of … being seen as a leader is developing an elevated sense of purpose and conveying that sense to others.”
Their response: “There is a very clear line in the sand.”
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