Your Organisation Chart Is Lying To You
Foxes, owls, politics, power and Plato
There are two structures at play in every organisation. The formal and the informal.
Organisation charts present a formal picture of power and hierarchy. But the reality is that the informal power structure underpins the decisions that get made, how things are delivered and who resources are allocated to.
You might think it’s good enough to simply do your job, lead well and deliver. But not having the right people on side can significantly hold you back.
Research has shown that 7 out of 10 managers say they have experienced the negative effect of internal politics.
The challenge is that for honest leaders who act with integrity even the mention of organisational politics can feel shady. But they are a hard fact of life.
Learning to navigate the informal power structure can take time and energy, but to be successful you need to learn how if you want to avoid missing out on opportunities, resources and profile. And you can do it with integrity.
So pause a moment and think.
Who are the big political players in your organisation? Who holds the informal power?
And how do you navigate the informal politics and power well, with integrity?
Here are five ways to get you started.
Imagine: Scan your organisation. What would your organisation chart look like if you mapped informal power? How does that reflect where you invest your time?
Wise words: Whether focussing on internal politics or national politics, it is not a modern day concept. Politics have long been at play in the world. Over 2000 years ago Plato issued these words.
What does internal politics mean to you?
Are they a means to an end or an enjoyable route to success?
What drives that thinking?
Model: Simon Baddeley & Kim James model is useful to help identify the political styles of others and what drives them. David Owasi has written a great piece describing key behaviours of the four styles, words they’ll likely say and what you can do to hone your approach.
What is your default political style?
Are you an owl, a sheep, a donkey or a fox?
What can you do to help mobilise more owls in your team?
Read: When you’re starting to navigate informal power structures it’s important to know the lay of the land. Michael Jarrett shares how to map the political terrain, in this HBR piece The Four Types Of Organisational Politics.
What does the terrain in your organisation look like?
Are you dealing with politics at an individual or a business level?
And are you dealing with formal authority and structures or hidden, unspoken norms?Â
Build: Focus on building collaborative and supportive relationships across the organisation. Listen to others agendas and what matters to them. Don’t take sides, instead focus on building collaborative relationships based on mutual support.
In the same way that you need to lead and manage in all directions, invest in building your network upwards, downwards and across too.
Which relationships do you invest in most - downwards, upwards or laterally?
How is that serving you right now?
Where are two opportunities to broaden your reach today?
Map: When you’re clear what you want to achieve use the mind map technique to create a ‘power map’. Here’s some simple step by step instructions that you can play with:
First identify your target. Who or what is it? Put them in the centre of your map.
Who has associations or relationships with the target? Who has their ear? Write their names around the target.
Which relationships are the most critical to the target. Highlight them.
Step back. How do these people connect to your target and with each other? Join up the names with lines to create a network or web.
Identify those that are the most influential. The number of power lines running to them will help you, though be aware that there may be relationships that are critical and influential with limited breadth of influence.
Plan how and where to take action; focussing on those of highest impact in relation to effort.
And then reflect:
How intentional are you with your relationship building?
What did you learn from this exercise?
What opportunities are there to apply it to other areas of your work?
Playing politics doesn’t mean entering relationships in a disingenuous way, compromising who you are or pleasing everyone around you.
The difference between good and bad internal politics is not so much the behaviour, than it is the intent - where individuals are seeking success at the expense of others.
Keep yourself clear on what you want to achieve and why it’s best for the organisation. And when there’s something that needs to be said, build your credibility by speaking up in a constructive positive way.
Thanks for reading this. You can find more ideas and connect with me on Linkedin and Twitter.
And if you’d like some help developing your leadership approach, send a quick note to me at rebecca@rebeccajjackson.com and I’ll help you get started.