Business Lessons:
Your Political Survival Kit
Mark D. Hansen, CSP, PE, CPEA, CPE
mark.personal.hansen@gmail.com
If you put the federal government in charge of the
Sahara dessert, in 5 years there will be a shortage of
sand. Milton Friedman
Rock of Aged
Van Halen
KISS
Fleetwood Mac Foreigner
Touring Japan
Touring Europe
Touring US Touring US
Age: 273
Combined Age: 198
Combined Age: 231
Combined Age:Combined
260
Average Age: 54
Average Age: 49 Average Age: 58 Average Age: 65
Oldie: 68
Golden Oldie: 60 Golden Oldie: 63 Golden Oldie: Golden
67
Youngest: 22
Youngest: 52
Youngest: 63 Youngest: 44
Founded: 1974 Founded: 1973 Founded: 1967Founded: 1976
Geek Tragedy
Is America falling behind in the production of brainiacs?
Of all U.S. college grads, only 5.6 % hold degrees in STEM subjects (Science, Technology,
Engineering, Mathematics), compared with almost 47 percent in China.
Managing Organizational Politics
Effectively
Learn the
Culture and the
“Rules of the
Game” for
Success in the
Organization
Establish Credibility and an
Overall Positive
Impression in
the Eyes of
Others in the
Organization
Build a Base of
Support by
Networking,
Forming
Alliances, etc.,
with Key
Players
Create and
Implement
Formal and
Clear Policies,
Procedures,
etc., to Reduce
Ambiguity
Use Defensive
Act in Ways
Be Open and
Behaviors as
Consistent with
Visible with
Protection
What is
Employees
Against Dirty
Verbally
When Dealing
Political
Communicated
with Key
Players in the
to Employees
Issues that
Organization
(Walk the Talk)
Affect Them
I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my way in the end. Margaret Thatcher
Practical Tips for Managing
Organizational Politics
1. Don’t close your eyes to politics.
2. Reduce System Uncertainty and Ambiguity.
3. Reduce Competition
4. Break Existing Political Fiefdoms
5. Prevent Future Fiefdoms
6. Challenge political behaviors.
7. Walk the talk.
8. Recognize that others may interpret your behaviors as
political, even if you really weren’t being political.
9. Reduce your own and others’ vulnerability to political
behaviors.
Politicians are like babies. They need to be changed frequently and for the same reason.
Manager’s Feelings About
Workplace Politics
Statement
% Agreeing
1.
1.
93.2
2.
3.
89.0
76.2
4.
5.
6.
15.7
69.8
48.6
7.
8.
42.1
59.1
9.
55.1
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
The experience of workplace politics is common in most
organizations.
Successful executives must be good politicians.
The higher you go in organizations, the more political the
climate becomes.
Powerful executives don’t act politically.
You have to be political to get ahead in organizations.
Top management should try to get rid of politics in
organizations.
Politics helps organizations function effectively.
Organizations free of politics are happier than those where
there is a lot of politics.
Politics in organizations is detrimental to efficiency.
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Lord Acton
Controlling Political Behavior
1.Provide Sufficient Resources
2.Introduce Clear Rules
3.Free Flowing Information
4.Manage Change Effectively
5.Remove Political Norms
6.Hire Low-Politics Employees
7.Increase Opportunities for Dialogue
8.Peer Pressure Against Politics
As you make your bed, so you must lie in it. Daniel J. Boorstin
Survival Tool #1: Understanding
the Types of Influence
Instrumental
Compliance
Influence
Identification
Internalization
One measure of leadership is the caliber of people who choose to follow you. Dennis A. Peer
Survival Tool #2: Nine Generic
Influence Tactics
1
• Rational Persuasion
6
• Exchange
2
• Inspirational Appeals
7
• Coalition Tactics
3
• Consultation
8
• Pressure
4
• Ingratiation
9
• Legitimizing Tactics
5
• Personal Appeals
5
• Personal Appeals
Those who stand for nothing fall for anything. Alexander Hamilton
Rational Persuasion
1
Explain why an objective needs to be met
2
Explain how the follower will benefit from
meeting the objective
Provide evidence that the objective can be
met
Explain how potential problems and
concerns will be handled
For competing plans, explain why your
proposal is better than the others
3
4
5
Win by persuasion not by force. Latin Proverb
Inspirational Appeals
1
Appeal to the follower’s ideals and values
2
Link the appeal to the followers’ selfconcept
3
Link the request to a clear appealing vision
4
Be positive and optimistic
5
Use non-verbal communication to bring
emotions to the verbal message
Inspiration is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. Jim Ryun
Consultation
1
Present a tentative proposal and be willing
to modify it
2
State your objective and ask the followers
how they can help
3
State the objective, but let the followers
develop the implementation plan
Be smart, be intelligent, and be informed. Tony Allasandra
Ingratiation
1
Befriending and helping important people
2
Managing the impression others gain of you
3
Managing the sharing of information for
best effect
Getting others promoted so you can fill
their shoes
Doing favors and then requesting significant
returns
4
5
A gift opens doors; it gives access to the great. Author Unknown
Personal Appeals
1
Begin by stating that you need a favor and
explaining why it is important
2
Appeal to your relationship
3
Tell the followers that you are counting on
them
Personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement, all
success, and all achievement in real life grows.” Ben Stein
Exchange
1
Offer to share the benefits
2
Offer an unrelated reward
3
Offer to help the employee
4
Offer to do some of the employee’s work
5
Offer to reciprocate later
A fair exchange brings no quarrel. Proverbs
Coalition Tactics
2
Tell the person to be persuaded who
supports your idea
Take someone with you when you make the
request for support
3
Encourage Discussion
4
Ask others to follow up
5
Ask for support from a higher authority
1
No matter how stout one beam, it cannot support a house. Chinese Proverb
Pressure
1
Be persistent: “Close the loop.”
2
Set specific deadlines for task completion
3
Frequently check progress
You can measure a man’s character by the choices he makes under pressure.
Winston Churchill
Legitimizing Tactics
1
Refer to policies and procedures and other
supporting documentation
2
Refer to written documents
- Refer to a precedent
- Give the name of the person who
gave you authority
“A position of authority is neither necessary nor sufficient for the exercise of
leadership." Eric Werkowitz
Survival Tool #3: Three Influence
Outcomes
Stalling
Arguing
Rejection
Agreement
Initiative
Common Goals
Resistance
Commitment
Negative
Positive
Compliance
Reluctance
Prodding
Satisfy Minimum
Politics have no relation to morals. Niccolo Machiavelli
Survival Tool #4: Favorable
Impression Management
Job Focused
• Manipulating
information
about one’s
performance
Supervisor
Focused
Self Focused
• Praising and
doing favors
for one’s
supervisor
• Presenting
oneself as a
polite and
nice person
No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.
Julius Caesar
Survival Tool #5: Keeping
Organizational Politics within
Reasonable Bounds
Dosure
onlyevery
whatemployee
you feel knows
Make
comfortable
doingworks
on national
how
the business
and has a
television
personal
line of sight to key
Establish
formal
conflict
Publicly recognize
and
reward
results
resolution
and
grievance
people who
get real
Create
andresults
open-book
processes
without political
gamessystem
management
Screen out overly political
individuals at hiring time
Who can hope to be safe? Who is sufficiently cautious? Guard himself as he may,
every moment’s an ambush. Horace
Survival Tool #6: Surviving
Mergers and Acquisitions
•
•
•
•
•
Develop a plan
Maintain your integrity
Double check decisions
Be tactful with peers
Watch what you say
about the merger
• Learn to be a
chameleon
• Assume personal
control of your career
path
When worlds collide
• Manage your
emotions
• Relieve frustration
• Realize … some
things never
change
• Keep it in
perspective
• Accelerate
networking
activities
• Become
philosophical
I have a lifetime contract. That means I can’t be fired during the third
quarter if we’re ahead and moving the ball. Lou Holtz
Survival Tool #7: Boardooom
Blunders
1
Your Arrival
2
It starts as soon as you walk in the room
3
Seating
4
When to speak up
5
Egotism is ugly
6
The performer formerly known as Prince
7
Agenda! Agenda! Who needs a stinking agenda!
8
Clean and Pressed, NOT clean and jerk!
You have not converted a man because you have silenced him. John Morley
Survival Tool #8: Five Classic
Boardooom Blunders
1
Think it's "no big deal"
2
Walk in with a half-baked plan
3
Try to out-maneuver a founder
4
Expect the board to actually do something
5
Pitch a controversial plan without support
I never cease to amaze myself. I say this humbly. Don King
Survival Tool #9: Dealing with E-mail
• Read and re-read for content
and tone
• Would a phone call be better?
• Avoid e-mail “copy all” wars
• Limit your e-mail to one
screen (½ pane rule)
• Don’t let e-mail replace
phone calls
• Remember the
compassionate human
element
•
•
Be very careful with E-mail
Think about who may read your
message
• Watch your tone, sarcastic, “all
caps”
• Avoid starting out with a
negative
• Is your message too cryptic?
• Check for grammar
• No junk e-mail, no jokes
• Only send relevant information
• Limit “CCs”
• Don’t ping-pong with e-mail for a
conversation
• Deal with it and delete it
• Don’t read every e-mail as it
comes in; handle them in
batches
Even if you delete your e-mail and text messages they are retrievable and
discoverable on your hard drive.
Survival Tool #9: Phrases to Avoid
Saying in an E-mail - What Attorneys
looks for…
I really shouldn’t put this in writing
We’re going to do this differently than normal
Can we really do that?
Don’t ask. You don’t want to know
I don’t want to discuss this in e-mail. Please give me a call
Somewhere, there is a server with your e-mail on it just waiting to get out.
“Words” the Securities and Exchange
Commission and the Department of Justice
looks for in e-mail during an investigation:
•
•
•
•
•
Conceal/hide/bury
Monopoly/monopolize
Madoff/Enron
Delete this message
Manual
override/bypass
• Houston, we’ve got a
problem
• Fraud
• Magic
• Improper
• Crush competition
• God forbid
The Enron senior managers were convicted using e-mails pieced together from
hard drives that were defragmented more than 5 times.
Conclusions
• Being politically naive can destroy an otherwise
successful career
• Being politically astute can take an average
professional far up the ladder without making
enemies
• Being able to influence others can take your
career to the next level
• Mergers don’t have to be all bad
• When in the Boardroom, be IN the Boardroom
• Don’t let email be your career nemesis
Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business. Winston Churchill
You know the
world is getting
upside-down …
People
Equitable
Profits
Sustainable
SH&E and the
Triple Bottom Line
Bearable
Viable
Planet
Intelligence
Social Ineptitude
Dweeb
Nerd
Geek
Dork
Obsession
SH&E Politics and
Business World Triple
Bottom Line
Teaching your
children
important life
lessons …
To Succeed
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of
children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal
of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden
patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
George Washington
Did you know why he is so great … ?
• Without his sacrifice America
would likely not exist today
• He was offered great power
and turned it down (3X)
• He did not want to be
president, but was elected
twice
• He set a precedent and
defined the US presidency
• His bravery was unparalleled
7 Men and the Secret of Their Greatness. Eric Metaxas. Thomas Nelson Press. 2013.
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you
end up being governed by your inferiors. Plato
YOUR FEEDBACK IS IMPORTANT!
Complete your online session evaluation utilizing any
ONE of the following methods:
•
Enter in this URL on your web-enabled smart phone:
http://bit.ly/Safety2013
•
•
•
Access the survey directly from your Safety 2013
conference app.
Have a QR code reader app installed on your smart
phone? Scan the Survey Central QR CODE to be
taken directly to the Survey Central site.
Wait to receive the link by email at the end of each
day