Organizational Savvy: Political Skills Training Program

How to Successfully Navigate Power and Politics with Integrity with Strategic Influence Skills

Description:
Despite excellent intentions, many employees, managers, and executives become victims of “behind-the-scenes” political forces operating in their organizations.  These include power and politics dynamics, perceptions, turf and ego, and even sabotage. This high-energy intensive two-day political skills training program adjusts attitudes about power and politics, confronts naïveté about organizational dynamics, and provides practical political skills and strategic influence skills for building organizational impact with integrity.

We believe that organizational savvy and strategic influence is a mission-critical competency for today’s leaders. Politics are part of every organization. At their worst, internal politics threaten an organization’s ability to achieve its projected results and block an individual’s career progress. At their best, politics ensure that high-integrity, competent people achieve positive power to lead the company to greatness. Savvy leaders have a high level of political astuteness and possess strategies and skills for ethically navigating the corporate terrain to gain “organizational influence and impact with integrity.”

The goal is not to create political manipulators, but instead to protect participants from low organizational impact or political sabotage. We may not like it, but for good ideas and people to survive, we must build organizational savvy, strategic influence, and political influence. This unique approach allows participants to maintain their integrity and ethics while becoming more politically astute and influential in a variety of political situations.

Learning Objectives:
In this unique political and strategic influence skills program, participants receive a “political wake-up call” on the business need for entering the political arena.  People learn to read the signals that they may be under-political, realize a more constructive definition of “politics,” recognize two primary Political Styles with their strengths and risks, and hone 13 non-manipulative strategies for navigating corporate politics with integrity. This proven political skills training program focuses on concrete methods to advance ideas and careers in an ethical manner with the following learning objectives:

• Detect and protect yourself from potentially negative actions of overly political, power-oriented colleagues, bosses, or customers.
• Learn practical, non-manipulative strategies for entering the political arena while maintaining integrity (e.g., networking, promoting yourself, handling hidden agendas, lobbying ethically, managing the corporate "buzz," avoiding sabotage, building your power base).
• Learn two primary political power styles in organizations, what influences them, and how to avoid the dangers of adopting the extreme of either style.
• Defuse any emotional upset you have about politics as a fact of organizational life, so that you will waste less time and energy. Instead you'll become "street smart" and strategic.
• Recognize any tip-offs that you may be naive about the level of politics you face. Learn how to present your ideas or challenge others' ideas with appropriately firm vocabulary, and adjust your language according to the power dynamics of the situation.
• Detect, prevent, and manage deception since even top leaders are vulnerable to distorted information, misrepresentation, and manipulation that can scorch company resources and reputations.
• Learn to recognize and handle sabotage in group situations by deftly managing resistance and challenges to your credibility or position.

Approach:
This dynamic and highly personalize workshop uses an online Organizational Savvy Self-Assessment, concrete skill practices, customized case studies, experiential activities, break-out groups, and action planning.

Benefits to Your Organization:

• As you raise your odds of career and project success through increased influence and impact, your company also receives payoffs from your new insights and organizational savvy.
• Participants become more empowered and willing to network for inter-team collaboration and cross- organizational learning.
• Helping people accept and manage organizational politics as a corporate fact of life reduces employee stress and attrition while increasing positive influence.
• The practice of ethical politics ensures a more positive company reputation.

Target Audience:
Leaders at all levels who seek to increase their political awareness and enhance their high-integrity political skills, especially during transitions such as mergers.

Senior-level professionals who work cross-functionally, requiring strategic influence skills, and/or routinely interacting at higher levels of leadership.

Sales Executives who interact with C-Level client executives.

If you would like to learn more about why companies like Wellpoint, Apple, Wells Fargo Bank, Genentech, and Citigroup find this program effective,   please contact us.