Navigating Organizational Politics

Organizational politics involves performing influence tactics for the sake of organizational or personal interests. Organizational politics can impact all levels of a company, which is why it is important to learn how to navigate political situations and create positive outcomes instead. In this article, we want to provide you with some tips for navigating organizational politics in the workplace.

Build Strong Relationship
Often the most natural development of political influence occurs through informal networks and personal influence. By maintaining your personal integrity and developing strong relationships, navigating situations such as gaining support for a new initiative or asking for someone to cover a shift for you becomes much easier.  

Address Disagreements
It can be tempting to go down the path of least resistance and ignore issues, but being vocal about disagreements can actually help bring new solutions to the table. Creating effective conflict management to deal with internal politics is critical to employee happiness and obtaining better outcomes from workers. 

Utilize Your Authority
Whether you are the CEO of a company, an expert in the tech field, or have access to NASA telescopes for research purposes, all of these are formal qualities which place you in a greater position of power. Positions of power can help companies navigate times of crisis and be a stable foundation for an organization to build upon.

Maintaining Positive Political Influence
While many of the tips we offered on navigating organizational political situations are meant to promote positive change, there are many ways that internal politics can hinder the growth of a business. Here at Adonis we can help you ensure that your business maintains continuous improvement and is better equipped to deal with challenges through our organizational development programs.