How do you navigate organisational politics?
What do you think of when you hear the term 'organisational politics'? My hunch is it's back stabbing, pointless rivalries, sucking up to the boss, that kind of thing. I'm not going to pretend that that isn't a feature of many workplaces. If you work somewhere with really dysfunctional politics, it pays to be alert, to work out who you can trust - and to do what. But the reality is all organisations are political. Some of my clients tell me that they're lucky to work in an organisation with "no politics". What they mean is little or no dysfunctional ...
In too deep? 7 questions to judge how involved to get in a piece of work
How involved should you get in work which is not your sole responsibility? It sounds like a straightforward question, but actually it can be quite tricky to work out. I've been thinking about this lately while coaching a client I'll call Brian. Brian is a very senior manager in a large and complex organisation, who has just taken on a role which sits outside the organisation structure. He's a kind of chief of staff to the CEO, his eyes and ears. He fixes things. He has no staff of his own. Brian is having coaching to help him navigate the ...
The psychology of influence – Seven psychological insights to increase your influence
I'm sure most of us would like to be more influential. You probably won't be surprised to hear that understanding a bit of psychology can help. Ultimately, influence is all about decision-making. You want someone to decide to do what you want them to do. What psychological research tells us is that decision-making is such hard work that our brains take shortcuts. We don't even notice it's happening. Understanding those predictable shortcuts can help us influence decision making in others. Dr. Robert Cialdini has identified six psychological levers of influence, which I'll outline below, along with a seventh based on a ...
You can lead a horse to water – A powerful psychological technique to encourage change
How do you persuade people to change? Maybe you have a colleague or a client who stubbornly refuses to do the one thing that everyone else can see would be in their best interests – the overloaded manager who won't delegate, the blundering leader who really needs coaching but sees it as a navel-gazing waste of time; the 60-something family business owner who really wants to hand the business on to his children “one day” but refuses to talk about succession planning. Perhaps you’ve tried all your best arguments, outlined the problem and painted a positive vision of change and ...
Finding your own natural authority – Can you handle power?
How do you feel about power? Is it something you crave or something which makes you feel uncomfortable? And how powerful do you actually feel as a person? I’ve been thinking a lot about power recently while working with some senior leaders. In particular, I’m interested in the match – or mismatch – between the power people get from their roles (their positional power) and their sense of themselves as powerful people. I’m defining power here as the ability to direct the course of events, to make things happen or prevent them from happening. Who, little old me? People who lack ...
What have I got myself into? 7 tips for handling a ‘poisoned chalice’ career opportunity
Have you ever been given a fabulous career opportunity that didn't turn out to be quite such an unalloyed joy after all? In the last month or so, I've worked with five different people - some in medium-sized businesses, some in multi-national corporations - whose exciting new jobs turned out to be something of a poisoned chalice. It seemed worth exploring what organisations are doing here and how you should handle it if you find yourself being handed such a cup. Here's how it happens There's a team, a department or a business unit that's coasting. Not actually failing, that ...
How do you navigate organisational politics?
What do you think of when you hear the term 'organisational politics'? My hunch is it's back stabbing, pointless rivalries, sucking up to the boss, that kind of thing. I'm not going to pretend that that isn't a feature of many workplaces. If you work somewhere with really dysfunctional politics, it pays to be alert, to work out who you can trust - and to do what. But the reality is all organisations are political. Some of my clients tell me that they're lucky to work in an organisation with "no politics". What they mean is little or no dysfunctional ...
In too deep? 7 questions to judge how involved to get in a piece of work
How involved should you get in work which is not your sole responsibility? It sounds like a straightforward question, but actually it can be quite tricky to work out. I've been thinking about this lately while coaching a client I'll call Brian. Brian is a very senior manager in a large and complex organisation, who has just taken on a role which sits outside the organisation structure. He's a kind of chief of staff to the CEO, his eyes and ears. He fixes things. He has no staff of his own. Brian is having coaching to help him navigate the ...
The psychology of influence – Seven psychological insights to increase your influence
I'm sure most of us would like to be more influential. You probably won't be surprised to hear that understanding a bit of psychology can help. Ultimately, influence is all about decision-making. You want someone to decide to do what you want them to do. What psychological research tells us is that decision-making is such hard work that our brains take shortcuts. We don't even notice it's happening. Understanding those predictable shortcuts can help us influence decision making in others. Dr. Robert Cialdini has identified six psychological levers of influence, which I'll outline below, along with a seventh based on a ...
You can lead a horse to water – A powerful psychological technique to encourage change
How do you persuade people to change? Maybe you have a colleague or a client who stubbornly refuses to do the one thing that everyone else can see would be in their best interests – the overloaded manager who won't delegate, the blundering leader who really needs coaching but sees it as a navel-gazing waste of time; the 60-something family business owner who really wants to hand the business on to his children “one day” but refuses to talk about succession planning. Perhaps you’ve tried all your best arguments, outlined the problem and painted a positive vision of change and ...
Finding your own natural authority – Can you handle power?
How do you feel about power? Is it something you crave or something which makes you feel uncomfortable? And how powerful do you actually feel as a person? I’ve been thinking a lot about power recently while working with some senior leaders. In particular, I’m interested in the match – or mismatch – between the power people get from their roles (their positional power) and their sense of themselves as powerful people. I’m defining power here as the ability to direct the course of events, to make things happen or prevent them from happening. Who, little old me? People who lack ...
What have I got myself into? 7 tips for handling a ‘poisoned chalice’ career opportunity
Have you ever been given a fabulous career opportunity that didn't turn out to be quite such an unalloyed joy after all? In the last month or so, I've worked with five different people - some in medium-sized businesses, some in multi-national corporations - whose exciting new jobs turned out to be something of a poisoned chalice. It seemed worth exploring what organisations are doing here and how you should handle it if you find yourself being handed such a cup. Here's how it happens There's a team, a department or a business unit that's coasting. Not actually failing, that ...
