Surviving Corporate Politics Part 3

In the business of corporate politics, one thing has become very clear: Most business decisions are grown from the grassroots level. Sure, it may all seem likes it’s coming from corporate HQ, with announcements and presentations that have their organisations in perpetual flux, but make no mistake about it, most of those decisions have been influenced by lobbyists in the lower levels. The bigger the organization, the harder it may be to see, but that does not make it any less relevant, only more difficult to find. Executives do not know enough about the true inner workings of a company to be able to form a strategic plan capable of reaching the lower levels of business. Executives rely heavily on input from ladder seekers within their own organisations on which they build their business cases.

How can the everyday negro (or lower level manager) take advantage? The easiest way is by following the old adage, “Necessity is the mother of invention”. I can’t tell you how many positions and even whole departments have been created based on creative folks jumping in to take on gapped responsibilities that other teams have shirked due to lack of funding or inadequate training. If managed properly, stepping up to meet corporate deficiencies can lead to influencing corporate decisions. How so? Advertising works! Never step up to addressing a problem without due recognition for it once it has been resolved. A great example would be to send out a broadcast email congratulating everyone for a great effort resolving the issue. Identify which actions were taken by what group, and what the resulting positive impacts where in terms of improved financial numbers, lowered costs of doing business and/or increased employee/customer satisfaction. Make sure to not only send this out to all the people within your organisation that were involved, but to their bosses as well. You would now have succeeded in improving your own image by enhancing those around you that is subtle enough to get score you points, and keeps folks happy about working with you at the same time.

Opportunities are easy to come by. They are stated at meetings, identified in corporate memo’s, or spoken about in various work related social gatherings. Follow up a complaint from a colleague with more questions as to the details of the issue. Find out their take on the source of the problem, who or what is the cause, and what measures they have implemented as a work around. History about the issue(s) can also be learned by asking casual questions as to how many other departments or customers are affected, and for how long, as well as finding out who has been implicated in the past. Take the information learned back into your own team and try and find solutions that are mutually advantageous. Some teams may feel like you are stepping into ‘their’ territory, but that can usually be countered with the simple argument that taking away problem issues will lead to improved efficiencies in their remaining tasks. You must always remain in partnership with the departments with which you are working. The business world has been getting smaller and smaller. Cases were Executives have lost and taken back over specific teams multiple times over the course of only a few years is becoming a common occurrence. If you try to start empire building, you had better succeed, otherwise you will be forever branded, and no one will help you. It is not a good deal in the long run. People used to be able to jump companies and start again, but acquisitions, take-overs and turn-over rates can put you back in reporting position to someone with which you are no longer are on good terms.

Most important of all, take the new Adidas motto, “Impossible is Nothing”. How many people believed the United States was unbreakable before September 11th? How many people believed the Red Sox would be forever cursed? How many people thought that Nortel would be a Blue Chip and not go into a sudden nose dive? Impossible simply means that a solution has not been successfully implemented yet. Use the resources at your disposal, be it colleagues, friends, web tools, whatever, and put together your plan in a way that will turn your boss’ head and earn his approval. If you know that your boss will not be receptive to your plans in advance, then plan for it it a non-confrontational way. Set up a meeting after you have gathered all your supporters. Try and get other people at his level that believe in the benefits of your objectives and get a meeting all together. Propose your plans in a team setting so that it does not just pit you against your boss.

Make it happen.