Political Savvy is a subtle yet essential skill that all ambitious women need to master

Welcome to Own Your Ambition, the weekly newsletter designed to give professional women the tools they need to be successful. As a former CEO who made it to the C Suite from an entry level, I know first hand what it takes for women to realize their ambition and reach their career goals.

Though the subject of office politics is a sensitive one, I know from your responses to my recent poll that it is also one of the biggest challenges you face in the workplace.

No doubt, most of you detest the idea of getting involved in office politics. And it is understandable to be critical of colleagues who engage in manipulative self-serving behavior. But that’s not political savvy.

And that is NOT a game you need to play. Political savvy is a subtle skill of building influence and political capital that is essential for anyone who wants to advance their career.

Read on to better understand the importance of being politically savvy and how to learn this skill.

Perhaps you’ve been recognized as a top performer. You think you are well on your way to getting a promotion. There’s a new opportunity to move up. It would mean more compensation and more responsibility, and you’re ready for it. You apply for the position. You know you are qualified, maybe even overqualified, and you’re confident that the job will be yours.

Then the bottom falls out. Someone else is chosen over you and that person isn’t nearly as qualified as you are! You’re angry and frustrated. You feel betrayed. You didn’t see it coming.

What happened?

What did you do wrong?

You work hard. You always get great results. You’re an over-achiever who takes on special projects, works long hours.

Your mistake: You’re playing the wrong game.

While you have your head down, focusing on your work, others are using their political savvy to build influence and political capital.

They have the relationships. They have inside information about what’s happening and what the future holds.

They pay attention to what’s going on.

In other words, they are politically savvy.

What is political savvy?

In the workplace, the rules of the game are not simple. Although hard work and performance are important, they are not the sole basis for advancement. Often promotions are based on relationships, personality, on the ability to engage in the organization’s politics, promote oneself with intention, and to network and build influence.

Every organization has unique dynamics. There is an array of metrics for performance management, different language used, and personalities that must work together to complete projects. One common denominator in all of this? Politics within the organization. And the reality is that to successfully navigate all the variables to get ahead and stay ahead of office politics, you must be adaptable.

Political savvy is understanding the culture, whatever it is, and then learning how to best, position yourself, given that reality.

And quite simply, you cannot ignore the workplace dynamics (politics) if you want to advance your career. And it’s essential for ambitious women to pay attention. Women are still viewed and judged differently than men in the workplace. Gender stereotypes and assumptions, the boy’s club, affect your ability to stand out as a leader.

The research I conducted for my book, The Politics of Promotion: How High Achieving Women Get Ahead and Stay Ahead, was very revealing. When I asked professional women what they thought about office politics, I got a flood of emotional responses.

“It’s evil”

“It’s a waste of time”

“It’s bad karma.”

This negative mindset blinds you to what it takes to succeed and keeps you from leaning in and understanding the reality of how to navigate the workplace. It sets you up to be passed over because you’re not tuned into what’s going on. Don’t let that happen!

It’s important to reframe your negative definition of office politics and acknowledge the importance of paying attention to what’s happening around you. Yes, there are manipulative people. People who spend more time talking about their work than doing it. But political savvy doesn’t require you to play their game. Political savvy is a subtle skill.

Ever wonder why some people seem to get a free pass? Their mistakes minimized and their achievements maximized. Doors open for them. They may or may not be as competent or talented as you are, but everything they do seems to work in their favor.

These people are politically astute. They’ve learned how to work the system in a subtle way. They’ve gained favor with those in power, and this is not by accident. This is a skill.

Politically savvy people develop a sense of intuition that helps them circumvent potential landmines. They observe the environment and take note of what is rewarded and what is disregarded. They observe how people succeed and what is important to the people in power. This observation is critical to developing political skill.

How do you become politically savvy? You need to observe, listen, and ask questions:

Who is getting promoted and why?

With whom do they have relationships?

How are people rewarded in your organization?

What did they do to get promoted?

What did they do to get noticed?

Who seems to be in ‘favor’ and why?

Are there certain people who have access to senior leadership?

Who supports the advancement of women?

What does it take for a woman to get ahead in your company, department?

Who will advocate for you?

Who will be your champion?

Here are three ways you can up-level your political savvy.

Informal networks

Sometimes people may try to justify certain gender bias behaviors, so you need to be aware of who you can trust. Who are you allies? Who will support you? Don’t play into the “boy’s club” that still exists within many organizations.

Take my client Lisa, for example, who says this still exists in the banking industry. She says many men don’t really care to include women in their inner circle and won’t let their guard down for fear of saying or doing the wrong thing and then being sued for harassment, a consequence of the post Me-Too era. They won’t even invite women out for drinks after work.

She gives me an example of one male co-worker who invited all the guys on a fishing trip, but no women. Office politics plays into these “off-campus” events. People let their guard down and talk about things in a way they may not at work. Problems may be solved. Ideas may be brought to the surface. If a woman is never “allowed” to attend these events, how is she supposed to be in the know?

This is where it is imperative to get creative with your political savvy by developing those informal networks.

An MIT Sloan report found that, exclusively, networks provided strategic and operational benefits by enabling members to collaborate effectively. The study also showed that, “Despite the explosion of information that is accessible through the internet and databases, people still rely heavily on their networks for help with their work.”

Ask yourself:

Who are the stakeholders that care about the work I’m doing?

What are the relationships I need to build?

What are the relationships that need to be improved or strengthened?

Declare your ambition

Assert yourself, and make it clear what you want. What are your goals within the organization? Do you want to get ahead? Have a more flexible schedule? Whatever it is, you need to ask for it.

A client who was pregnant with her first son noticed she was being passed over for the high-level corporate assignments she would normally receive. She scheduled a meeting with her supervisor, another woman, to ask why. The answer: “I didn’t know how willing you would be to travel.” Her supervisor made an assumption without asking her. Had she not had the courage to confront the situation, she would have missed opportunities.

People make assumptions all the time about women’s competence and ambition based on gender stereotypes and outdated societal norms. Paying attention and building strategic relationships (political savvy) within the organization helps you to understand where your support lies and what assumptions others may have of you that can potentially sabotage you.

Asserting yourself and speaking up about your career aspirations is key to ensuring these stakeholders know where you stand – a critical piece in the development of your political savvy.

Be “In the Know”

The Center for Creative Leadership has found “women today still are apt to find themselves in situations where opportunities for promotion, access to mentors, and encouragement to take risks is absent. These unique barriers make it more critical than ever for women to embrace and develop political savvy.

Their research shows that those women “who are politically savvy have better career prospects and career trajectories. They are seen as more promotable and are less likely to have derailed careers. Overall, it appears that a select set of leadership behaviors vary according to level of political skill. Most are centered on influence and on creating and maintaining positive relationships with others.”

Women tend to choose relationships that are comfortable rather that ones that can help advance their career.

This was true for me. Early in my career when I was an AVP with a large territory, I had 18 direct reports. I spent most of my time with my managers in the field each week. I was comfortable within my group but failed to spend much time understanding the corporate dynamics and avoided an uncomfortable relationship with my new boss who just transferred to the company. This approach backfired, because although I was respected for my work and well-liked, I wasn’t strategic about building relationships outside my comfort zone. I lost out on a big promotion as a result.

The lesson: Be strategic and intentional about building the relationships that count.

Bottom line: Don’t let yourself get hijacked by the term ‘office politics. Reframe it and understand political savvy is paying attention, building relationships and influence. It’s not manipulative and evil. It’s strategic and intentional. It’s a subtle and necessary skill for any woman interested in advancing her career.

Want to know how politically savvy you are, your strengths and where you need to improve?

Upgrade to Paid today and I’ll send you my Political Skill Assessment Tool, along with future access to other coaching templates and tools, and coaching programs.

This tool measures and rates your skill in three essential areas for your advancement:

Self-promotion, Political savvy and Strategic Networking.

Find out your strengths and where you need to improve!! Then make a plan to create the visibility and credibility you need to succeed.