Stephen Billing’s Blog

Politics are a part of organisational life, including organisational change. The very decision to initiate a change project is the result of political processes. You can’t avoid it, so you may as well get good at it.

I have argued here that politics is an intrinsic part of organisational life, and change is one arena where the politics can be quite visible. Or not. If you think you can avoid organisational politics, then you are in a fantasy world.

Decisions to undertake organisational change are themselves the result of political patterns in the organisation.

Examples include decisions to undertake improvements to the employee engagement survey, or to start a lean six sigma project, or to invest in leadership training, or to restructure. These are all themselves the result of the interweaving of the intentions of important and powerful people in the organisation. Powerful people have all attempted to influence the decisions made, usually, I am sure, in service of what they see as the best interests of the organisation. 

Sometimes the influence attempts can be quite subtle. But I am sure that any experienced senior manager or consultant reading this will have seen this interweaving of intentions in action.

So as a leader of change, the fact that you are doing the project you are, and not some other project instead, is also the result of political processes. You may not have been aware of them, or you may have deliberately attempted to avoid being a part of them, but nevertheless they are operating. And you can not avoid being a part of the politics, even if you try, or even if you are not aware of the politics – they are occurring nevertheless, it’s just that it’s all taking place outside your awareness.

As a consultant, the decision to undertake a change project has usually been made prior to my involvement, but is still the result of political processes. As a good change leader, it pays to be good at the politics.