Political Dilemmas at Work: How to Maintain Your Integrity and Further Your Career

Influence versus Status

While high status is still hot stuff, being influential counts for more. Status is not the orientation point for power that it once was. While it can make life easier, it is not the answer. Some of the respect and deference has gone—perhaps lost in the complexity of organizational design. An empowered, competitive workforce and a new generation of people with different expectations have changed the rules. We need to accept that however high we rise, we will always have some form of boss to report to—so the need to influence will never go away. More often, we are expected to achieve results in arenas where we have no direct power or control. Only influence and positive organizational politics will help us here. Being more influential means being able to operate effectively at all levels of the organization. Influence can often be more effective at getting things done than status ever can.

 

• Commit to being influential first and using status only if you have to.

• Consider the development of your influencing skills as important as your technical skills.

• Status is inherent and just shows up—influence requires talent and skill.

• Look for good role models—whose actions align with our personal values as well as the organizational values—to learn influence from.

• Know what influences you and be open to noticing what influences other people.

 

Our charter needs to hold a commitment to building our influence capability regardless of the status we achieve. ...