The Practice of Professional Consulting

Navigating Organizational Politics

Organizational politics is more likely to come into play during the building and producing stage of consulting than at any other time. This stage is when consultants may be “swarming” around the client’s organization, asking hard questions, poking around for issues and problems, challenging long-held employee assumptions, and testing management’s thinking. It is likely that feathers will be ruffled, tense debates may ensue, and the client’s natural instinct to protect and preserve the status quo may surface as win-lose power plays. If consultants are not careful, they may be seduced by the client’s political games, co-opted on issues, driven to despair, or perhaps become cynically competitive. A few concepts ...