Being politically astute

Political intelligence means understanding how the wider landscape of power and influence works in your organisation. It doesn’t mean ‘being political’ which is largely taken to mean being manipulative. It does mean understanding how your organisation works, and identifying the people who are likely to support and advocate for you or for a project, and those who may be more sceptical and take more work to win over. Your stakeholder map is a good starting point to evaluate how people may respond. The most politically intelligent strategy is to build trusting and productive relationships with key stakeholders so that they support you – because you’ve already taken into account their needs.