Blog

Written by author and consultant, David Bancroft-Turner BA (Hons)

In this final blog of 4 I’m going to cover how the design of the online assessments and the workshop has developed over the years, together with some of the key Beliefs, Behaviours and Building Blocks that we all need to manage ourselves through the maze that is workplace politics.

We have been using what we call the Universal Assessment for several years which was designed for the general population. It works well, as measured by feedback from users and clients. I’ve always been intrigued however, as to the need for a specific assessment for different genders.

In the past I have had an association with single gender development through the Springboard programme (a fabulous development process, for women, designed and delivered by women) which, in part, was the solution to the ‘Glass Ceiling’ challenges that were identified in the 1990’s and which continue to this day. I’m proud to tell you that I implemented the Springboard programme into 2 of the largest financial institutions in the country. As a result of seeing the results and the feedback of Springboard I’ve been convinced of the very different personal developmental challenges faced by different genders and the need for a ‘Women’ only’ workplace politics assessment and development activities was clear.  

You may have picked up from this blog that I’m a man. Good spot!! The irony of me trying to develop a women’s only version is therefore not lost on me.

I have had the wonderful fortune to have found an immensely talented woman (Carole McKellar) and, in partnership, we started work on a ‘Female Only’ version of the online assessment (The Womens Workplace Politics Empowerment Programme) that would both resonate with the female population and that would also provide specific, targeted development ideas, that could be implemented in their workplaces. This was launched a couple of years ago. It provides a different language, and different development ideas and suggestions, specifically for women.

Following focus group feedback in the design phase we decided to drop the ‘Animal Types’ that we had been using for many years. Whilst a good learning anchor and some fun linking behaviours to the Animals, they were seen, (interestingly by more women than men) to be male orientated, which led to a learning blockage for a female only audience. We now focus much more on what is needed to be even more effective in the workplace. This was indeed a tough decision, and the personal learning was that sometimes a model needs development and alteration because of the changing environment.

I’m now going to finish with some practical ideas for you to consider, in your workplace. Many, many more are provided in the development report after online assessment completion. Here are a few of the key ones:

1.     The ability to ‘read’ what is REALLY going on. 

This is a challenge to us all - to understand and make sense of what is REALLY going on in a workplace as opposed to what people say is happening. People have different agendas, personal goals that may/may not align with the workplace and ways of working that are sometimes difficult to understand. I’m sure you have had the experience of being in a meeting and getting the sense that what is being discussed isn’t actually the real issue. The answer, in part, is to network with others to obtain ‘intelligence’ to understand the full and wider picture. 

2.     The way in which decisions are made 

There are always the ‘Formal’ and ‘Informal’ ways in which a workplace makes decisions. Sometimes the agreed process is followed, many times it is not. It is critical to understand to ‘tap into’ the way in which decisions come about, who the key players are and what their agendas may be. ‘Where’ decisions are made is also useful to know. Many are not made in the workplace at all. I’ve been known at times to exaggerate my corporate experience by saying ‘ALL decisions are made informally’. It may not be 100% but its not far off. 

3.     Knowing where information is in a workplace 

We talk about the ‘carriers’ or ‘repositories’ of information and they are hardly ever linked to seniority or position. Reception colleagues, Security personnel, coffee shop staff are all well positioned to ‘know’ a great deal of what is really going on in the workplace. Perhaps all you need to do is ask?   And finally 

4.     Knowing when to fight which battles. 

This is the skill that relates to knowing when to speak up and when to keep quiet. A skill that has been a constant feature of my own development plan for over 30 years!!  You don’t need to fight everybody and everything and sometimes in the workplace when things happen that you don’t agree with it may be best (in the long run) to keep quiet and just let the issue go. Forget it. Keep your voice and your influence for the things that really matter. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed these short blogs on the history and development of our products on the subject of Workplace politics and let me know if you’d like any further information, via MLR - Contact Us