The Elephant in the Conference Room:
How to make corporate politics work for you instead of
against you
A collaborative workforce is a crucial competitive advantage.
When workplace politics and the corporate culture encourage strategic understanding, communication, collaboration, and productivity, the organization achieves sustainable, dynamic success.
Replacing the usual fear, confusion, and dread of workplace politics with an understanding of how they work — at all levels of the organization — creates opportunities for collaboration and improves individual leadership performance. You’ll save tremendous time and effort, improve morale, and help your organization develop and retain skilled, motivated employees.
This program provides practical, simple, easy-to-use tools that really work. And it goes beyond delivering great material to help participants integrate effective new strategies and develop them into healthy workplace habits.
These tools and concepts come from decades of real experience.
They’re not based on abstract theory or complex psychology.
They come from my own 25-plus years in the corporate world, dealing with some of the knottiest of political situations in organizations of all sizes.
They’re from my clients’ many years of experience — and from their startlingly fast results when they apply what I teach.
And they come from my synthesis of the best (and worst) of the material out there — I read, evaluate, and adapt the material from all those books and websites so you don’t have to.
Grace Judson’s workshops provide a perfect balance of instruction and fun. In addition to providing
interesting information, she engages workshop participants in creative activities that encourage them to
stretch their imaginations while actively learning important lessons about the workshop topic. You leave
her workshop with lots of food for thought, as well as with practical suggestions that you can effectively
put to use in your own life.
~ Kathleen French, PhD, Department of Neurobiology, UCSD
General Learning Objectives
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Participants will:
- Learn new ways to look at and understand politics, so they can stop trying to escape it and start working with the flow.
- Understand the futility of arguing with reality, so they can free their energy and attention to take constructive action.
- Realize the power of intention, so they can start creating change almost immediately.
- Learn to inspire trust in others, so their peers, managers, and employees know they’re reliable and they can get more accomplished faster.
- Recognize and learn to find the three truths in every situation, so they can shift from “win-lose” to an honest(not just lip service), collaborative “win-win” position that engages others and creates results.
Thank you for your outstanding presentation for our faculty and staff. The participants demonstrated
great enthusiasm and involvement in the experimental activity you designed and facilitated. You approached
a complex topic with insight and compassion, and many positive comments were expressed about your
enlightening presentation.
~ Rose Lee Josephson, PhD, Faculty and Staff Services, UCSD
- Learn about their motivational style and stress responses, so they can manage their reactions and increase their flexibility in ways that earn respect and attention from peers, clients, and management.
- Understand how their word choices affect their audience’s reactions, so they can create messages that get the results they want.
- Learn how easy it can be to understand others’s agendas, so they can ease concerns and win real support for their projects.
- Identify the factors involved in power, so they can develop their own power and confidently interact with those who have more power (positional or otherwise).
- Understand how trust really works, so they can consciously develop their own trustworthiness and become a reliable leader within their functional areas.
- Learn an unspoken secret about the real differences between men and women in the workplace, so they can better understand their own behavior and that of others — and get things done.
Six months ago, I would have said corporate politics is who you have to back-stab to get ahead.
When Grace told me that as a manager, I had to learn to understand politics, I almost changed my mind
about working with her. Politics was a four-letter word in my mind.
It didn’t take her long to help me understand that politics is really about working within the process
to do what needs to be done — working with my peers, my team, and my management to move the company
forward without stepping on anyone else’s toes. It’s about how to form a team and be a leader
even when the company’s leadership isn’t making the effort. More importantly, it’s how
to do all that while caring for the success of everyone.
I know I’m a better, more confident manager, and I’m getting more done by working within our
company processes more effectively. My boss trusts me not to screw up politically any more. In fact,
she even commented on my improvement in my last performance review!
~ Paul Jones, Resources Development Manager, San Diego, CA
The Modules
The first module (Naming, Reframing, and Taming) is required because it creates the foundation for all the rest. The remaining modules can be mixed-and-matched according to specific needs and program goals.
Module One: Naming, Reframing, and Taming
We name the Elephant in the Conference Room for what he is — corporate politics. What is it that makes politics so challenging in the workplace? By reframing politics as a valid and authentic way to achieve organizational, team, and individual goals, we can develop collaborative leadership at all levels.
With a new understanding of the basic dynamics of workplace politics, participants learn three key tools that lay the foundation for taming the Elephant and mastering politics with integrity.
Module Two: Everyone’s Got Style
Not everyone works the same way — no surprise there, but what do you do about it? We discuss key work styles, how to identify them, and how to increase flexibility in meeting others’ styles halfway.
Participants learn simple yet effective ways to interact that are immediately and directly meaningful across a variety of styles.
Module Three: The Dynamic Duo of Power and Trust
Power and trust are closely related, and tend to move in lock-step with each other — often in unexpected ways. We explore the different types of power, the principles of trust, and how they interact.
Participants learn which types of power they can develop and how, as well as how to improve their trust standing within the organization.
Module Four: Watch Your Language!
Just a few small differences in word choice and sentence structure convey hugely different messages. Using real examples of real emails, we look at simple ways to recognize bad habits and the best ways to correct them.
Participants learn about the subtleties of word choice, tone, and structure, and develop personal checklists for editing presentations and email.
Module Five: Caution — Men and Women At Work
We explore key differences between how men and women approach work and workplace politics, while remembering that every rule has its exceptions.
Participants learn to identify when gender-based differences are at play in the workplace, improving their ability to respond effectively to colleagues and co-workers.
Module Six: Remember to Remember
After reviewing the material covered in the course and debriefing actual experiences of participants in applying the tools learned, we focus on refining participants’ ongoing action plans and reminders. We talk about ways to stay focused and accountable, and how to get support when needed.
Participants integrate the tools that they’ve learned, developed, and used during the course of the program into an individual action plan and state their intentions for how they’ll use the material going forward.
When we started working together, I expected you’d help me sort things out, but I thought it would
take several sessions and a lot of reading and research on my part outside the sessions.
You have an uncanny ability to see through what is being said and surface all the “unsaid” issues.
Then you quickly give candid feedback and have a tremendous toolbox to help me move forward through your
expert guidance with the right tool. The speed at which you understood my predicament and used great
approaches to get me unstuck and moving forward was amazing. An hour often seemed too much time!!!
I have worked with many facilitators / coaches / counsellors relating to work and personal situations.
Your skills are exemplary and moved me faster than I ever expected. I now have great tools for
reframing my perception of a situation — and I’ve made an internal “flip” in my
mind from inertia and sadness to optimism and momentum!
~ Jennifer Baker, Fishers, IN
Next step: explore how this could work in your organization
As I mentioned above, this class is modular and easy to mix-and-match, customizing it to meet your specific program needs.
What’s your current situation? Where does your team, department, or organization most need insights, new knowledge, and fresh ideas to help create a positive political environment?
Call me at 760.757.7660 to learn more, or contact me via the email form. Let’s set up an introductory appointment to understand more about your situation and whether I can help.