
Lion, ready to spring, in Samburu National Reserve, Kenya. The lion is an opportunistic predator, selecting prey individuals as chance presents them. Their exact algorithm is unknown, but factors that enter her decision probably include the availability of cover, the vigilance of the prey, the disposition of other members of her pride, and the urgency of the need to feed.
Your decision to pursue a particular political opportunity will also depend on an array of factors, including some of the items mentioned here. But certainly there are others: how close you are to retirement, how healthy the company is, and your ability to find jobs elsewhere, to name just three. What is your personal decision algorithm? Photo by Richard A. Muller.
As you navigate the politics of your organization, opportunities occasionally come your way. Evaluating them can be challenging. What criteria do you apply when you decide whether or not or how to pursue an opportunity? Here's Part I — the basics — of a set of attributes that make some political opportunities more attractive than others.
- You consider it ethical
- If pursuing the opportunity is consistent with your sense of ethics, you'll feel better about it however it turns out. If pursuing the opportunity violates your sense of ethics, your pursuit might extract an emotional price. Over time, as you accumulate a collection of transgressions of your own ethical code, the burden can become difficult to bear. Staying within your own ethical boundaries can be the most comfortable path.
- You actually want it
- Every opportunity requires something from you. It will be work, after all. If you strongly dislike what you would have to do once you secure the opportunity, or if you're strongly averse to it for some reason, the chances that you'll be glad about getting the opportunity are slim. Performing well will be difficult unless you actually want the opportunity.
- Your organization cares about it
- Some efforts aren't truly central to the overall goal of the organization. They get funded anyway, for a variety of reasons. Perhaps someone with clout wanted it done. Or perhaps an external agent (a customer, a government or a partner organization) exerted undue influence to make it happen. Such opportunities aren't as helpful to you as opportunities that the organization really cares about. The truly valuable opportunities are aligned with organizational goals.
- You have a significant edge
- Maybe nobody else has yet spotted this opportunity. Maybe you are the best positioned to pursue it. Maybe it requires a skill set that's uniquely yours. Or maybe the people who are aware of the opportunity lack the network connections that you have. Whatever your advantage is, it gives you a significant edge.
- Support from above is low risk
- If you require assistance from above, the opportunity is more valuable if the people who help you aren't at risk, even if an unfavorable outcome materializes. They usually have a lot to lose, and if an unfavorable and threatening outcome looks likely enough, these allies or mentors might have to abandon you. Devise a strategy that protects these assets.
- If you require assistance
from above, the opportunity is
more valuable if the people
who help you aren't at risk - It increases your range of options
- You'll be happy if you pursue the opportunity and you secure it. But what if you don't secure it? If the result is a political configuration that leaves you with more options and more desirable options than you had before, you've made progress.
We'll turn our attention next time to the finer points: evaluating information sources, political considerations, favorable failures, and more. Next in this series Top
Next Issue
Is every other day a tense, anxious, angry misery as you watch people around you, who couldn't even think their way through a game of Jacks, win at workplace politics and steal the credit and glory for just about everyone's best work including yours? Read 303 Secrets of Workplace Politics, filled with tips and techniques for succeeding in workplace politics. More info
Your comments are welcome
Would you like to see your comments posted here? rbrenGBFYqdeDxZESDSsjner@ChacmtFQZGrwOdySPdSsoCanyon.comSend me your comments by email, or by Web form.About Point Lookout
Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.
Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.
Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.
Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.
Related articles
More articles on Workplace Politics:
Managing Pressure: The Unexpected
- When projects falter, we expect demands for status and explanations. What's puzzling is how often this
happens to projects that aren't in trouble. Here's Part II of a catalog of strategies for managing
pressure.
Obstructionist Tactics: II
- Teams and groups depend for their success on highly effective cooperation between their members. If
even one person is unable or unwilling to cooperate, the team's performance is limited. Here's Part
II of a little catalog of tactics.
Projection Errors at Work
- Often, at work, we make interpretations of the behavior of others. Sometimes we base these interpretations
not on actual facts, but on our perceptions of facts. And our perceptions are sometimes erroneous.
The Deck Chairs of the Titanic: Strategy
- Much of what we call work is about as effective and relevant as rearranging the deck chairs
of the Titanic. We continue our exploration of futile and irrelevant work, this time emphasizing
behaviors related to strategy.
Devious Political Tactics: More from the Field Manual
- Careful observation of workplace politics reveals an assortment of devious tactics that the ruthless
use to gain advantage. Here are some of their techniques, with suggestions for effective responses.
See also Workplace Politics and Ethics at Work for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming April 21: Choice-Supportive Bias
- Choice-supportive bias is a cognitive bias that causes us to evaluate our past choices as more fitting than they actually were. The erroneous judgments it produces can be especially costly to organizations interested in improving decision processes. Available here and by RSS on April 21.
And on April 28: The Self-Explanation Effect
- In the learning context, self-explanation is the act of explaining to oneself what one is learning. Self-explanation has been shown to increase the rate of acquiring mastery. The mystery is why we don't structure knowledge work to exploit this phenomenon. Available here and by RSS on April 28.
Coaching services
I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenGBFYqdeDxZESDSsjner@ChacmtFQZGrwOdySPdSsoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.
Get the ebook!
Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:
- Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
- Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
- Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
- Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
- Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
- Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )
Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info
Public seminars
- The Power Affect: How We Express Our Personal Power
Many
people who possess real organizational power have a characteristic demeanor. It's the way they project their presence. I call this the power affect. Some people — call them power pretenders — adopt the power affect well before they attain significant organizational power. Unfortunately for their colleagues, and for their organizations, power pretenders can attain organizational power out of proportion to their merit or abilities. Understanding the power affect is therefore important for anyone who aims to attain power, or anyone who works with power pretenders. Read more about this program.
- A recording of a program presented June 29, 2017, Monthly
Webinar, sponsored by Technobility
Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
- A recording of a program presented June 29, 2017, Monthly
Webinar, sponsored by Technobility
Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
- A recording of a program presented June 29, 2017, Monthly
Webinar, sponsored by Technobility
Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
- Bullet Points: Mastery or Madness?
Decis
ion-makers in modern organizations commonly demand briefings in the form of bullet points or a series of series of bullet points. But this form of presentation has limited value for complex decisions. We need something more. We actually need to think. Briefers who combine the bullet-point format with a variety of persuasion techniques can mislead decision-makers, guiding them into making poor decisions. Read more about this program.
- A recording of a program presented June 24, 2020, Monthly
Webinar, sponsored by Technobility
Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
- A recording of a program presented June 24, 2020, Monthly
Webinar, sponsored by Technobility
Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
- A recording of a program presented June 24, 2020, Monthly
Webinar, sponsored by Technobility
Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
Follow Rick





Recommend this issue to a friend
Send an email message to a friend
rbrenGBFYqdeDxZESDSsjner@ChacmtFQZGrwOdySPdSsoCanyon.comSend a message to Rick
A Tip A Day feed
Point Lookout weekly feed


Beware any resource that speaks of "winning" at workplace politics or "defeating" it. You can benefit or not, but there is no score-keeping, and it isn't a game.
- Wikipedia has a nice article with a list of additional resources
- Some public libraries offer collections. Here's an example from Saskatoon.
- Check my own links collection
- LinkedIn's Office Politics discussion group