The politics of promotion

By J&C Team

Workplace politics can make or break a career and women need to get more savvy at working the system, according to a recent book by leading US coach Bonnie Marcus.

In “The Politics of Promotion: how high-achieving women get ahead and stay ahead”, Marcus argues that women tend to have a negative view of office politics and to see it as self-serving and manipulative. However, she says, without understanding and using politics they will find it hard to climb up the ladder and make a positive difference to their organisation.

Marcus gives many examples of women who have been “blindsided” in their career because they weren’t sufficiently aware of the office politics in their organisation and who higher up the ranks might be more or less supportive of women. Instead they tend to focus on doing a good job, fail to delegate, take on too much because of a need to be liked and a lack of self belief, she says, and often miss out on promotion as a result. “Once you reach a certain level of technical competence, politics is what makes the difference for your career success,” she states. “Our lack of engagement in workplace politics not only puts us at a disadvantage or political deficiency, but it also puts us in the ‘loser’s bracket’.”

Marcus recognises that many women come to learn the importance of political savvy and often the hard way, by being on the receiving end of some bad politics. In many cases this is linked to taking time out of the workplace to have children. A recent report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission suggests as many as 54,000 new mothers may be being forced out of their jobs in Britain each year as a result of maternity discrimination.

Their report is based on a survey of over 3,200 women, in which 11% of the women interviewed reported having been dismissed, made compulsorily redundant where others in their workplace were not or treated so poorly they felt they had to leave their jobs. The EHRC calculates that if this was replicated across the population as a whole, this could mean as many as 54,000 women losing their jobs each year.

The research, carried out in partnership with the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, also found around one in five new mothers experienced harassment or negative comments from their colleagues, employer or manager when pregnant or returning from maternity leave. Yet it also showed that many employers support women during pregnancy and when they come back from maternity leave and find no problem in doing so.

How can those who are not fortunate enough to be employed by the more progressive organisations get to the top and change the system? For Marcus, it is important that women understand that office politics is not just about self interest, but also about having the power and influence to make positive changes for organisations, such as helping create a non-discriminatory culture. She says many women claim that they just don’t have the time for office politics, but she says they will make the time for it if they understand fully its importance and the difference it can make.

In her book Lean In, Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg tells an anecdote about when she was heavily pregnant at Google and having to rush across the car park to a meeting. She suggested to her boss that the company should have reserved parking for pregnant employees. He agreed, though admitted he had never thought about it. Sandberg herself had not thought about it before she got pregnant. The point Sandberg was trying to make was that having one woman on the senior management team can give a different perspective on an organisation’s work culture.

Having a critical mass can, of course, make more of a difference to others struggling to make it up the ranks – as can the presence of sympathetic senior male leaders, but Sandberg’s book, like Marcus’, focuses on individual action.  That does not, of course, take away from employers’ responsibility to increase diversity at all levels of their organisations,  but Marcus’ argument is that women themselves cannot wait passively for their hard work to be recognised. They need to work the existing system.

But how do the women who are wanting to climb the career ladder become more savvy about office politics? Bonnie Marcus’ book outlines some strategies. First of all comes having a good understanding of your value to the organisation and promoting that, for instance, by not minimising successes and finding ways to showcase individual expertise such as writing blogs or speaking at industry events.

Next comes observing how politics plays out in the workplace, which includes discovering who has influence, uncovering the hidden rules at play, observing senior men in meetings and identifying those who are supportive of women and could be mentors or sponsors. Marcus outlines the importance of building a network of supporters through strategic networking, identifying mentors, who can give advice and support, and sponsors, senior people with influence, whether internal or external, who will take action to progress a woman’s career. The best relationships are mutual, she says, with the person being sponsored able to offer, for instance, information about the reality lower down the chain or particular expertise to the sponsor. A coach can also help to plot the path ahead and stay ahead and provide a sounding board for issues such as gender bias and moments of lack of confidence.

Marcus says that without this network of support, women will find it more difficult to advance in a male-dominated corporate culture, but she also emphasises that it is not just about individual advancement because a more diverse leadership is good for business. She says: “It’s important to understand that attaining a leadership position not only helps your career but also helps your company.”