Page 214 - Free Yourself From

Know Yourself and Your Sticky Floors 197

Yes No

2. I don’t have a problem asking others for help
or support.

3. I look at ways I can be of value to other key
stakeholders, regardless of if I need their
support or not.

Political Savvy

Political savvy is socializing your leadership across the organization.
It’s learning about who needs to know what, and who needs to know
you. It’s figuring out the best mechanisms for knowing about what’s
happening in the organization so you can bring value to situations
rather than just hoping that information will come to you.
It’s also recognizing the informal influence patterns or connec-
tions in the organization, knowing who has whose ear, who the key
decision makers are in decisions that are important to you, trying to
uncover hidden agendas, and trying to see something from another
person’s perspective.
It’s not always about taking people at their word, but rather
“reading between the lines” to understand the intention of their
words. It’s that situational awareness—paying attention carefully to
that environment around you—and determining what organizational
and cultural aspects are at play. It’s having the right intelligence to
know how people are going to respond, how decisions are going to
be made, and how the information is really going to flow.

Yes No

1. I know who in the organization needs to
know about me and my work in order for
me to advance in my career.