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214 Just Promoted!

        success. Nurture, strengthen, and reinforce your support from direct reports
        and the team as a whole, your peers, your boss, and your boss’s boss. Be
        part of their support and networks. Trusting relationships can go a long
        way toward ensuring your success. Always remember, however, that your suc-
        cess depends first on the quality of your work and the quality of your rela-
        tionships with key stakeholders. Your work and these relationships are your
        starting point.
           We have spent considerable time in this book emphasizing how to build
        support. You must be able to analyze the political situation, build a strategy to
        address the prevailing conditions, and implement a specific plan to make the
        politics work for you. Managed well, you can develop advocates who work in
        your behalf. One vice president of manufacturing said, “My people began to
        carry me. I previously had to drag them screaming. Turning it around was
        hard, but worth it!”

                    JUST PROMO TED LEADER  T OOL 10
                    Your Personal Political Inventory


        Try the following activity. Inventory those organizational political factors that
        could help or hinder your transition. Your awareness of these factors or pat-
        terns should help you develop a clear strategy and action plan to better man-
        age the politics of your transition.
           Complete this assessment as soon as you have some information about your
        new role, certainly no later than two months after assuming your new position.
        If possible, do it before assuming your role. Then repeat this inventory every
        three months during your first year on the job and once or twice a year there-
        after. Do it alone or preferably with a confidant or consultant you trust.

        Part 1
        Instructions
        Your Personal Political Inventory extends the stakeholder analysis you com-
        pleted in Chapter 2. It is designed to help you accomplish the following:
           Take a personal inventory of the key people and stakeholders and their
        influence on you.
           Assess various political factors that may be in play that could affect your
        success in your new role. (See Figure 8.1.)
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