The negative aspect of organisational politics occurs when individuals drive their own personal agendas and priorities at the expense of the wider corporate agenda.
The motivation for this type of politics is partly personal advancement up the "greasy pole" and partly the lust for power that some of us (yes I am guilty of this too!) have to control resources, decisions, people and outcomes. Of itself this need not necessarily be a bad thing, it only becomes that when it jeopardizes the corporate strategy and (in my view more importantly) damages people.
In a silo-structured organisation, the politics of the functional managers that develop protective strategies of their own "fiefdoms" becomes counter productive and frequently obstructive to the objectives of a change initiative that is aligned to a corporate vision and strategy.
As Patrick Lencioni observes in his book "Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars", the place where the blame lies for silos and politics is at the top of the organisation: "Every departmental silo can ultimately be traced back to the leaders of those departments who have failed to understand the interdependencies that must exist among [the departments]"
One of the many reasons I strongly favour a programme management based approach to change is that the comprehensive nature of the approach focuses on the achievement of the organisational strategic vision by ensuring that the envisaged organisational benefits are actually realised. This is an organisation-wide perspective that transcends the interests of any particular fiefdom.
Shifting the balance of power
But this is only possible if the CEO and other directors and senior management take - and stand by - the hard decision to shift the balance of power and support the change programme. This means empowering the change management leadership and team to have authority over functional management within defined and boundaries and terms of reference.
This is what I call: "sponsorship with balls, bottle and teeth"!
The 4 components of the terms of reference
These terms of reference include four components:
(1) A simple clear vision that consists of a single point of focus that is shared by the entire leadership team and, as Kotter suggests, at least 75% of the management team. This point of focus is what drives the change management leadership and team for the duration of the change programme.
(2) A blueprint that defines and clarifies exactly what is meant by the vision, in other words, specifically how the organisation will be different after the vision has been realised.
(3) This accompanied by a statement and definition of the organisational benefits that will be realised through the change initiative stating the nature of the benefits, where and when they will arise and how they will be measured.
(4) And finally, the provision of a statement that outlines the change methodology that will be applied by the change management leadership and team. It includes the programme level implementation and the tactical task level implementation that translates the vision into practical actionable steps.
Find out more about: Conflict Resolution Tips - Overcoming Silos and Turf Wars
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