Political Dilemmas at Work: How to Maintain Your Integrity and Further Your Career

Recognize Your Career Opportunity in the Power Vacuum

Leaders come and go all the time. This is a fact of organizational life, and you need to get used to it—expect it to happen! Realizing this doesn’t make it any easier when it happens to you, but you have within you the capability to decide how you are going to react.

Before you can decide how to respond to this event, settle in your mind why it happened. This can often be difficult, particularly with sudden departures. Often, what is said has an element of spin. While this is unhelpful, it is natural. Leaving by mutual agreement often means there was a serious falling out. Spending more time with the family is unlikely to have been voluntary. By recognizing the potential for spin, you can keep your mind open and look for the truth more carefully. Compare what has been said with what is currently going on in the organization.

Adopting a positive approach to the power vacuum can open up a significant opportunity to you. The vacuum needs to be filled, and why not by you? True, there may be a plan to appoint a successor, but in the meantime, you can step into the breach. This is an opportunity for you to show your grasp of the practical details and a determination to act positively on behalf of the team and the organization. By focusing on what is good about what has happened, you may be seen as forward looking and creative in your approach—time to demonstrate your leadership potential!

As you determine to make the most ...