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

Master the Informal Decision-Making Processes

Making something happen involves understanding and influencing the decision-making process. While these processes may be formalized, they still involve people, and this introduces a less formal dimension. Each individual makes up his or her mind about either supporting or rejecting your proposal. While this process may appear to be taking place at a formal event like a meeting, in most cases, people already have their minds made up well before that. You need to learn about the informal processes each person uses when making decisions.

Find out who might influence the decision you want the organization to make. Who are the people who really count? Start by looking at the formal process and determine who is involved. Reflect on previous decisions they made and notice how they happened. What were the driving forces behind these decisions? If it was a group decision, which individuals had the most influence and who had only limited impact? You may need to get some help, and your boss is in a good position to provide you with greater insight into both the formal and informal process.

As you identify the people in the decision-making process, tune in your antenna to how they can be influenced. By carefully observing these people in action, you will start to see clues. Notice how others succeed in gaining a favorable decision. What did they do that worked? Was it the way they presented their case using data? Or maybe they succeeded with ...