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Bar News - May 6, 2005 Smart Politics Uses Relationships and Power to Good Ends By: Holly English What is smart politics? It's different from the typical notion of "office politics," a phrase that makes almost everyone cringe. Who doesn't have a negative reaction? We think immediately of the backstabber, of someone getting ahead at our expense, of a tangle of negative emotions. But here is a new, more positive concept of office politics called "smart politics." Smart politics uses relationships and power to good ends, to help each of us negotiate the rocky terrain within our working lives, to handle awkward situations, to advance ourselves and enhance our careers - while retaining our self-respect. Let me give some examples. A female lawyer was working as in-house counsel at a large corporation as part of an all-male management team. One day the group was evaluating applicants for a senior position. The men talked about a female candidate, saying things like, "Did you see her outfit? Did you hear her laugh? She was kind of heavyset." Our woman general counsel didn't say anything, but when a male candidate's name came up, she said kiddingly, "Did you see his hair? And how about those clothes? What a geek!" Her male colleagues laughed, said, "Okay, we get it," and changed their behavior. A male lawyer had done work on a freelance basis for a law firm in the past and was hoping to get more. He felt awkward though about calling up and saying bluntly, "I want more work." He worked out a script he felt comfortable with, in which he said, "Just calling to check in and see how things are going. I really enjoyed working with you in the past, and hope you'll keep me in mind if projects come up in the future-I'd be happy to help." The firm hadn't been sure whether he was still available, was glad to hear from him and gave him another assignment on the spot. A senior partner asked an African-American woman to accompany him to a "beauty contest" at a corporation. Based on past practices in the firm, she was concerned that even if they landed the client she might not get to participate in the work. But she didn't feel comfortable saying directly, "Will you let me work for this client?" Instead, she replied, "Yes, I'm very interested in that client. And if we get the work I can hit the ground running, since I'll already be familiar with the company and the people and their issues." Each of these people was confronted with a potentially sticky situation that they handled by being smart and insightful. The female general counsel saw that if she confronted the gender issue before her too directly, she might get her message across but alienate her colleagues. Instead she used humor to make her point but preserve her relationships. The man calling up to get work dealt with his concern about seeming too pushy by emphasizing how much he liked working with the firm, as well as his willingness to help. And the African-American woman converted her initial fear into a statement that assumed she would be included, rather than excluded. I think of these stories as examples of the "small stuff" that can make a big difference. These issues typically recur, and over time can become more and more frustrating. Each individual incident may not seem like much, but repeated instances can lead to frustration and alienation. So Why Is Smart Politics When we think about the working world and its attendant problems, we often think of big solutions-systems, policies and procedures such as work assignment policies, flexible work arrangements, on-site day care, mentoring and leadership programs and the like. Indeed these global systems are vital for the workings of a successful legal workplace, though many firms lack even the most basic ones. But they don't solve all the problems by any means. You can think of such systems as providing a loosely woven safety net. It's still possible, however, for people to fall through the net if they don't figure out how to solve the small but crucial dilemmas they encounter on a day-to-day basis. So, to enhance their safety, individuals need to devise approaches to workaday issues that can bedevil us if we don't get creative and smart. Interestingly, people often have stronger opinions about the "small stuff" than they do about bigger issues. I write frequently about law office politics and workplace management. When I write about major issues -flexible work arrangements or mentoring, let's say-I don't get nearly as much reaction as when I write about more everyday problems. For example, I once did a column about women complaining that men talking about sports at every turn drove them nuts. It made them feel left out and bored, since they were often the only woman in the room and not interested. Well! Other women wrote to say that they love sports and were at least as interested as the men. Still others said they didn't like sports but figured they had to at least keep up so they weren't left out. Men wrote in to say that they didn't like sports either and felt even more alienated than the women, because they were automatically assumed to like sports. Still others chronicled shortcuts for faking one's way through a sports discussion. One woman even said she knew an enormous amount about sports, but that when she brought up the subject, the guys often changed it -apparently threatened by her superior knowledge. Who knew there was so much to say on this one small topic? But if you think about it, we spend far more time kibitzing about sports than we do thinking and dealing with the supposedly "bigger" issues. And when this small stuff irritates or divides people, it can take on a life of its own. I wrote a book called Gender on Trial: Sexual Stereotypes and Work/Life Balance in the Legal Workplace so I hear a lot about gender politics. These days, with so many more female lawyers in the workplace, gender issues are rife, even though the specter of substantive sex discrimination has faded. How Do We Practice Today's problems often are subtle ones, not large and obvious. Sometimes we think we only have two choices - to suffer in silence, or to have a direct, angry confrontation. But there's a big spectrum in between that we can exploit as well. I can suggest three ways that we can use smart politics in our daily work lives: Talk about "we" not "me." Whenever possible, fold your concern into one that emphasizes the good of the organization. For example, one female associate at a law firm was told that she needed to drum up business with the firm's clients, many of whom were in insurance companies. She felt uncomfortable about proposing lunches or dinners with some of the older male insurance company lawyers, fearing she would be misinterpreted. She was equally uncomfortable, though, telling the firm about her concerns, worrying that they would think she was making excuses for not getting business. The way to deal with that situation, though, was to emphasize that this understandable problem was getting in the way of the firm's prime interest in getting more business. If she approaches the firm leaders and explains that she wants to help get business but is concerned about appearances and wants help in that regard, she is focusing on the problem for the firm rather than the problem for her. This is a first-rate way to solve problems. Whenever you can, make sure to express your personal issues in terms of the best interests of your firm or company. Use lawyerly skills. It may be that a lawyer representing himself or herself has a fool for a client. But when it comes to advocating for yourself in the workplace, who else can you rely on? For example an in-house lawyer found, to his consternation, that many of his colleagues were getting paid more than he was. He was angry about this, but realized he probably wouldn't get too far barging in on the CEO and accusing him of unfairness. Instead, he sat down and put together the facts and figures supporting an airtight argument for a raise. He listed all the deals he had worked on; the money he had saved the company, the revenues he had helped raise, and the ways he had streamlined the operation. He went to the CEO, argued on the basis of the facts, and got his raise. It's amazing how often focusing on specific facts and figures-rather than on conclusions-can solve a problem. Make them laugh. A fantastic tool for workplace problems is humor. Remember the first example I used in this article-the in-house woman lawyer commenting on men's appearances? Humor helps get difficult messages across while preserving relationships. And it's also more likely to change behavior. At the end of the day, if you're sending a difficult message, what you want people to do is absorb the message and do something about it. That isn't likely to happen if the recipient has been made to feel defensive or humiliated. Holly English is of counsel to the law firm of Post, Polak, Goodsell, MacNeill & Strauchler, P.A. in Roseland, NJ. The article is reprinted with permission from The Complete Lawyer © 2005, www.thecompletelawyer.com. She is the author of Gender on Trial: Sexual Stereotypes and Work/Life Balance in the Legal Workplace (ALM, 2003). She writes regularly about law office politics and management in publications such as Legal Times and the ABA Law Practice Management, and has been a guest speaker at a program of the NH Women's Bar Association. |
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