United we stand: You should know how to get people to help you if you want to reach the top

When John Varley took charge of one of BT’s three Scottish divisions in 1995, he was startled by the boardroom intrigue that greeted him.

With no outside competition, the three Scottish divisions competed against each other. Varley said there was a culture of back-room briefings, character defamation and surreptitious deals struck with friends to freeze out rivals. Soon, the new boy was allocated a budget far short of what he needed while extra resources went to the other divisions.

“I fought back in the only way I knew, not through a head-on confrontation but through manoeuvre warfare,” he said.

Varley rose above the personal attacks, got his own team well organised and motivated to work together on clear objectives and set about forging alliances rather than scheming. Within three years, his division was setting the pace in Scotland. The old culture faded before Varley’s more open and co-operative approach to office politics, and when he moved back to England to oversee BT’s global alliance with AT&T in 1999, he could describe those who had once intrigued against him as friends.

It is still a delicate subject, but an ability to understand and participate in office politics is becoming more openly acknowledged as an essential skill in the workplace. Adrian Hitchenor, chief executive of the search and selection consultancy Hitchenor Wakeford Group, said: “Politics is no longer a dirty word in the workplace. Politicking is an increasingly important skill for managers but it still has negative connotations, and few people would openly claim to being good at office politics.”

He argued that enlightened business leaders regarded politicking as about forging partnerships and overcoming differences, rather than about protecting turf and pursuing personal advantage. Those who can play this game have a better chance of getting ahead in their careers.

“The harsh reality is that having technical skill isn’t enough to excel these days and ambitious executives need to hone their political skills too,” said Hitchenor.

Research by the Chartered Management Institute supports the argument. In a survey of 1,495 UK business leaders, 63 per cent thought that partnership-working would become a priority by 2012, while 34 per cent thought a focus on competing for internal resources would remain valuable.

“Politics is the art of getting things done by other people over whom you have no direct authority,” according to Mark Fenton-’Creevy, professor of organisational behaviour at the Open University, UK. “Often the best way of advancing your own interest is not by trampling over other people but creating the conditions in which people want to help you.”

If you work openly and for the benefit of the organisation, the rewards can be high. But when the politicking is for an individual’s benefit at the expense of others, the risk is great. “As soon as you get a reputation for manipulation or screwing people over, people will treat you with mistrust,” said Fenton-’Creevy. “Trust takes a long time to build up but you can destroy it overnight.”

He identified five key elements of being effective at office politics. Adopting such an approach benefits all concerned. “In organisations, things get done through networks and relationships, so being an effective politician is a useful route to promotion,” said Fenton-’Creevy.

Exeter University was languishing in the university league tables when political scientist Steve Smith became vice-chancellor in 2002. He believed that in coming years, only the top 20 universities would get significant research funding. Some fundamental reforms were required. But getting an organisation of 2,900 people to embrace change was daunting. Indeed, many staff viewed league tables and research assessment ratings as irrelevant or incorrect. “The biggest challenge was getting the organisation to look outwards,” said Smith. “When I arrived, people preferred internal assessment and concluded we’re doing great — who cares about league tables?”

Over the next year, Smith listened to everyone’s views, while putting out a consistent message backed by unspun evidence. He wanted Exeter in the top 20 of The Sunday Times and The Times university league tables by 2010 but needed everyone, from porters to professors, to adopt that target as their own. “We told them where things were and let them deduce for themselves what the goals had to be. There has to be leadership but the vision has to be held by the whole organisation.”

His approach has worked. This year, Exeter has climbed to 17th in both The Sunday Times and The Times tables.

Management guru and former chairman of Allied Domecq, Granada and the Arts Council England, Sir Gerry Robinson, said he had no time for office politics. He noted that an organisation can pay the ultimate price if it promotes people whose principal ability is playing the game. But he admitted that political skills can be vital. “You have to know who influences who and when you want to get your ideas heard, to get a new project off the ground,” said Robinson. “But there is a subtle difference between knowing your way through the system and playing the system. It is important to stay on the right side of that divide.”