Positive Political Skills in the Workplace

This one-day workshop equips participants with the essential skills to navigate workplace dynamics through positive political behavior - the ethical, constructive use of influence to achieve personal and organizational goals. Participants learn to distinguish productive "positive politics" from dysfunctional office politics, identify their sources of power, and build referent power through communication, organization, and relationship-building. The course explores how to align goals, assess workplace climate, strengthen key interpersonal skills, and manage information effectively. Through practical tools, scenarios, and guided exercises, learners develop strategies for handling difficult people and situations, resolving conflict, negotiating, and maintaining personal well-being. By the end of the session, participants create a personalized action plan to enhance their influence, effectiveness, and professional impact.

Duration: 1 Day

Objectives

After this session, participants will be able to:

• Recognize the difference between ‘office’ politics and ‘positive politics’
• Identify their sources of personal and organizational influence (power)
• Develop their ‘referent power’
• Organize their lives to optimize opportunities
• Use specific communication skills to manage situations involving power
• Handle difficult situations and people more effectively

Outline

• Politics and Power
  • What it is (influence)
  • Sources of power in the workplace
  • Ways to gain it
  • Ways we give it away
  • Concepts and principles
  • Negative and positive use: continuum
  • Influencing within our organizational culture
  • Transparency: advantages and disadvantages
• Personal Planning
  • Work and Life Goals: priorities
  • Gap Analysis (A= Strengths and Skills required to achieve my goals) (B= Strengths and Skills I now have) (C= Strengths and Skills to acquire and develop)
  • Order (7 S’s: Sort, Select, Save, Sweep, Sanitize, Systematize, Store)
  • Guarding our mental and physical health
• The Skills
  • Basic communication
  • Political sensitivity and assessment of the climate
  • Checking perceptions and assumptions
  • Reading nonverbal signals
  • Questioning and listening
  • Assertive communication
  • Persuasion skills
  • Positive language
  • Managing information and resources
  • Building rapport and relationships
  • Solving problems
  • Collaborative decision-making
  • Inspiring and motivating others
  • Negotiation skills
• Difficult Situations and People
  • Payoffs “difficult” people get from their behavior
  • Some types of difficult situations and people
  • Handling conflict
  • Practice scenarios
  • Managing stress and anger
• Personal Action Plan for improving our positive politics

ON-TRACK Corporate Training has a diverse and flexible schedule that can be customized to your needs. We offer group courses (both public and corporate), one-on-one training, virtual (on-line) classroom (Zoom etc.) and on-site training options. We also have easily accessible on-line training videos on OnTrackTV.