Leadership and Organizational Politics: How to Win Office Politics and Thrive in a Competitive Environment

Politics plays out in every area of human endeavour. Wherever there are two or more people, there will be politics and as a direct result, conflict is inevitable. Differences in personality, leadership style, culture, and value system make this so. Accordingly, personalities will often clash in organisations where this diversity is inevitable. However, individuals, I mean leaders, can manage clashes effectively.

Like it or not, no office or organisation is free from politics. Man is, by nature, a political being. Thus, he is innately wired to compete, so, naturally, there will be politics, competition, and conflict between two or more people. Politics is about who gets what, when, and how. It is about how scarce resources are allocated. Experience tells us that political skills are essential for survival in any organisation. Some people do not survive in certain situations because they cannot navigate office politics despite being talented. hard-working, and having the best intentions.

This book extensively discusses personal leadership, organisational conflicts, workplace politics, and leadership growth. This book is intended to be a reference material for people who want to gain valuable insights into improving their leadership effectiveness while effectively managing organisational politics and conflicts. Further, it fills an important gap in the literature on leadership development programs in organisations.

Most of the existing literature omits lessons on leadership conceptions of followership; the focus is on educating, training, and developing the leader, not the follower, the superior, not the subordinate. Also, most leadership development programs fail to reckon that leadership is a process of influence that involves an ongoing transaction between a leader and followers.

Each of whom was likely to shift from being in the role of a leader to being a follower. The key to effective leadership is building a harmonious relationship between leaders and followers. Though most attention is given to the leader, leadership depends on more than one person to achieve group goals. Therefore, the followers and the leader are vital to understanding leadership development as a process. Thus, the book considers leadership development from a follower’s perspective and attempts to provide answers to relatable questions.

It is targeted at people across all spectrums of life: positional leaders in corporate and non-corporate spaces, employees, managers, and even entrepreneurs who want to take the lead in their field, and as many people who want to understand how to manage organisational politics without getting sucked into its murky unpleasantness.

The strategies and principles are delivered practically with a blend of storytelling and case study analysis to deliver its message, taking its readers on an immersive journey through personal leadership and organisational politics. This book will equip readers with the principles of effective personal leadership. Importantly, they will gain insight into the application of personal leadership principles as a strategy to navigate organisational politics.