Leading with Political Awareness (June 2007)

A pioneering research initiative exploring how to develop leaders with the capability to manage the political dimension of their businesses.

Published: June 2007

Authors: Professor Jean Hartley, Professor Clive Fletcher, Petra Wilton, Patrick Woodman, Christoph Ungemach 

ISBN: 0-85946-485-7

Price: £75 Non-members / £30 members - Order online

The executive summary is available free of charge here.

An understanding of policy and politics is an increasingly important skill for managers, whether located in the private, public or voluntary sectors. In the context of increasingly complex partnership working, high media visibility and fast-moving change, Leading with Political Awareness examines how political awareness skills help leaders across all sectors deliver improved performance.

This report, based on a major survey of 1,495 senior managers as well as a series of focus groups and one-to-one interviews, provides the first national picture of levels of ‘political skill’ across the UK and highlights what senior executives will need to succeed in the future.

The findings show that a majority of managers view good political skills as being about alliance-building, rather than turf-wars or pursuit of personal advantage. Political awareness skills are used both to shape the internal priorities of the organisation and to build partnerships with external partners; but with most managers developing their skills through experience and learning from mistakes, there is a need for a new approach to developing these increasingly important skills.

The research was conducted by the Chartered Management Institute in partnership with Warwick Business School and was sponsored by the Improvement and Development Agency, Atkins, and the Leadership Centre for Local Government.

Further Information
For more information, please email research@managers.org.uk or call 020 7421 2721.