Whilst the content for the fifth Aurora session was interesting I didn’t feel that I grasped the content particularly well as we were going through. I think this was possibly a pacing issue, as I frequently felt like as soon as a concept was introduced we were on to the next before I’d had the chance to note things down or even fully appreciate the idea. A fellow Auroran said she felt like it could have easily been presented as two full day sessions and I’m inclined to agree!
A busy workload meant that it took a while before I could revisit my (sparse) notes and the slides. In fact, I’m writing this out of work hours but I’m pleased that I’ve managed to do so as I’m finding it has allowed me to better grasp some of the key topics.
Again, this isn’t a full document of the day, but a few topics that I felt were interesting to me:
The point of politics
In order to make a difference in our areas of work, we need to understand how things get done where we are. In some cases there are explicit processes that we can use, but often there are other elements that are less obvious that might be blockers, or shortcuts to the outcome we want to achieve. Ideally these would all be documented, but realistically we need to develop a sense of the politics in our institution to help us navigate these opaque mazes.
Woods and Weeds – a short hand
The Four Metaphors of Organisational Politics (Jarrett) are the Woods, the High Ground, the Weeds and the Rocks, referring to different positions (organisational or individual) and power sources (formal or informal). These can give us a shorthand for the sort of dynamics at play with decisions that we want to progress, and help us find ways through the political landscape.
One thing I particularly liked with this model was the view that no position was inherently good or bad. For example in the High Ground, an institution having a defined series of committees is great in some respects – people know what to expect and that there is due process to consider things carefully. However if this process prevents action from being taken in a timely manner, and people are attempting to bypass it, then it is actually a barrier. The position isn’t the problem, it’s how it’s used.
Emotional Intelligence
This could have been a whole day session on it’s own, but essentially, Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a skill that allows us to be more influential in the workplace. It’s partly about understanding and regulating our own emotions, but also understanding others and adapting to accommodate them. A key takeaway was that we can improve our aptitude in EI, but sadly there wasn’t time to discuss in detail much about the ways we could do this, or what it means for neurodiverse people. I think there is definitely more reading I can do in this area to help me understand my own strengths and weaknesses better.
Guest Speaker – Jo Martin
Jo Martin had some really great, practical tips for getting people in positions of influence to look favourably on your work. One of my favourites was finding a way to link your work to a specific project or an organisational objective that the person is invested in. Another was when you get feedback on a document, try adding the names of the contributors as an amendment history, so that you can demonstrate the buy-in that you already have had on it. She also had some tips which were essentially good storytelling – giving punchy messages, using simple but powerful graphics, and tailoring to your audience and what they’re going to react to most.
Credibility
Credibility was identified as another factor in how successful a leader you might be. We were encouraged to think about the ways in which we were more or less credible in the workplace. Credibility builds capital which allows us to have more sway with our colleagues. Being reliable, consistent and capable, managing our workloads, communicating clearly, and interacting well with others are all ways that we do this.
Sometimes we may find that our colleagues perceive us differently from how we see ourselves and we need to work to build our credibility with them. One of the ways we can do this is to ensure that our achievements are made known to people – Invisibility doesn’t build credibility.
Networking
The day 5 presenter Vajaya Nath told us that she has a “panel” of people in her life that she uses to help her fill in gaps in her knowledge. She has a young person, a predictor (looking at emergent topics), a critic, and others. She suggested that having a range of people, from cheerleaders to challengers, can help us understand more viewpoints and better equip us to successfully navigate the politics in our workplaces.
For situations where more “cold” networking is required, the suggestion akin to a dance card appealed to me. You identify a few people who will be at an event that you want to speak to, and perhaps reach out to them in advance to say that you’d like to connect. You can also think of some topics that would be beneficial to discuss and go prepared.
What next?
Usually writing these posts is a great way for me to organise my thoughts and absorb the messages from the Aurora sessions, however I think the sheer volume of the ideas has made this difficult this time. My next step will be to take three of the topics: Credibility, Emotional Intelligence, and Networking and work out how I’m going to reflect on these separately. I might do some more reading and then work out where my own strengths and weaknesses are in each area. Then come up with some ideas on where I can improve, and where I can capitalise. I’ll let you know how I get on!