Hello , lady leader , and welcome to another episode of the Leading Her Introvert Way podcast . I'm your host , dr Nicole Bryan , and I help Black introvert women land their next senior leader role , become elite executive leaders and build wealth in their careers without burning out or without becoming workaholics . Today's topic is a juicy one , and I have been looking forward to having this conversation for a couple of weeks now . It's one of the topics that comes up every single time I get a group of Black introverted women together and we are talking about office politics . Now I know when you hear that name , you or that word , that phrase , you are likely cringing right , and I get it , because office politics means something different to each one of us , something different to each one of us , and so today I want to talk about how you , as an introverted Black woman , can make office politics work for you rather than against you . So let's start by just talking about what we've been taught about office politics in particular and why most of us are afraid of it . So the messaging that we , as Black women , have received about office politics and just about working in general , right , is that ? Hey , you keep your head down , you let your work speak for yourself and good things will come to you . We've been told this time and time again all the way from elementary school to graduate school to now being in our work settings . We also know that , as introverts , that's our preferred way . We would like to just come to work , do our jobs , get the recognition and the pay that we deserve for it and be able to go home without all the extra bells and whistles that sometimes our work environments demand of us , right ? Okay , well , we've also been conditioned to see politics as dirty and manipulative , right . Politics as dirty and manipulative right . Something that , particularly those of us with high integrity , which most of us are , we don't like to think of having to do something extra or on the side to be able to get the recognition that we deserve for the jobs that we've been hired to do . So we see politics similar to how we think of politicians . Right , that word politics we immediately think about politicians whom we don't like . We don't trust many of our politicians . We believe that there are back office deals that are happening . We think of politicians many politicians as being sleazy and being manipulative , both to the public , the people that they serve , as well as behind closed doors . And because we have that in our minds when we think about office politics . We see the same things , we get the same connotations . Here's the deal .
Speaker 1The myth that good work alone will get you promoted is exactly that . It is a myth , and if you've been following me for a little while here , you already know we've talked about that ad nauseum . That concept of coming to school , coming to work as a Black , introverted woman just doing the responsibilities that are listed on your job description and going home . That is not what will get you recognized , that will not get you seen and appreciated , nor will it get you promoted . So the advice to kind of keep your head down , let your work speak for yourself , is extremely outdated in this day and age . And not only is it outdated , it is advice that will keep you powerless and keep you overlooked and keep you stuck at the current level and in your current job . We don't want that .
Speaker 1So let's talk really quickly about what office politics really is and what it is not . Politics or office politics is not backstabbing , it is not gossiping , it is not being fake . And so when we talk about you being able to navigate office politics successfully , that's not what we're talking about the backstabbing , the gossiping , the being fake , the lying , promoting yourself , self-promotion in a way that is very aggressive and very assertive All of these are things that make you want to just run back home and get under the covers , because I know it does me as well . But that is the connotation that we've been walking around in our minds with as we have been becoming better and stronger leaders . But that is not what office politics really is . What office politics really is , particularly for those of us Black , introverted women who are mature and who want to move into higher levels of leadership . It is really about understanding how to influence others in your work environment , how to build strategic relationships , how to navigate organizational dynamics right .
Speaker 1When I think about office politics , I think about how to lead through relationships either relationships with your colleagues , relationships with people who report to you , relationships with who you report to , because the truth of the matter is , everything that you do as a leader gets accomplished through relationships . The more senior you go in any organization , the role that you have , you are more than likely not going to be able to get everything accomplished on your own with your own two hands , with your own brain . You likely will have to depend on other people to either help you complete a portion or all of your responsibilities . A CEO of a company is not doing every single role and every single task within that company . He or she has to rely on other people to get the work done , to develop the product , to make the sale , to provide the service right . And so you , as a leader , you are in a similar position where you are accountable and responsible for certain things , but the people around you are those that are going to help you accomplish what you are responsible and accountable for . So it's no different Office politics .
Speaker 1When I think about office politics , it really is about leading through relationships . So what I need you to do is I need you to reframe how you think about and how you define office politics . Reframe it to leading through relationships or being organizationally literate , which is understanding how things really work in your work environment , how things really get accomplished in a business setting . If you continue to try to avoid office politics , you are not doing something noble . You are not better than other people if you are trying to constantly avoid office politics . What it is and this might sound a little harsh , but what it is is a naive play , particularly if you are someone who is looking to grow her career , office politics is not a dirty word . Office politics is not something that you need to avoid . If you are going to be a smart senior leader today or tomorrow , you need to learn how to leverage office politics in your favor .
Speaker 1So let's talk now , then , about how office politics has been used against us , because it has been right . So I want to have this discussion about the politics of exclusion , which is being left out of key conversations and decisions . Sometimes that's related to the role that you might be in like you're left out because of your role or your responsibilities . Sometimes it's related to the fact that you might be a Black woman right , and if you're working in an environment full of white men , then you may be , on occasion or regularly , left out of key conversations . That is what I'm talking about when I talk about the politics of exclusion .
Speaker 1When this happens and we are excluded from conversations and decisions , intentionally or unintentionally , it does something to us . It is hurtful , it feels disrespectful and we also want to not even be bothered with it . We want to be able to get our work done , be in these environments without even having to deal with it , but that is not realistic . The truth is that the more responsibilities that you have as a leader , the more conversations you need to be involved in , the more decisions you need to be a part of , because it's going to have consequences for you , your team and the larger organization . Now , because we have such disdain or , historically , black introverted women have had such disdain for office politics , and because we've tried to avoid it at all costs , it has been weaponized against us , right , and it has been used against us in terms of advancing inside small and large organizations , and we've helped them to do that right . Because we don't want to be bothered with it , because we're it , because we think we're above it , because we have such negative thoughts about office politics , we have helped other people exclude us , and what I would say is there is a double standard here , because when we engage in office politics , sometimes people will label us as scheming , but when we don't engage in office politics , sometimes people will label us as scheming , but when we don't engage in office politics , sometimes we are labeled as lacking leadership and it's used as a reason not to promote us or not to include us , right .
Speaker 1So it is important to acknowledge that not all settings , not all organizations one are exclusive . First , let me just say all organizations have office politics . So if you think that you can find an organization or a company or a business or any type of work setting that does not have office politics , you are sadly mistaken . You may be able to find a work setting that has office politics that are either minimal or the type of office politics that doesn't make your skin crawl . That is doable . But if you think that there are organizations out there that don't have any office politics , I'm here to tell you that that is not the case .
Speaker 1Now that we've established that every work setting has some level of office politics , then I want to make sure that you are walking away understanding that there are , in fact , environments that will try to use office politics against you . Just because you are a Black , introverted woman who is ambitious , that doesn't still give you the you know the right to say I'm not going to deal with it . You know , I'm not going to even acknowledge that that exists . There are clean , clear , morally grounded ways for you to navigate any environment that you are in and get the best and get the most out of the office politics that you have to navigate . Okay , so how do we do this right ? How do you make office politics work for you rather than against you ?
Speaker 1It all comes down to knowing what you're good at , knowing what your strengths are and figuring out how to use them to your advantage in your work environment . I will say it until the cows come home as a Black , introverted woman , you are an anomaly in the best of ways . You have the perspective of being Black , you have the perspective of being an introvert and you have the perspective of being female , and when you put all three of those together , chef's kiss right . So , leveraging your introvert strengths in your work setting and allowing them to help you navigate the political environment . So what introvert strengths am I talking about ? The deep listening , the ability to recognize patterns that other people can't or refuse to see , the ability and skill to be a strategic thinker those are just a handful of the strength that you already have and that you are likely not using to establish and leverage relationships within your work environment .
Speaker 1The second thing that you can do in terms of making politics work for you is building authentic relationships that serve mutual goals . First of all , I'm a big proponent of not making friends quote unquote at work , and I took that to the extreme , and so when I said that I didn't want to have friends at work because I personally like to keep my professional life and my personal life separate , I went so far as to say I don't even want to be making small talk at work , I don't want to look for commonalities between myself and my colleagues , I just want to go in , get the work done and get out . And that was such a big mistake , because everything is built on relationships and when you can be authentically yourself which I eventually learned how to do then the relationships that I leveraged at work were still very much in the professional world , right . They didn't cross over into personal , my personal life . They were still very much within the boundaries of being professional , but they were cordial . We goals . That doesn't feel sleazy , that doesn't feel manipulative . That , to me , is about two or more individuals who have similar goals , who are supporting each other in accomplishing their work and accomplishing the end result . That's what I mean by office . Politics doesn't have to be sleazy , right .
Speaker 1The other thing that you can be doing to make politics work for you at work is you can use information as currency . You have a level of expertise , you are in a role , you're in a position where your responsibilities give you a level of expertise . You are in a role , you're in a position where your responsibilities give you a level of access to information and a level of expertise that other people need . Why not leverage that information as currency ? So , when you have information or expertise that is in demand , you can and should be thinking about how you can best leverage that to make the impact that you want to make and to get the things that you want and you need from your employer , from your colleagues , from whomever . And what I would encourage you to do is to think about who needs what you have , who is wanting access to the information that you control .
Speaker 1So , for example , I had a client who was a marketing insights person in her company . She was responsible for holding focus groups of customers , she was responsible for understanding the market trends and , as you can imagine , that's a very powerful place to be because you have information that many different other departments want and need . You have information that definitely the senior execs want to know . You have information and access to information that the sales team needs right To be able to sell the products . They need to know what customers are saying they have their own intel , but you are the one looking broadly across the entire marketplace , or she was the one . She was having information that the media relations people wanted and needed . So she withheld information , but what she did was she used it as opportunities or the ticket to get herself included and invited to meetings that she wanted to be a part of . So that's what I mean by using your information or your expertise strategically to get you what you want and what you need . You can also be thinking about it in terms of creating your own informal influence network , right ? So if you are thinking about , you know , if you shed how you used to think about office politics and start thinking about it in terms of leading through relationships , like we mentioned earlier , you can and should be building informal networks inside your organization .
Speaker 1There are people right now I'm going to bet that you already have relationships with , you already respect , you already have a rapport with , and that you enjoy working with . Why are you not leveraging those relationships to either help you think and strategize more deeply or to allow yourself to again get access to people , things , rooms , resources that you want and need ? You do not have to isolate yourself . You do not have to isolate yourself . You do not have to look down on others around you who may be more socially connected to their colleagues . You yourself , as an introverted woman , you can still which I do protect your energy on a day-to-day basis and simultaneously have meaningful relationships , work relationships that will serve you as much as you serve them . So those are just a few ways in which you can be making office politics work for you versus working against you .
Speaker 1So , as we wrap up this episode , I really do want to encourage you to rethink about and redefine office politics for yourself . When you say that you don't like office politics , it's not office politics that you're talking about , because , by definition , office politics is neutral . Office politics really is just about having relationships and being able to leverage those relationships in a positive way that can work for you . When you talk about the old way that you used to think about office politics , I'm going to bet that you thought about it in the same way that I used to think about it . I'm going to bet that you thought about it in the same way that I used to think about it , which was relating it to politicians per se , relating it to things that are negative , relating it to back office deals or shady deals that were being there , and relating it to people being fake and ass kissing and all of those things . And in some cases , maybe that is what office politics looks like , but that doesn't mean that you have to define office politics that way , nor does it mean that the office politics that you engage in has to be that way . You get to define what it means to you . You get to determine how much you play , how much you don't play . You get to decide what relationships you build at work versus what relationships you don't build at work .
Speaker 1And again , the more senior you become , if you want to be effective the most effective that you can possibly be in the role that you have today and you want to move up in your career , whether it's in your current company or a different one understanding how to make and maintain solid , productive working relationships is imperative . Relationships is imperative , and knowing how to leverage those working relationships for the benefit of your team and for the best outcome that you can possibly get is crucial . So , lady leader , hopefully you are walking away from today's conversation with a new understanding of what office politics is and what office politics is not , and with the understanding that you don't have to shun office politics . You are better off understanding how office politics works in your current environment and figuring out how you can start leveraging it on your behalf . And if you want help with that as I did , as I have gotten throughout my entire career then I would love to be the person to help you navigate your career and navigate how to leverage office politics for your benefit .
Speaker 1We can do that in my one-on-one coaching , which is the Elite Executive Leader Program , and it is a 12-week one-on-one private coaching environment where you and I get to work hand in hand to not only figure out what your leadership and executive leadership goals are , but what you have to do to accomplish those goals . We start with a brief conversation and you and I will jump on a call together and we will talk about what your goals are , what your interests are , what your interests are , what your current work environment is , some of the challenges that you may be facing and , ultimately , where you want to go , and then I will map out , right then and there , suggestions for a path that you can take to accomplish your goals , and we'll decide whether or not it makes sense for us to work together longer term . Either way , I look forward to hearing from you . So go ahead and click the link in the show notes , or you can meet me on LinkedIn and click the link in my profile there . Sign up for a conversation offline and we'll go from there . In the meantime , keep leading your introvert way , lady leader , and I'll see you next week .
Speaker 1That's a wrap for this episode of Leading Her Way . Thanks for tuning in . If you have thoughts , questions or ideas for future topics , connect and send me a message on LinkedIn and if you enjoyed today's episode , subscribe . And please take a minute to write a quick review on Apple Podcasts . Your review will help spread the word to other ambitious females so they know they're not alone and that this podcast is a community of support for all of us leading her way to the top . Remember your leadership is needed . Your leadership is powerful . This podcast is a community of support for all of us leading her way to the top . Remember your leadership is needed . Your leadership is powerful , so lead boldly Until next time .