Political Awareness Quiz

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COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE

A decision that significantly affects your team has just been made — one that surprised you. The formal process looked straightforward, but the outcome was not what the logic of the situation suggested. Your most honest first response is:

Frustration — the decision does not make sense given the evidence and you are not sure how it happened Curiosity — you immediately start working out whose priorities it serves and what conversations happened before the formal meeting Acceptance — these things happen and second-guessing decisions above your level is not a good use of energy Analysis — you replay the process to understand where the decision was actually made and by whom

COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE

When you think about the informal relationships you have built across your organisation — the people you can call on when you need something to happen that requires cooperation from outside your team — the most honest description of that network is:

Deliberately built — you have invested in relationships across functions and levels specifically because you know they will matter when things get complex Minimal — you focus on doing excellent work and trust that the right people will notice it Functional — you have good relationships with the people your role requires you to interact with Uneven — strong in some areas, almost absent in others, and you have not been deliberate about filling the gaps

COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE

You have a proposal you believe strongly in — a change that would genuinely improve how your organisation operates. You have the evidence, the logic, and the right answer. The most honest version of what you do next is:

Present it at the next available opportunity — the evidence is strong and timing is secondary to quality Test it informally with a few key people before bringing it to a wider audience — you want to understand the landscape before you commit publicly Map who needs to be on board before you put it forward formally, then build that support deliberately before any formal presentation Wait for the right moment — you have learned that good ideas need the right conditions and you are watching for when those conditions exist

COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE

You are preparing for an important meeting where a decision will be made that affects your work. You know who is formally in the room. The most important thing you do in preparation is:

Prepare your evidence thoroughly — a strong case should be able to stand on its own merits regardless of the politics Understand each person's priorities, concerns, and relationships with each other before the meeting — the dynamic in the room will shape the outcome more than the quality of your argument Brief your direct manager so they can support your position in the meeting — having internal advocacy is more important than the presentation itself Identify who the real decision-maker is — and make sure you have spoken to them before the meeting, not during it

COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE

You have been told that building relationships with senior stakeholders and managing your visibility across the organisation are important for your career. Your honest response to that guidance is:

You treat it as a strategic responsibility — not because it feels natural but because you understand that influence in organisations requires investment in relationships that extend beyond your immediate role You find it uncomfortable — it feels like performing rather than working, and you would rather be judged on what you deliver than on how well you network You do it selectively — you invest in relationships where there is a genuine connection or a clear mutual benefit You acknowledge it matters but you have not made it a sustained priority — you do it when it comes up naturally rather than by design

COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE

You have strong views on a strategic direction your organisation is taking that you believe is wrong. The evidence supports your position. The decision has not yet been formally made. You:

Raise it through the formal process — submit your analysis through the appropriate channels and make your case where it will be recorded Raise it with your manager and let them decide whether to take it further — it is not your place to go around the formal structure Stay quiet — expressing dissent about strategic direction above your level risks being seen as difficult rather than insightful Identify the person or people whose view is most likely to shape the decision and find a way to have a genuine conversation with them about your concern before the formal decision is made

COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE

When you look at the people in your organisation who seem to get things done — whose projects are funded, whose ideas get adopted, whose requests get prioritised — the most honest version of what you think explains their success is:

Hard work and results — the people who consistently deliver are the ones who consistently get resources and support Relationships and visibility — it is less about what you do and more about who knows what you are doing and thinks well of you A combination of genuine capability and deliberate investment in the right relationships at the right levels — and you can usually name which factor is dominant in each case Politics — the system rewards the people who play the game best, regardless of the quality of what they are actually doing

COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE

You have just watched someone else's proposal get approved — a proposal whose quality you would honestly rate as comparable to one you put forward six months ago that did not make it through. The difference, as best you can reconstruct it, is not the substance. It is something in how they brought it — the conversations they had before the meeting, the people they had in the room, the way they framed it in terms of what the decision-makers cared about most. You were not wrong about your proposal. You were operating in a system you were only partially reading. The most honest version of what you do with that realisation is:

Conclude that the system is unfair and resolve to focus on producing work of such undeniable quality that it eventually cannot be ignored Examine specifically what they did that you did not — not the quality of the proposal but the political work that preceded it — and update how you will approach the next one C Talk to a trusted colleague about what you observed — you want to test whether your read is accurate before you draw conclusions 2 File it as useful information about how this organisation actually works and adjust your general approach without making a specific plan

COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE

You believe that the professionals who navigate organisational politics most effectively are operating in a way that compromises their integrity — that the willingness to manage perceptions, build strategic relationships, and time your moves for maximum effect is fundamentally different from just doing good work and letting it speak. You:

Know that this distinction — between doing good work and being politically aware — is a false one. The most effective professionals do both, and treating political skill as a compromise of integrity is the belief that keeps capable people invisible Know this is partially true — there are versions of political behaviour that do compromise integrity, but there are versions that simply reflect a sophisticated understanding of how organisations work Consider this essentially right — the professionals who are most visibly political are often the ones you trust least, and you would rather earn your position through what you produce than through how you manage perceptions Consider this exactly right — you have seen too many political operators advance at the expense of more capable colleagues to believe that playing the game is compatible with genuine professional integrity

COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE

You want to understand who really has influence over a strategic decision that matters to you — not who the formal hierarchy says should make it, but who will actually shape it. The most effective way to find that out is:

Study the organisational chart and identify the senior leaders with formal responsibility for the area — formal authority usually tracks real influence Ask your manager directly — they will have the most accurate read of the power dynamics above your level Watch whose input is sought before decisions are made, whose absence delays things, and whose endorsement changes the energy in a room — real influence announces itself through behaviour, not titles Talk to peers at your level across different functions — they often have a clearer view of the political landscape above them than people inside it

COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE

A senior leader you do not know well makes a comment in a meeting that suggests they have a misimpression of your work — not hostile, just inaccurate. Correcting it publicly would be awkward. Leaving it unchallenged means an important person continues to have an inaccurate view of what you are doing. You:

Leave it — correcting senior leaders in meetings, even gently, creates more problems than it solves Correct it in the meeting, politely and specifically — accuracy matters and the awkwardness is worth it Raise your hand and add context without directly contradicting them — you find a way to introduce the accurate information without making it a correction Let it pass in the meeting, then follow up directly with them afterwards — a brief, warm conversation that clarifies the picture without the audience or the awkwardness

COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE

When you have a significant ask — resources, a decision, support for a proposal — the most honest version of how you think about the timing of that ask is:

You make the ask when you are ready — you do not want to delay something important because the moment is not quite right You think about whether this is a good moment for the person you are asking — what they are carrying, what has just happened, whether this is a moment when they can say yes You consider the full landscape — what has just succeeded or failed in the organisation, what the person's current priorities are, who else is asking for their attention, and whether there is a framing that connects your ask to something they already want You test it informally first — you float it in a low-stakes conversation to read the response before you make it real

COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE

When you look back at the most significant political misstep of your career — a moment when you misread a situation, missed a dynamic, or acted without understanding the full landscape — the most honest version of what it taught you is:

Something specific — you can name exactly what you missed, why you missed it, and what you do differently now because of it Something general — you became more careful, more attentive, more willing to check your read before acting You are not sure you have had a significant political misstep — you tend to stay out of situations where those dynamics are most active Something about the importance of relationships — you understood after it happened that you had not invested enough in the right connections before you needed them

COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE

The most honest version of how you currently think about organisational politics — the account you would give to yourself, not in a leadership development session — is:

Something you navigate because you have to — you wish organisations worked purely on merit but they do not and you accept that Something you mostly avoid — you do your work, trust the people above you to make good decisions, and try not to get involved in dynamics that feel beneath you Something you actively reject — you believe the healthiest thing you can do is model what meritocratic, transparent leadership looks like, and refuse to participate in the informal games Something you have made peace with — you understand that informal power dynamics are not a corruption of organisations but a feature of them, and you have learned to navigate them with enough sophistication to be effective without compromising what you stand for

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Share with your network

A decision that significantly affects your team has just been made — one that surprised you. The formal process looked straightforward, but the outcome was not what the logic of the situation suggested. Your most honest first response is:

When you think about the informal relationships you have built across your organisation — the people you can call on when you need something to happen that requires cooperation from outside your team — the most honest description of that network is:

You have a proposal you believe strongly in — a change that would genuinely improve how your organisation operates. You have the evidence, the logic, and the right answer. The most honest version of what you do next is:

You are preparing for an important meeting where a decision will be made that affects your work. You know who is formally in the room. The most important thing you do in preparation is:

You have been told that building relationships with senior stakeholders and managing your visibility across the organisation are important for your career. Your honest response to that guidance is:

You have strong views on a strategic direction your organisation is taking that you believe is wrong. The evidence supports your position. The decision has not yet been formally made. You:

When you look at the people in your organisation who seem to get things done — whose projects are funded, whose ideas get adopted, whose requests get prioritised — the most honest version of what you think explains their success is:

You want to understand who really has influence over a strategic decision that matters to you — not who the formal hierarchy says should make it, but who will actually shape it. The most effective way to find that out is:

When you have a significant ask — resources, a decision, support for a proposal — the most honest version of how you think about the timing of that ask is:

When you look back at the most significant political misstep of your career — a moment when you misread a situation, missed a dynamic, or acted without understanding the full landscape — the most honest version of what it taught you is:

The most honest version of how you currently think about organisational politics — the account you would give to yourself, not in a leadership development session — is:

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