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    Political Savvy and Ethical Navigation

    Not operators and schemers. Almost nobody refuses to be political outright — they refuse once, quietly, and then spend years outside the conversation where it gets settled. This programme is about getting the real thing said to somebody who can act on it, without trading away the thing that made you refuse in the first place.

    Someone will hear your idea out. She has no authority to approve it and won't tell you who does.

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    14Skill
    Signals
    Research Prevalence
    No. 11

    13.1%

    of the 11,359 leadership cases in our research

    Report 01, draft

    Why it's hard

    Workplace politics isn't about personality. It's about different interests, and who can actually say yes. Treat it as beneath you and decisions get made without you.

    Or you give up quietly: make the same argument again, decide raising it won't change anything, or escalate too early and burn the relationship.

    Navigating it well means knowing who decides, who has a stake and whose work has to change, and staying honest while you work it through.

    What we look for

    Here is an example of some of the Skill Signals that we teach you how to implement and then test for as you progress with this skill

    Skill Signal Groups
    • Reading the situation
    • Operating in it
    • The ethical line
    • Closing
    Some sample Skill Signals

    1. You asked who else is affected

    2. You stated your own interest openly

    3. You named the concern rather than implying it

    A sample of 14 Skill Signals. The assessment also looks for behaviours we don’t list.

    Try it without anyone watching

    One four-minute conversation from Political Savvy and Ethical Navigation. See your initial feedback straight away, then save your results with a free account.

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    No account to start. No card. Your employer can't see how you did.

    How your practice stays private

    Questions about this moment.

    Individual contributor: Moderate; First-line manager: High; Mid-level leader: Core; Executive: Core. Low relevance means the moment is not offered at that level.

    It appears in 13.1% of 11,359 real leadership cases in draft Research Report 01.

    The assessment uses 14 observational markers across 4 groups. This page shows only a small sample, because held-out assessment depends on some behaviours remaining unseen.