Learning to lead with political astuteness

Abstract

There is increasing recognition that leaders exercising political astuteness are more effective at work. Understanding how political astuteness skills are acquired is valuable in all sectors and is particularly important in the case of public sector managers, for whom formal and informal politics is an integral part of their context. This article addresses the theory and empirical research gap on leadership development for political skills, by reporting on a mixed methods study of mainly senior managers from the UK, Australia and New Zealand, with a survey of 1012 and 42 interviews. We find that the sources of political astuteness development perceived as most valuable tended to be unplanned and experiential more than formal, and the paper deploys a political skills acquisition framework to explore and explain these findings.

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the contributions of Professor John Alford and Professor Owen Hughes.

Notes

1 Works councils are union-like organizations representing workers at the local level. Works councillors are elected by the workforce.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australia and New Zealand School of Government.

Notes on contributors

Sophie Yates

Dr Sophie Yates is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Public Service Research Group, School of Business, UNSW Canberra. She has published on political astuteness, public value, co-production of public services, and disability and domestic violence policy. She is interested in a gender lens on public administration and public policy.

Jean Hartley

Professor Jean Hartley is Professor of Public Leadership at the Open University Business School. She has contributed to the field of public leadership and management for two decades through research, teaching and development work. Her special interests are in leadership with political astuteness, and innovation and organizational change in public services.