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Wherever you sit in the company org chart, politics affects how you do your job. Come hear tips from Rick Brenner to help you convert politics from a source of chaos and trouble to a powerful tool for getting the job done.
Have you ever felt powerless to implement an important new idea? Have you ever been "blindsided" at a meeting? Have you ever lost two good employees because you could find no way to keep them from attacking each other? These are some of the issues of organizational politics.
Many of us have become enmeshed in politics, but we've also known some people who seem to be able to engage and prosper. How is that done? We'll cover the territory from three perspectives: the Self, Relationships, and Organizations.
Unless you can manage your own inner politics, mastery of organizational politics is out of reach. When we act without thinking, we're really acting without awareness. We'll explore practical paths to increasing self-awareness with an emphasis on developing political skills.
Trusting relationships are essential for health and political success. In a dynamic workplace, where people come and go ever more rapidly, forming these relationships quickly is a decided advantage politically, and makes work a heck of a lot more fun. We'll try to broaden your skills in relationship formation and maintenance.
Wherever you sit in the hierarchy, the culture of the organization is more powerful than you are. You can influence it, but you can't control it. Success lies in understanding your limitations and searching for solutions that respect your limitations.
About Rick Brenner
Rick Brenner is principal of Chaco Canyon Consulting. He works with people in dynamic problem-solving organizations that are making products so novel or complex that they need state-of-the-art teamwork and stronger relationships among their people. In 20 years as a software developer, software development manager, entrepreneur, consultant and coach, he has developed valuable insights into the interactions between people in complex dynamic environments, and between people and the media in which they work.
As a coach, he works with managers at all levels, emphasizing development of interpersonal skills, especially in fluid, high-stress contexts, such as organizations that are moving from a strict operational orientation to one in which ongoing operations must compete for resources with special enterprise-scale projects. Such a mixed environment creates organizational stresses that leaders must understand, not only because of the change-related issues that arise, but also because of the challenges to managers that they create, even when equilibrium is attained.
Mr. Brenner has held positions at Symbolics, Inc., and at Draper Laboratory, both of Cambridge, Massachusetts. At Symbolics, he was responsible for development of products based on Macsyma, a computer algebra system. At Draper, he was a principal investigator in a DARPA program, the Evolutionary Design of Complex Software, where he conducted research into advanced concepts for software development environments based on dynamic object-oriented programming languages. Since 1993, he has taught Spreadsheet Models for Managers, a course he devised, at the Harvard University Extension School.
Mr. Brenner holds a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT. He is a member of the National Speakers Association and Boston SPIN.
His current interests focus on improving personal and organizational effectiveness in abnormal situations, such as dramatic change, enterprise emergencies, and high-pressure project environments. He has written a number of essays on these subjects, available at his Web site, http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/, and writes and publishes a weekly email newsletter, Point Lookout.
Please join us on at The Italian American Community Center off of Washington Avenue Extension, in Colonie (see directions).
Attitude adjustment will begin at 5:30pm with dinner at 6:00pm, followed by the program starting promptly at 7:00pm and adjourning by 8:00pm.
Dinner is $25.00 for PMI members, $35.00 for non-members, and $15 for students: includes salad, rolls, entrée, coffee, & dessert.
The deadline for online registration is 4:00 pm on (cancellations after 4:00 pm on will be charged the full meeting registration fee - $25 for members, $35 for non-members, and $15 for students). Please note that the registrations after the cancellation deadline of 4:00 pm on and Walk-ins on the day of the event will be charged an extra late fee of $10.