What working politically means by Neil Pharaoh

In politics, success doesn’t always go to the loudest. It goes to the ones who understand the system well enough.

That’s what it means to work politically. Not around the system, but with it, until it shifts.

When we talk about working politically you might straight way think of someone running for political office, whether that’s in Canberra, your capital city or your local council.

And if you’re not doing one of those things, you also might think “what does working politically  mean for me”.

When I talk about politics, I’m not talking about party rooms or parliaments. I’m talking about how  power moves through people, through organisations, through systems — and how you, as a leader,  can learn to move with it.

You don’t need to be a politician to be political. If you’re leading change, in health, in philanthropy, in corporate social responsibility, in community services then you’re already in the game.

In any workplace, “working politically” might mean navigating a change- resistant executive, or building a business case that speaks to risk appetite instead of values.

It might mean looking beyond the organisation chart to find who actually holds influence – not by title, but by trust. Every workplace has them: the informal coalition, the backstage leaders, the person whose quiet backing makes things happen.

Your job is to understand how decisions really get made – not how they’re supposed to get made – and to build the relationships that move things forward.

Too many emerging leaders confuse passion for influence. But real influence, especially when pushing against the grain, comes from people who know how to read the room, not just fire up the crowd.

 

Every system has levers. But those levers don’t pull themselves.

They are pulled by people. People with agendas, fears, KPIs, re-election deadlines, budget constraints, personal egos and very human insecurities.

To create change, you don’t just need to identify the lever. You need to understand who’s holding it, what motivates them, and what story makes them move.

 

That’s where relationships come in — not transactional, what can I get from you connections — but long-haul, reputation-built, trust-based relationships.  Ones where you’ve put in, before you ask for something out.

Whether you’re pitching to a funder, influencing a board, or nudging a partner organisation, the same rule applies: if you can’t answer ‘What’s in it for them’, then they’re not going to move.

So, if you’re advocating for change, you have to stop just talking about what you want and start talking about what they get. This isn’t manipulation, it’s strategy.

When we work with clients at Tanck, we often say: if you can reframe your ask in a way that makes it feel like the other party came up with it themselves  you’re halfway there.

So ask yourself:

-How does this solve their problem?

-How does this make them look good?

– How does this align with their timing, not just mine?

That’s not selling out. That’s framing smart.

 

One of the most underused strategies in social change is lateral pressure.

We often default to thinking we need to convince the person at the top. But sometimes change doesn’t come from above it comes from the sides.

Peer organisations, regulators, customers, funders, media, even staff, they all shape what’s possible. Sometimes it’s not the CEO who needs to hear you. It’s their competitors, their donors, or their workforce. A Minister is made by themselves and two other backbenchers, so who are

those back benchers?

If you can build credible noise sideways – if you can create social, reputational or political pressure – decision-makers often shift not because they agree with you, but because it becomes harder to ignore you.

That’s the power of coalition – of building a movement of aligned voices across sectors, roles and ideologies.

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