Managers who win a seat on the steering group, investment committee, or architecture board that rules on their area get their case heard where it is decided and learn its criteria early.
An example
Capital requests from field operations at a regional telecom carrier kept losing at the network investment committee, where engineering and finance held every seat and field needs, from trucks to test equipment, were presented second-hand by an engineer. The head of field operations asked the chief operating officer for a seat. She argued that a third of capital spending landed on her teams, and offered to bring field data the committee did not have. The chief operating officer added her as a voting member for a one-year trial. In her first three meetings she mostly listened and learned how the committee scored proposals: payback, network risk, and customer minutes affected. Her next request scored itself on those terms, with field outage data. It was approved, and the committee began asking for her data on other proposals.
Why it works
Representation on the committees that rule on important matters is one of the marks of a unit's power. A seat gives a unit its own voice where the decision is made, early knowledge of the criteria, and relationships with the other members, so its case looks better and is easier to approve because it arrives in the terms the committee uses. It depends on earning the seat openly, contributing to the committee's work beyond one's own requests, and learning its criteria.
The thinking behind it
Jeffrey Pfeffer Managing with Power: Politics and Influence in Organizations (1992) treats representation on important task forces and committees as one sign of a unit's power. A seat on the investment committee gives field operations that representation, and with it a voice where its requests are scored and an early view of how the scoring works.
When it fits
Managers whose area is decided by a committee where they have no voice are the ones who need it: capital, architecture, investment, standards. You need a credible case for a seat, usually the share of the committee's decisions that land on your area, and something to offer the committee.
How to use it well
Identify the committees that decide on your area and who appoints their members.
- Make the case for a seat in terms of the committee's interests: what you know that it lacks, and how much of its work falls on you.
- Ask the person who appoints members, openly.
- Offer a trial term if that eases the decision.
- Once seated, listen first. Learn the criteria and how members argue.
- Contribute to proposals that are not yours.
A member who speaks only for their own requests loses the room quickly.
What it costs and where it backfires
A seat takes time, often more than expected, and you share responsibility for the committee's decisions, unpopular ones included. Using it only for your own requests will cost you the seat or the members' trust. Packing the committee with allies, or using the seat to block other proposals without reasons, is where membership turns into stacking.
When it is used on you
Make your own case for a seat, on the same grounds, when a rival wins one on a committee that decides your proposals. Ask that the committee's criteria be published. Get to know the new member too; a voice on the committee can help you when your proposal serves its criteria.