More than good politics

In my book, "Do ONE THING and do it deep: how to focus and energise your team", we talk about how sustaining change needs three campaigns. A communication campaign - how we share our messages; an engagement campaign - how we listen to and involve our people; and a political campaign.

The idea behind the political campaign deals with how, as leaders, we become sponsors for change and outlines the journey leaders need to take to support a change the organisation is investing in. Without support and leadership at the top, it is doomed.

More generally, the sponsor's journey highlights some of the key attributes of everyday leadership.

> Commit - actively make a choice and decide to step up and be a great leader

> Listen - be prepared to hear what your troops are saying and actively seek their opinions

> Say - have a clear message about your leadership and share it consistently

> Do - be accountable and do what you say, and support others in being accountable also

> Play - get involved with your people to support great outcomes

> Celebrate - take time to reflect on what's working and make time to celebrate before rushing on to the next thing.

Make your politics positive by running a great campaign and inspire others to do ONE THING better every day.