Test Your Political Skill

Political skill is the ability to understand others at work and to use that knowledge to influence others to act in ways that enhance one’s personal or organisational objectives. Since organisations are essentially political arenas, political skill can predict performance evaluations and career success.

Take the professor Gerald Ferris’ test below, be honest and work on improving your areas of weakness. You’ll be better off for the effort.

Take the Test

On a 7-point scale, where 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = slightly disagree, 4 = neutral (neither agree nor disagree), 5 = slightly agree, 6 = agree, and 7 = strongly agree, answer the following questions:

1. I spend a lot of time and effort at work networking with others ___
2. I am able to make most people feel comfortable and at ease around me___
3. I am able to communicate easily and effectively with others___
4. It is easy for me to develop good rapport with most people___
5. I understand people very well ___
6. I am good at building relationships with influential people at work___
7. I am particularly good at sensing the motivations and hidden agendas of others___
8. When communicating with others, I try to be genuine in what I say and do___
9. I have developed a large network of colleagues and associates at work who I can call on for support when I really need to get things done___
10. At work, I know a lot of important people and am well connected___
11. I spend a lot of time at work developing connections with others___
12. I’m good at getting people to like me___
13. It’s important that people believe I am sincere in what I say and do___
14. I try to show a genuine interest in other people___
15. I am good at using my connections and network to make things happen at work___
16. I have good intuition and am savvy about how to present myself to others___
17. I always seem to instinctively know the right things to say or do to influence others___
18. I pay close attention to people’s facial expressions___

The Result

Add up your score and divide by 18. You will have a score between 1 and 7. Higher scores mean you have more political skill, lower scores mean you have less. You should be above 4 — and possibly well above 4 — if you have aspirations to reach great heights of power.

Dimensions of Political Skill

The questions measure four dimensions of political skill, so you can also see where you are stronger and weaker.

• Questions 5, 7, 16, 17, and 18 measure social astuteness
• Questions 2, 3, 4, and 12 measure interpersonal influence
• Questions 8, 13, and 14 assess your apparent sincerity
• Questions 1, 6, 9, 10, 11, and 15 measure you networking ability

Gerald Ferris is co-author of Political Skill at Work. He has spent years conducting research on political skill, what it means, and its effect on people’s careers. This research has become the basis for an assessment model that evaluates political skill. The assessment is based on empirical evidence.