When Meritocracy Isn’t Real: Why Senior Managers Stall Without Political Awareness

At early stages of your career, “just do good work” is often enough.

You deliver. You fix problems. You are reliable and competent.

People notice. You grow.

But somewhere around senior manager level, the game quietly changes.

You keep delivering. You get great feedback from your direct reports. You are the one people go to when things are messy.

And yet:

You are not in the real strategic conversations. Your ideas are “interesting”, but often parked. Promotions and high-visibility roles go to people who are not always the most competent.

If you secretly think: “I don’t play politics. I just do good work. That should be enough.”

Then this article is for you.

Because at senior level, meritocracy stops being pure, and ignoring organisational politics stops being a virtue. It becomes a limiter on your influence and your growth.

🎭 The Myth of Pure Meritocracy at Senior Level

Let’s be honest: No healthy company promotes completely incompetent people.

But they also don’t promote only the most technically competent people.

At senior level, the questions change:

From “Can you deliver your part of the work well?”

To “How do you shape the broader system?” “Can you bring the right people with you?” “Can you sell ideas upward, sideways, and across functions?” “Can we trust you in rooms where interests conflict?”

That’s not “dirty politics”. That’s the reality of working in a complex organisation with many stakeholders.

If you ignore that reality, three things usually happen:

You over-invest in being the most competent person in the room …and under-invest in building alliances, understanding power dynamics, and reading people’s real interests.

You feel quietly betrayed by the system because it keeps rewarding people who are “less strong” technically but better at navigating relationships, timing, and influence.

You either become cynical (“it’s all politics”) or burned out (“I have to work twice as hard to get half the recognition”).

You can be brilliant and still stuck if you don’t understand the political landscape you’re operating in.

🧠 Political Sensitivity = Seeing the Game of Interests Clearly

Political sensitivity is not manipulation.

It is your ability to see the game of interests that is already happening – whether you approve of it or not.

That means noticing, for example:

Who actually influences decisions beyond formal titles – the people whose opinion your boss quietly checks before approving anything serious.

Which functions feel over-exposed or under-appreciated – and therefore are more likely to resist your ideas, no matter how rational they are.

Where your boss is under pressure from above – and what risks they are afraid to take right now.

What your peers are optimising for – their own KPIs, visibility, career path, team stability.

Without this map, your behaviour can be technically correct and politically naive.

You push an idea when your boss is in pure defence mode. You escalate a conflict in a way that embarrasses someone your boss deeply relies on. You go around a peer “because it’s urgent” and create a quiet enemy you didn’t intend to make.

You don’t need to like the game. But if you want a senior role, you can’t afford to pretend it doesn’t exist.

🔍 Practical First Steps to Build Political Awareness (Without Becoming Someone You Hate)

You don’t need a different personality. You need better questions and more conscious attention.

Some simple starting points:

Notice patterns in who is always “in the room” Which names appear again and again in key meetings and decisions? Who is invited early, and who is informed late? That is your informal power map.

Ask yourself: “What are they optimising for?” For each key player, ask: What are they rewarded for? What are they afraid of? What would be a “win” for them in this situation? It’s much easier to collaborate when you see their logic, not just their behaviour.

Watch your own language about others How do you talk about other functions and leaders with your team? Are you unintentionally training your people to see enemies instead of partners? Your private comments are part of the political game.

Experiment with one clean political move For example: – Give visible credit to another function publicly. – Invite a peer into a conversation earlier than usual to co-own a problem instead of escalating. – Ask your boss directly: “Who else needs to be on board for this idea to have a real chance?”

Small moves, repeated, can completely change how people perceive you: from “strong, but naïve” to “strong and strategically aware”.

📅 Want to Look at Your Own Political Landscape More Clearly?

If you recognise yourself in this – strong performer, respected expert, but not fully “in the room where things happen” – you’re not alone. Many senior managers are stuck exactly here: relying on merit in a system that runs on both merit and politics.

In a 30-minute Leadership Clarity Call, we can: Look at your current role and one or two concrete political situations that feel confusing or unfair Sharpen your map of interests, alliances, and real decision-makers Identify practical, clean ways to increase your influence without becoming someone you don’t respect

You can choose a time that works for you here: https://calendly.com/groshenkoa/30-minute-leadership-clarity-call

From there, if it’s a good fit, we can also explore different paths for deeper work – from a focused 5-session 2026 Clarity & Strategy Sprint, to a 3-month Clarity Reset for senior managers, or external Executive & Leadership / Team & Leadership coaching formats for your organisation. But the first step is simply to see your current position in the game clearly.

Leadership Test

If you look honestly at your current role, where are you still relying on “if I just do great work, they will see it” – and what is one specific relationship, forum, or decision where you know it’s time to start playing a more conscious, clean political game instead of pretending the game isn’t there?