ABSTRACT

Planners continually navigate interactions with managers, organizations, and teams. This chapter suggests strategies for those interactions. For example, staff-level planners benefit if they understand how managers see things differently. Since planning occurs in organizations, navigating their cultures also requires insight. The chapter deals with suggestions about how to temporarily endure less-than-perfect working conditions. Communication competency applies equally to work with managers, organizations, and individuals. Most planners work in organizations with institutional hierarchy—and managers. Depending on the organization, the workplace management and power structure may be jarringly different from egalitarian, self-organizing group projects in planning school. The coach can also confirm that organizational change is unrealistic, and the best option is for the planner to exit the organization. Planners need to succeed in an organization's culture, whether it is a bureaucracy or a nimble non-profit. Discerning and responding to organizational culture generates a compatible and productive role.