Avanti Academy / Profiles / Political Acumen

Avanti Political Acumen 360

Read the terrain of power well, and travel it with integrity.

The Map

The Compass shows your direction; the Map shows the terrain: the contours of power, the paths between interests and the places where the ground is unstable.

Each hill is one area of political acumen. Every contour is one point of the combined view of everyone who gave feedback, so higher ground means more rings
The summit is red for a signature strength
Ink for established
Sand for a growing edge
The red dashed contour is the leader's own view

Drawn with made-up sample data.

The figures in this picture

The six areas of political acumen (ratings from 1 to 10)
Area	Self	All others	All others: band	Self and others
Reading the Landscape	4.8	6.1	Established	A gap worth naming
Understanding Members	5.3	4.4	Growing edge	A modest gap
Building Alliances	5.5	5.4	Established	Closely aligned
Influencing with Integrity	6.8	7.1	Established	Closely aligned
Navigating Conflict	6.5	5.2	Established	A gap worth naming
Holding the Line	7.5	8.1	Signature strength	A modest gap

What It Explores

A 360 feedback map of how a leader reads and travels the political landscape across six areas of acumen, from reading the landscape to holding the line, as seen by the leader and by colleagues, members, boards and partners.

Every public leader works in a political landscape. In councils it is the politics of elected members, parties and manifestos; in central government, ministers and their priorities; in health boards and charities, the dynamics of boards, funders, regulators and partners. Shared outcomes for people and places depend on leaders who can read that landscape accurately and work within it ethically. Yet political acumen is rarely talked about openly, and many leaders receive little honest feedback on it.

The Avanti Political Acumen 360 offers that feedback, in the form of a map. Six areas of acumen describe how a leader reads and travels the political terrain: Reading the Landscape, Understanding Members, Building Alliances, Influencing with Integrity, Navigating Conflict and Holding the Line. The leader rates themselves, and colleagues, members or board members and partners rate them, against the same 36 statements on a scale of 1 to 10. The report shows the leader's own view against others' combined view and each rater group, with the gap between them clearly labelled.

Why It Matters

Political acumen is essential to public leadership, yet it is rarely discussed openly or given honest feedback.
Good proposals stall when the political landscape is misread, and trust erodes when politics is navigated by manipulation.
The boundary between political and professional roles comes under pressure in every setting, often without support for those holding it.
Generic leadership tools rarely ask members, boards and partners how a leader works with them.

What You Receive

A 36-statement 360 questionnaire, completed online by the leader and 6 to 12 raters.
An individual feedback report covering six areas of acumen, with self view against others and each rater group.
A clearly labelled gap between self view and others' view for every area.
The option to add the Political Acumen 360 to the Leadership Behaviours 360 in one sitting.

Talk to us about a feedback session for Avanti Political Acumen 360

What People Take Away

1Name the six areas of political acumen and what each looks like when practised with integrity.
2Recognise your strongest political acumen behaviours and how others experience them.
3Identify gaps between your self view and the views of members, peers, reports and partners.
4Explain the boundary between political and professional roles in your own setting.
5Distinguish legitimate influence from manipulation, and apply the Nolan Principles to your own practice.
6Assess how far your political work brings communities and lived experience into view.
7Choose two or three development priorities with clear, practical actions.

Who It Is For

Chief executives, directors and senior officers in local government
Senior civil servants working with ministers
Executive directors working with health boards
Chief executives and senior leaders of charities working with trustees
Partnership and system leaders working across organisations and interests
Leaders preparing for roles close to members, ministers or boards

When to Use It

New senior roles close to members or boards
In the first year of a role that works closely with elected members, ministers or a board, to understand how the leader's political acumen is landing.
Changes of political or board leadership
After an election, a change of administration or minister, or a new chair or board, when relationships and expectations are being reset.
Strengthening member and officer relationships
When members, boards and senior officers want to build trust and clarity about their respective roles.
Major partnership and system change
When leaders are building alliances across organisations, such as reorganisation, integration or new combined arrangements, and need to work skilfully across interests.
Deepening the Leadership Behaviours 360
When a 360 shows Political and Stakeholder Awareness as an area the leader wants to explore in more depth.

Our Approach in This Instrument

The Map describes and never judges: every area of acumen starts from what a leader already does well, a lower reading is a place to grow, and different views are contributions. Political acumen here is always practised with integrity, in service of the public interest and the communities decisions affect.

Proper Use

This is a development instrument. It is not a clinical assessment and it is not designed or validated for selection, recruitment, promotion or performance management decisions. Scores describe perceptions at a point in time and are a starting point for conversation, not a verdict.