We all need alliances, sooner or later. And the quicker an EOP realizes this, the stronger her position. Why? Well, though we work for C-suiters and we act on their behalf, sometimes we need to push our own agendas. You can try to do this on your own however some judicious issues require a critical mass of EOPs behind you who will not only support your proposal but also adopt it. The greater the mass, the greater chance of success. (Well, most of the time!)
An alliance is also a precious means of having morale support from people like you, who have probably been through similar things in their career and even if they can’t always resolve the problem, they act as a sounding board, they offer empathy, they can make you laugh (one of the best and free therapies), and help you get through that difficult patch.
They are also great at giving you advice when you have that niggling feeling that you are lacking a bit of distance with that e-mail that you want to fire off at 8pm and that you should not have read after rowing about homework with your children, being late with dinner, having to re-organize the next day’s football run and finding out that your husband’s business trip clashes with yours!
Some of these great colleagues will also become good, loyal friends and remain so even when they leave the company. So, what have you got to lose?
