Political savvy in staff development: building an indispensable department

Political savvy is not something with which one is born; instead it is a process that is learned, sometimes painfully, always demandingly. The purpose of this article is to identify strategies that will make a staff development department essential to organizational functioning and that will enhance both productivity and political survival. Critical to survival is the promotion of the three Vs of staff development: visibility, viability, and validity. Power and politics must be utilized to create an indispensable department.