BEFORE YOU JOIN OFFICE POLITICS…
In this second part of the series on What I Have Learnt In 30 Years of Paid Employment I intend to highlight the things you need to do before you join office politics
By way of definition, office politics is the process and behaviour in human interactions involving power and authority. It is also a tool for balancing diverse views of interested parties. It is the use of power and social networking within an organization to achieve changes that benefit the organization or individuals within it.
It is clear from the definition above that office politics can be used either for the benefit of the organization or the individuals or groups therein. For the sake of brevity, I will limit this essay to the use of office politics for parochial individual or group interest, not the interest of the organization.
Let me be clear, office politics, like most things, is neither good nor evil. The ends to which men employ it determine its colour.
However, office politics is serious and sometimes dangerous business; it can make or break your career. It can determine whether your project gets approved, funded, resourced or supported in the many ways that a project requires to succeed and achieve its objectives.
Bonnie Marcus, in her essay in Forbes Magazine discusses how office politics can impact your career and how to make the most of it. I believe that most of those are for the advancement of your own personal interest.
The one key characteristic of office politics that makes it inherently dangerous is the fact that it is transient. Or to use the words of Bonnie Marcus, “Power and influence are constantly shifting.” This is the danger that informs my warning: Before you join office politics make sure:
You do your work well
Office politics may help you to rise in the organization or put you in a position. But you must deliver. Your sponsors will not prop you up forever if you are not able to cope with the demands of the position. Cases abound, and I guess you know a few of them, where someone campaigns, pulls strings, spend more time scheming than working, just to get himself into a position. But they are eventually shoved aside for poor performance.
So, ensure that you do your work well before you join office politics.
Ensure that you are indispensable
Office politics can be deadly! Often good staff have been shoved aside because of office politics to the detriment of the organization. No matter how good you are at your job know that office politics can push you out.
Do not rely on organizational processes and systems to protect you if you cannot trigger those systems yourself. Your superiors may not do anything because of personal interests.
Regrettably, I have seen cases where staff who have made significant contributions to organizations and saved millions for them are pushed out without anyone raising a finger.
Be careful.
Make sure that your team will win
Let me start this with a story of the rich man and Lazarus from the bible. The rich man died, found himself in hell and in torment and pleaded with Father Abraham to send Lazarus to him. Father Abraham told him that was impossible because “there is a gulf fixed that cannot be crossed…”.
There is an unbridgeable gulf fixed between office political groups; you cannot cross back and forth at will. If your team loses you live with the consequence.
Let me close with this story. In one of the organizations I worked, there were two political groups headed by two rivals. Ethnic spin was also added to it. The rest of the staff coalesced around these two men. You were either in one group or the other. Even those who made effort to remain neutral were treated with suspicion.
Then the organization fell into bad times and the head of one of the groups was pushed out by the government. The head of the rival group was appointed to lead the organization. He initiated the restructuring of the organization. Most of the supporters of the other party were laid off in the process. Be careful.
So, before you join office politics make sure you do your work well because you still need to deliver results. You also need to ensure that you are indispensable regardless of who wins or who loses. Finally, make sure that your political group wins because you cannot cross back and forth; it can be deadly if your team loses.
