How to avoid office politics
April 18, 2006 by admin
Filed under best of, career, coaching, looking inward, management, productivity, tips and tricks, work life
Considering the source, you may just want to skip right past this post, since I’ve only paid attention to political maneueverings long enough to learn how to avoid them. I’m not much of a political player at work. A few years (and positions) ago, an older colleague of mine was regularly berating me (in a caring way) for not paying attention to the political process at work. I just didn’t have the stomach for it. Still don’t. Sometimes to my detriment, actually. But I’m cool with that–at least I can sleep at night. And I mean that literally. The craziest stuff will keep me awake, so staying non-political, at the very least, is a surefire way to ensure better sleep. I assume that folks who are political at work also sleep well…they just have a higher craziness tolerance than me.
The why
The primary reason that I stay apolitical is that it takes up too much space and time, and I’ve already got enough things to worry about. Plus, I don’t get the sense that being political would appreciably contribute to my overall efficiency or productivity. So I stay out of it.
The how
This is both simple and sublime. I strive to just be me. Here’s how, deconstructed and in no particular order:
- Wear no mask. By “mask” I mean those identities that we assume in order to fit in better, feel more comfortable in a situation, or get people to loosen up around us. I don’t do it. Some folks think it’s a good idea to change like a chameleon to suit the situation. I think that’s a recipe for disaster. I try to be me, all the time. The guy that walks into your office is the same guy that walks into your colleague or boss’s office. One face, no mask.
- Be transparent. Not invisible, just without guise. All my agendas are clearly visible. You want to know what I think? I’ll tell you. The words I say might make one or both of us uncomfortable, but I’ll do my best to soften them without diluting their truth.
- Flex and bend. Rigidity is a sign of rigor mortis. I strive to be flexible and willing to hear opposing points of view. Defending a lame position for any reason is, well, lame. I don’t assume I’m the smartest person in the room, and I generally take the opinions of others at face value (this is where being apolitical can be painful, but only in the short term).
- Listen to ‘em. This helps with the flex and it helps with the ‘no mask’ thing. Learning to really listen is dangerous to my status quo. Truly listening means I’m extending myself beyond my own boundaries, at my risk and for the benefit of the other. It’s hard to do if you’re unwilling to be transformed.
- Park the ego. This is a difficult one (and probably is for everyone), but it’s essential for me. When my ego gets wrapped up in the work, it’s too easy to start defending those lame positions mentioned earlier.
- Forget the empire. I don’t want to be an empire builder. I’ve got my responsibilities and I attend to them. If I acquire an empire, I’ll probably never notice.
- No gossip. I fail too often at this one. Gossip is talking about stuff that you haven’t confirmed as true. Unfortunately I slip into gossip mode too often, and I think it’s because I’m so willing to talk things out. Though censorship is a sign of politics, ironically a little greater control over the internal censor is probably well advised.
- Focus on it. What’s the business issue at hand? Focus on it. Straight outta Druckerland. The key is to be sure I’m not being myopic about the issue I’m focusing on. Sometimes the issue is broader than my current focus.
- Apologize later. As opposed to asking permission first. This is really just a corollary, but the willingness to act first instead of asking permission sometimes helps me avoid other people’s political quagmires.
All of the above is really what I do. I think it’s just a tad ironic that I have a plan to avoid being political, but my plan basically boils down to being consistently authentic. Seems to work pretty well.
Hey that’s actually pretty good. If I ever get an office job like that, I’ll won’t get involved with “political” things. Are you referring to office politics or regular politics to? I know you can get into trouble for both.
The biggest lesson I learnt about office politics was after reading Corporate Confidential. Much of it describes the behaviours that you should avoid and exihibit to survive office politics.
Another quote I remember reading somewhere was:
My approach these days is to watch what I say and make sure it’s aligned to the corporate culture. I cringe when I think of how I was when I first started working, but hey, that’s what experience is all about.
I learned a lot about office politics the hard way at my previous job. In hindsight, the best lessons I took away were to be honest to myself and to ignore gossip completely. I may not be the most entertaining guy at the water cooler but I don’t have to worry about losing sleep over somebody else’s opinion or agenda.
Excellent post.
For an alternative (and highly entertaining) point of view on office politics, I highly recommend “The Way of the Rat,” by Joep Schrijvers (ISBN 0954282922 - Amazon link.) With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Schrijvers (who has done time as a manager in some major multinational corporations) chronicles the political evildoing in the corporate world and suggests a survival strategy.
My own view is that some degree of political maneuvering is absolutely necessary in any human endeavor; I agree with you that the best personal practice is generally transparency, tempered with reasonable sensitivity and common sense.
(I’d like to second Nick’s recommendation of “Corporate Confidential” as well.)
Thanks for the book refs, guys. I’ll definitely be checking them out (The Way of the Rat sounds particularly fun).
@Michael: definitely talking about office politics. Man, I’d be easy eatin’ in the sharktank of regular politics.
Great post, Bren. I work for a local government with a decidedly divided City Council. We sometimes have to play up to the side that currently has the power, but I will take to heart these suggestions that you have given us.
I’ve noticed that most people that ignore office politics are either very talented at what they do, or get caught in the next wave of layoffs. I like a lot of your concepts though, I just caution that not playing the politics game at all, can often make you disappear.
I really like your article. I’ve settled on a very similar approach after learning a few hard lessons in my younger days. Still, I find that politics are extremely hard to avoid - i.e. when “politickers” (for lack of a better term) view you as a target. It’s not wise to to ignore someone who is trying to undermine you, but nor does it help to play tit-for-tat. I find myself trying to play a “defensive” game, doing only what is necessary to let my boss know I’m doing good work and that I want what’s best for the team. Ironically, it takes more energy and forethought to take the middle road.
Excellent post. At my last job, I was given the nickname “Switzerland” because I would never overtly take sides with one clique or another. The problem with using politics to get ahead is the massive backfire effect. You align to one exec while he’s up. Then, when he inevitably drops in popularity, you’re covered with his stink. You are placing your future in someone else’s hands and spending at least 10 hours a week playing this futile game.
Just focus that extra 10 hours on being incredible at your job — your career will be fine. And if you’re caught in a political layoff (as plenty of us have been), you will have such an impressive resume you’ll easily find a much better job. Good people are valuable commodities everywhere.
This isn’t avoiding office politics; this is just being a good guy. There’s a misperception that “politics” is bad, but the reality is that politics simply is - it’s not good or bad, it’s just another word for human relations.
Warning: Following most of these tips may limit your career options in corporate America. During my time as a VP of marketing for one of the largest US banks I quickly realized that not playing the politics game made me a threat. Especially to a self-sustaining group of mediocre middle-managers who only wanted to secure their pensions, not the interest of their employer. Then, where would the US economy be without this group of yes-men soldiers! At least I confirmed that guerilla-style business management is more my cup of tea
I don’t have an office job, but I witnessed what I’d consider some pretty ugly ploys by people in my (old) World of Warcraft guild. I didn’t go on raids merely because one of the officers didn’t like me, nothing more. Pretty dastardly.
I’ve actually been working on the transparency thing for a while now. It’s really easy to wear a mask…and even transparency can become a mask, you know? It’s easy to say “Yep, I’m pretty laid back,” and freak out literally five minutes later if something ugly comes up.
I work at a company run by ivy league MBA types. It has intellect in spades but totally lacks leadership.
Politics is the coin of the realm. It’s how you succeed or fail. And sooner or later everyone fails.
I recently made a recommendation and had it blessed by my boss and his boss. When it went south I was left standing alone. I’m now being kicked to the curb.
Remember, you play and sooner or later you will be die.
First and foremost, let me say that is a fantastic post and it’s content is much better than most I’ve read. It kept me enticed to the very end. However, one point was made that I must disagree with. You describe being able to change your self to suit the situation as “wearing a mask”, and advise against it. You stated that you just try to be yourself.
I definately agree that you should not do anything that goes against your morals or gets in the way of priorities in order please others, but consider that it may be the stronger person that changes the ’self’ to meet the challenge (be it trivial or not) than to keep the self and fail it.
It is important to keep the air clear in the workplace and it may be better to put on a happy face, or show optimism, or give a compliment even when you don’t feel like it, or maybe even feel like doing quite the opposite. It is not being fake, but being a leader, because the one in the office that continually steps outside him or her self in order to raise morale and keep the air clear will have the satisfaction of knowing they have done an enormous part in maintaining a happy and efficient workplace.
This is a how-to for being spineless. Politics are something you should get involved with. Ever wonder how idiots get in charge? Because people wimp out and avoid saying something. They say “I’m too busy, it’s unproductive.” Politics is productive as all hell. Having the right people in charge is productive. Get political.
Great comment Geoffrey.
Whew, lots of good comments. From the top…
@Josh, you say that politics is just another word for human relations and that it’s neither good nor bad. Okay, I can buy the neither good nor bad (you’re one of those guys that says the weather is neither good nor bad, aren’t you?), though the clear connotation is on the bad, mainly because so many people manipulate their human relations for their own ends. I say that’s bad, and that’s what I’m addressing.
@StrategyHack: that’s right on. This is threatening stuff to the mediocracy.
@Ted: good point. Without authenticity, even your “laid back” mask is a mask.
@Blake: yuck. Why do you stay there?
@Geoffrey: excellent comment, thank you. You’re right on, those times come around. It can be a fine line, can’t it?
@Bog: it’s about being honest. I’m not advocating being dishonest and/or pretending to be so busy that you don’t confront reality. But political maneuvering is only productive in the short term, and for the wrong reasons. The “right people in charge” will understand that, even if you don’t.
Manipulation, though having a negative connotation for the word, is an essential part of human interaction. You’re trying to manipulate people into being more authentic with your post, Bren. It’s a tool, like any other, that can be used for good and evil. That being said, I’ve always hated politics, and I think your insights could be a recipe for an improved work atmosphere all around.
Terrific post, Bren. Avoiding gossip is one of those “best-practice” things I sometimes slip up on myself. And unfortunately, spreading gossip that IS true (as opposed to rumors that haven’t been confirmed) can get you in just as much trouble. The general rule is to never initiate a conversation about another person that could be perceived negatively. If a colleague gossips to you, you can listen, but try to avoid actively contributing.
Great post. I’ve been working on this for a while. But it’s been a bit of a transformative time because I’ve always been the, “funny guy.”
Interesting language choices too. Have you done work with Landmark?
TALES FROM THE CUBICLE : PERSONALITY CONFLICT WITH BOSS, ADVICE NEEDED !
I was hired by a company to be an in-house software engineer, meaning that what the company needed was someone to develop software applications for in-house use. Its basically low down and gritty programming of software applications, and utilities, to be used by the service and test team. For example, my first project was to write an automated quality assurance test suite application, to test our PCI-Card product. Or, my latest was to develop an automated build application so that we can do weekly builds for all our software (like real companies have). The test and service guys, use my software and other utilities I write to test our products. I also developed our internal time-sheet, task and project management software - which everybody in the company has to use (this is where I really saw just how much of a micro-managing prick the president is, because he had me write the application to track employee activity - down to the minute).
In any case, this is all cool. I dont get the glory of customer feedback, but I get recognition for making the lives of our test engineers a lot better. Ive written programs and utilities using several languages, mainly C++ and Visual Basic, but also Java, JavaScript, PHP, and HTML as well.
However, upon hire I was also told that in addition to software development, Id have to take on some of the service tasks as well. My title is “Software Engineer” as it reads on my business card, and my boss is the head of software engineering. But as a result of developing for the service department, I had kind of a secondary-boss, the head of service, who I will refer to as the little brown noseing tattletale (LBNT). This guy is insufferable, and I knew it from day one when I felt it in my gut after speaking with him just one time.
Now, the thing about my company is that we are an engineering organization - basically no girls, and mostly older married men. I am the only guy in the company who is part of a younger generation - except for LBNT, he is the only other one of my generation. I could tell from day one that LBNT saw me as a threat. LBNT has no real skills - his claim to fame is having excellent “organizational skills” and being very detail oriented. And I will give him credit for that - he is a huge asset to the comany - he almost single handedly holds the service department together. However, he is threatened by programmers becuase its a skill he doesnt have. The older guys he doesnt mind - they are older and the fact that they have skills that he doesnt, is a resuylt of more experience,. But with me - he is threatened. Having no real skills, it seemed that he didnt want the president (who he may as well bend over and butt-fuck in front of the entire company) to discover how good I can be - how much potential I have to surpass him and his role in service. I’d always catch him minimizing the work I did, or downplaying what I get done, and even talking shit to the president about me - and the president is just as much into the butt-fucking as LBNT is. They are both so butt-fucking each other, its disgusting.
The president is a control freak micro-manager of the worst kind, and everybody knows it. He doesnt trust even the best employees to do their work, and he is constantly checking up on people, to see who he can catch taking a breather. Now - the president knows he cant do this to people as much as he needs to, and so he needs a spy to do some of his dirty work for him - and so LBNT plays that role shamelessly, spying on people and reporting on their work habits - which is really bad becuase he is not qualified to analyze the work of engineers, and worse - he deliberately tries to make others appear bad, so as to make himself look good. (like , “he took a 1.5 hour lunch on Tuesday” implication –> “you’d never see ME do that”).
LBNT never liked that fact that I was an engineer, and pulled all the strings he could, and said whatever he needed to say in meetings (in my absence), from day one to steer me into his service department - and away from engineering. Anytime I was deeply involved in an engineering project which didnt involve him - he’d run around like achicken without a head, asking when I would be done - trying to make it appear as if I was taking too long, and needed to be under his supervision. And like I said, the president loves LBNT and trusts his every word - he has clout.
This little prick, would watch my every move, on a an hourly basis and report to the president on my daily activity. Now my immediate boss, head of software - was happy with my work, and didnt need to monitor my houly activity, because he saw that my projects got completed - and completed very well, and in a timely fashion. He trusted me to do my work, because I never gave him any reason not to - he trusted me to manage my own time - and if I took an hour for lunch, or took a 10 minute breather, it was no big deal to him - as long as my work got done. LBNT could not stand to see me chilling, because I finished my work and he had no say in the matter. But this didnt last long - as he chipped away at the presidents ear with nonsense about me, and ultimately told the boss that he was overwhelmed as head of service, and desperately needed more help - “Didnt we hire Tom to do some of this ?”.
He eventually got his way - and I was placed to work under him. This was his glory day - the day I was technically placed to work under his management. My immediate boss, was compliant because this came from the president - who was influenced by LBNT and his shinnanegans.
This little prick, takes notes on my daily activity - writing down almost every move I make. He makes asumptions as to what I know and think, and usually gets it wrong. He deliberately condecends me in fromnt of people explaining things that he knows damn well he doesnt have to - just so that others can see and hear him bossing me around. It has become an impossible environment to work in.
One day in a very professional manner, I asked him into the conference room - where I layed it all out, in a very judicial and professional way. He changed for that day, and went right back to all his crap the next morning. This kid has literally stumped my career here, and has become my main obstacle for advancement. He actaully said (threatened), “you know Tom, I will be your supervisor when review time comes”.
I have heard of manipulative pricks in the workplace before, and never really had to edure one - now I know that these people do exist, and can make you life hell. Its been a power trip with him - Im the kind of person who keeps to themself and works very hard. He is the kind of person who gets in everyone else’s business, and seesm to have a lot fo time doing things that are not tangible projects (spying on others, trying to peek at my screen, reading my outgoing emails, checking my web activity, checking the modification dates on code files I work on, seeing if my hands are on the keyboard, etc). The problem with him and I is that it has become totally personal, and so others in the company dont see any of this. If I were to explain it to anybody, they’d most likely be puzzled, like “LBNT isnt like that, I havent had that experience with him at all…?” And they’s be right - because he only pulls this nonsense with me.
He has already managed to paint me into the image he needs to in the eyes of his god (the president) in order to keep me down. He is the most insecure and manipulative prick I have ever met - and nobody knows it but me, as a result fo the way it has become personal. It is so frustrating.
What to do ?
I wholeheartedly agree with this post. One thing I would add is sometimes people mix up influence and politics. Learning the art of influence is important but I agree this comes from being an authentic leader.
Toms:
Quit. Now. Or, as soon as you’ve found a job. Beef up your resume, find good recruiters, and post yourself on Dice, Monster, Careerbuilder, et al.
It’s that simple.
Sometimes there’s just nothing you can do but that, and some cultures are so dysfunctional, or leadership so weak, which seems to be what you’re describing, that there’s nothing else to be done but go elsewhere.
It sounds to be like you’ve a very bright and multipurpose developer and engineer, you should easily be able to find another gig. Start looking now, you are fighthing a lost cause.
Toms:
My advice isn’t that good. I say stoop to his level. Man, punch him in the face or somethin
You’re not going to use this company as a reference, since your name was slandered and they’d not have much good to say about you. Take the prick in a room with just the two of you and hide a tape recorder. Get him to admit he’s a liar.
I guess it all depends if you’re a decent individual what to do to the guy… I’m sure you’ve already thought of some things.
Or hey, I think this is a blog post about avoiding office politics. Have an up-front conversation with Mr. President. If it goes well - you stay, if not - you leave. It might be good to have done a little bit of a job search prior to this … You’ve already talked to LBNT in private, that didn’t work. Talk to Mr. President in private. If that doesn’t work, get the three of you guys together (don’t forget the tape recorder though…) Then sue the bastages, and make them settle out of court.
Thanks for the advice all - I have come to the conclusion that finding a new job is really the only way out, because nothing is going to change. The environment is what it is, and no amount of effort on my part to change the way things are done, is going to make a difference. In fact, as of late - the president of the company has hired even more manager (spies). He actually hires spies, people whose job it is to crack the whip - and he thinks that this is the way to improve efficiency within the comany. Micromanagement, overmanagement, and whip cracking - this is what he actually thinks will make the company bigger and better. Im not the only one with these complaints, as nearly all the engineers are starting to complain. However, my situation is a uniqely bad one because of LBNT and the position Im in. Time to bust out the NYTimes…Ive wanted to work in NYC for a while anyway, as opposed to Long Island. Didnt Vanilla Ice used to say … “Im outta here like Vladimir” ? Whatever that means, sounds about right.
You’ve brought up some excellent points in this post (and the ensuing discussion really hits home how critical this issue is). Perhaps the “avoid office politics” title wasn’t the best way to sell the thoughts… more like how to engage in them intelligently. Avoiding politics univervsally is a dangerous position, and probably as bad as the person who diabolically engages in them for their own evil gain. Why? Because avoiding puts others at stake as well. If you have a manager or team leader who avoids politics and your department’s or project’s budget is in their hands… watch out. At a minimum, we as professionals MUST know how to be on the defensive (and even sometimes proactively play the offensive) role of office politics. I’m starting up some discussions on my blog at carpefactum.typepad.com on this topic. Still great post and very relevant… enjoyed all of the comments (pro and con and in between)