Office Politics:  Deal with Them!

While there will always be some gossip and rumors, office politics does not need to be a negative experience. Office politics can be used to advantage if done properly.

Let’s face it: office politics are inevitable. Wherever people gather, they will gossip, spread rumors, and play power games. It’s human nature for one person to try to get the upper hand over another. There are even websites, based primarily in the US, which tell employees to stop wishing office politics would go away and learn how to play the game to their own advantage.

One American business writer declares on her About.com website that office politics can be beneficial if used the right way. She sketches a scenario in which the management of a company deliberately leaks information onto the office grapevine to see which employees will act on it. The “leak” concerns a planned marketing strategy aimed at getting engineering and architectural firms as clients. Forewarned by this information, an employee attends several functions put on by professional associations in these fields, and builds up a network of potential clients. When the marketing strategy is officially announced, the employee presents the list of potential clients which soon become major accounts.

The company benefits, employee gets a promotion and the clients are happy that their needs are being filled – all because the employer and employee knew how to use the office grapevine for creative and beneficial purposes. Human nature being what it is, however, the office grapevine and the political maneuvering it sparks are more often than not used to spread negative rumors. This can lead to the demise of an otherwise good company.

The AHI Employment Law Resource Centre’s website says the best way to prevent this from happening is to pump as much accurate information into the office grapevine as possible, as often as possible. Correct false rumors immediately. Stop new rumors from spreading by consistently leveling with your team members, and communicate in person wherever possible.

While you’re doing this, take a good look at the people who fuel the grapevine. A common example of office politics is the new team member who covets someone else’s job and sets out to get it by destroying that person’s professional credibility in the eyes of management.

If you’ve been happy with a team member, but now find yourself beginning to doubt their worth, stop and ask yourself why. Is it because of what someone else is saying about them? Make it clear that you will not tolerate attempts to destroy other team members’ reputations.

If a previously good worker now seems to be doing everything wrong, have a word with them and find out their side of the story. You may discover that someone else in the office is trying to sabotage their work.

Conversely, watch out for the new team member who falls victim to politicking by established team members. They may feel you bypassed them to employ this person, and may try to wreck the new person’s chances of success.

Business consultants Richard Lowe and Claudia Avevala-Lowe also warn against the team member who is constantly writing memos, firing off emails, justifying decisions and blaming others for mistakes.

This, they contend, is the person who is most likely using office politics to cover their mistakes and keep their job. They will do everything possible to make themselves look good, others look bad and to distract from the mediocrity of their work. Ironically, one of the reasons why their work is often mediocre is because they spend so much time playing politics to keep their job. Sadly, this is the kind of person who often rises in a company’s hierarchy.

The best way to handle this situation is to have a good, hard look at the value of what everyone in the company actually does, as opposed to what they say they do. Be very wary of believing what they say others don’t do.

It doesn’t help, of course, if you’re hopelessly mired in office politics, yourself. We all know of team members with excellent track records who missed out on promotions, hoped-for assignments, or pay increases because the person in charge favored someone else. Or the bosses only listen to ideas from the team member who plays golf with them on Fridays, or whose kids go to the same school. Your team members are not going to be happy if you play favorites like this.

Tongues wag, enthusiasm flags, productivity falls, and – since it is unlikely that the person you favor will be able to single-handedly keep the company afloat – your operation will soon start sliding down the competition scale.

The only way around this problem is to base all promotions, assignments, and pay raises on performance and professional merit, not on personal likes or dislikes.

We may never be able to get rid of office politics, but with a little awareness and common sense, we can do a lot to restrict the damage it can wreak.

Copyright 2004, RAN ONE Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from www.ranone.com.