PART ONE: OFFICE POLITICS

 

Office Politics

by: John R. Halstead

 

Have you ever started a job with the firm resolution that you are not going to get involved in the office politics?

How did it work out? My guess is that if you stayed at the job exceptionally long you were sucked in perhaps without even realizing it. You see whether you are the person leveraging the power structure to get what you want or if it is somebody else it is all so close to our nature we have to be alert. You may be a pawn being used without your knowledge. Often it seems good people are fooled into thinking they are being altruistic by assisting others when in fact they are being played as “useful idiots.” The nice guy that is always sharing with you how he is being treated unfairly. The guy that says he does not want to stand up for himself despite being oppressed. He admires you for your courage and explains how they would never treat you the way they do him. Finally, you get to the point that you feel morally obliged to stand up for your friend. He just used you to complain on his behalf and he gets to keep his reputation for being a team player with a positive can-do attitude. Another is the group that all has the same complaint, but nobody is willing to say anything. They have spotted that you have guts and that you do not stand for injustice. Over time their stories start to enrage you and so you arrange a meeting with the boss. Once in the meeting you candidly explain the issues at hand and then watch as everyone says they have not had any problems in these areas.

 

Everybody has personal goals and often they are the most ambitious at work. Some people will go to great lengths to advance their agenda. The reality is that office politics or maneuvering behind the scenes can make or break your career. Minding your business while someone is in the process of trying to advance can destroy your career as they may put you in the middle of their plans or they may pretend to care about you and your success while they go to the boss with lies designed to destroy you. So what can you or should you do? First, you need to define your objectives. If you want to cover your proverbial backside and have no other issues then you can use the same tactics as those who are out to destroy another worker as they just discovered they have been betraying them. The difference in how you design your strategy and tactics will depend on your desired outcome. Some people have bosses that are cruel, and their goal is to get them demoted or fired. Others may wish to destroy the entire organization. With so many possible scenarios let us look at some basic tactics for defending yourself all the way to leading a revolution.  

 

In Business News Daily Editor 6 types of office politicians are defined.

The Gossip Hound, Credit Thief, Flatterer, Saboteur, Lobbyist, and the Advisor.

 The Gossip Hound is the office know it all that is always sharing confidential information about their coworkers, bosses, and even on social media. The key to dealing with this political type is to stick to business and only as needed. Do not let yourself stray into sharing your personal life. Its hard but unless you want to have your personal life shared and likely embellished so that the gossip hound can create a false and damaging picture of you while simultaneously making themselves look better you must avoid social interaction.

The Credit Thief intends to do whatever necessary to advance. This includes taking credit for your work and ideas. Defend yourself from this type by speaking to other workers about what you are working on and by providing brief updates on your work, so they know who the source is when the credit thief strikes.

The Flatterer is a but kisser that throws out insincere compliments and is impossible to trust. Fortunately, most bosses can spot these types very quickly.

 

The Saboteur is completely self-serving is publicly critical of others, and will betray you without a second thought. Confrontation can work with these types. More on this shortly. Also, keep documentation of their behavior. Write it down, note time, witnesses, and so on. If needed take this arsenal to human resources or the boss.

 

The Lobbyist is a powerful player that has a reputation for influencing decisions in his or her favor. To deal with this type speak up when you disagree with them.  They will not like it, however, explain your viewpoint and build a case for it. This may help to change minds including the lobbyist.

The Advisor is the person that the company leaders go to when they need help making decisions. The way to handle the advisor is to become his friend and ally. They have the power to make things happen for you with the key players in power.

 In the next post, I will discuss tactics that range from silencing the gossip hound to bringing the organization or powerful players down.

 

Editor, Business News Daily Writer (2020). 6 Types of Office ‘Politicians’ and How to Handle Them.