Every employee desires career progress. But people differ in terms of what they’re willing to do to get that reward.
Considering how messy it can get, and how painfully it can cost those who play it, is office politics worth adopting as a strategy to get ahead of others in your workplace?
“Vicious backstabbing” as Robert Kiyosaki once wrote, is a common practice employed by many who play that game.
I believe no decent minded person would engage in an activity that often requires hurting others in order to make progress. Be it at work or in the larger society, more responsible ways exist to achieve the same outcome!
This article uses the true story of a hardworking 30 year old employee in a corporate multinational to illustrate the foregoing point.
A “Guardian Angel” or “Office Politician”?
When the phone rang that day in his office, Oyat had no idea it would be Nitsua, his self-appointed “guardian angel”, calling to leak details of yet another top level management decision concerning him.
It was not the first time this was happening.
Two years before, Nitsua had called Oyat late at night with inside information about an impending secondment to a high profile position. Back then, Oyat had doubted him. But the announcement that came a fortnight later proved Nitsua was right. Since then Oyat had been promoted into a new position.
So, as Nitsua now told him he would soon be seconded to act as a Head of Department, he was less skeptical than before.
He however wondered why he had been chosen. So many other well qualified managers were around. Guys who had spent ten to fifteen years in the company before he even joined. They knew the ropes. Some had been deputies to the substantive head of department on a number of occasions. To him, that made them even more familiar with the job than he was – technically speaking at least.
Oyat was six years old in the company. To some extent he felt his only legitimate claim to competence was that he had influenced some major changes in the ways things were done early in his career e.g. by developing automated data handling and report generation solutions that were widely adopted. Judging from the news Nitsua had brought, it appeared his performance had apparently not gone unnoticed.
“Could it be that the big guys really believe I’m ready to handle the responsibilities of this big position? To go back to my former department – where I just left 6 months ago – and supervise my (mostly senior) former colleagues for 5 weeks? “ he wondered.
It was a lot to take in. He barely heard Nitsua who after congratulating him, was saying “Ol boy, you better start getting prepared. You know there’ll be some challenges on this job. But I’m sure you’ll do a good job. Take care!”. Mumbling his thanks, he hung up.
People Can Help You Without Necessarily Liking You – If It Benefits Them
Oyat later wondered what motives Nitsua had for always going out of his way to give him such privileged information. He never demanded anything in return. And yet, Oyat felt he had to be getting some kind of payoff. Or expecting it to come at some point.
He thought about it a bit longer. Then it hit him: “He wants me to think he’s doing me a favour, so I’ll feel indebted to him! But he’s not – I would have gotten the news eventually. Getting to know a few hours or days earlier really makes no difference – at least not to me: He’s just playing office politics!” he concluded..
Oyat had no connections with anyone in top management. So he knew it could not be that a godfather of some sort was making things happen for him from up there. To him that meant there was a good chance the decisions were being made based on his performance. He resolved to put in his best on the new assignment.
Aim To Do A Good Job – And Avoid “Lobbying” Decision Makers
One month later, he had successfully completed the secondment. His performance appraisal rating that year was his highest ever. The expatriate brewery head made a point of noting in the appraisal report that he “performed satisfactorily as department head.”
Even the company’s Director of Operations who had stopped over on the plant premises on Oyat’s last day as acting Manufacturing Manager had been pleased. He had shaken Oyat’s hand and said “We knew you could do it. Some people protested, but we told them you had the competence to do a good job, and you proved us right. Well done!”
To hear a director speak so glowingly of his abilities was a pleasant surprise and major motivational boost for him. But what he found most fulfilling was the knowledge that all the opportunities and accolades he’d earned had come without his lobbying for them.
When he was promoted 6 months earlier, a senior colleague advised him to visit the homes of senior managers who nominated him for the position, to thank them for doing so. According to him, if Oyat failed to go and "thank" them, they would consider him ungrateful, and thus stop recommending or nominating him.
Oyat had refused, stating that he never asked to be seconded or promoted. He said
“No. That’s office politics. And I don’t do “patronage”. As far as I’m concerned, they’ve given me these opportunities because they believe the company will benefit from having me there. I’ll show my gratitude by giving my best on the job at all times. If that’s not enough, then they’d bettor stop nominating me. Period.”
Final Words: Office Politics? Not Worth The Hassle!
A few weeks after that, Oyat got a letter informing him of his nomination, along with three senior managers to attend a facilitators’ workshop outside the country. They had been chosen from about 15 managers who had attended a pilot event a few weeks earlier.
As he packed his bags to go to the airport some days later, he could not help thinking that despite avoiding office politics, he continued to attract career advancement opportunities.
This reinforced his belief that those who indulged in office politics were wasting valuable time. Time that would be better spent chalking up good workplace performances to increase their chances of achieving similar career progress to his. “If only they would listen” he sighed.