Why everyone could benefit from a little bit of corporate subterfuge
Ever wondered why you seem to get landed with the donkey work while less talented workmates swan around taking all the credit and being promoted at your expense? If so, perhaps it’s time to indulge in a spot of office politics. That doesn’t have to mean dirty tricks (in practice, that wouldn’t work for long). But it does makes sense to be astute in the way you read situations or deal with certain individuals. And if you think it’s beneath you, think again – in today’s knowledge economy, measuring performance is often less about how much you do and more about just how well you get on with the boss. What does this mean in practice?
Rise to the challenge
In a Utopian world where businesses were 100 per cent transparent it is just possible that we could kiss goodbye to office politics but, in the real world, says Cary Cooper – professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University – that’s “like walking without breathing”. Add the current economic environment into the mix and you’ve got a recipe for even more office politicking, from sucking up to the boss and strategically dispatched late-night emails to withholding data from colleagues and spreading rumours.
It’s not all negative, though, adds Cooper: “If you want to get two extra members of staff, for instance, and you know the logic senior management is operating on, you design your approaches by playing the politics.”
Oliver James, author of Office Politics, agrees: “It’s got a bad name but it shouldn’t have, because all of us engage in it. Even the most saintly person will flatter the boss without even thinking about it if they want something out of them. You contribute more to your organisation if you can navigate what is going on around you and side step when other people try to nobble you.”
Know your enemy
There are some people, says James, who thrive in highly political environments – and in the past 20 years their numbers have increased dramatically, especially among senior managers. They fall into three categories and are especially dangerous if they exhibit traits from all three (such “triadic” individuals are likely to indulge in dirty tricks such as sending malicious emails or even blackmail):
Psychopaths: highly impulsive and unempathetic – think Gordon Gekko in Wall Street.
Machiavels: like Malcolm Tucker from The Thick of It, these people are calculating, cold and manipulative.
Narcissists: vain and prone to grandiosity, a sense of entitlement and feelings of superiority. James suggests Madonna fits into this category.
“One per cent of the general population are psychopathic, while four per cent of American senior managers are. And a study of English senior managers showed they are more likely to be narcissists than the occupants of Broadmoor,” he says.
Fight fire with fire
There is no magic box of tricks that will help you survive in a cut-throat world but, says James, researchers have identified four key skills. These are: astuteness – being able to read others, yourself and your organisation; effectiveness – knowing what tactic to use, and deploying it on the right person at the right time; networking – careful nurturing of relationships will enable you to press the right buttons; and the appearance of sincerity – if your colleagues lose faith in your honesty and integrity, it will be hard to progress.
“Acting plays a critical role in this. In order to pull it all together and say the right thing to the right person at the right time, you do need to perform,” says James. “It doesn’t work to be completely false all the time, but on the other hand you can be more deliberate… when you are talking to your boss and your peers.”
Be positive
Psychopaths, Machiavels and Narcissists may be in their element in an atmosphere of underhand tactics, but that doesn’t mean it’s appropriate to be rooting round in other people’s emails or telling lies about colleagues. “You have to be aware of office politics, particularly if you are a manager or work in HR. But you should try to control the part of you that wants to use office politics to your own advantage,” says Cooper. “If you engage in it, somewhere along the line someone cleverer than you will use it against you.”
The right approach is “not to avoid the politics but to take part in positive ways for good ends”, according to Kent Lineback and Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill, authors of Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader. They provide some commonsense tips: keep efforts focused on the ultimate good of the enterprise; don’t let disagreements become personal; and conduct yourself according to a set of personal standards, no matter what others do.
And finally…don’t worry
No matter how you feel about office politics, fretting won’t help – and may even make you a target. According to a study from the University of British Columbia, being paranoid about negative gossip “leads people to seek out information to confirm their fears, ultimately annoying colleagues and increasing the likelihood they will be rejected”. “It may be best to ignore impulses that tell you you’re the victim of office politics,” warns lead author Karl Aquino. In other words, play the game or rise above it. Either way, relax – because it’s here to stay.
? Office Politics – How to Thrive in a World of Lying, Backstabbing and Dirty Tricks , Vermilion, £20