The secret science of managing office politics: seven lessons for leaders
This is the second of a two-part blog focusing on office politics. The first explored ‘the secret science of office politics: seven lessons for leaders’.
Office politics are a fixture, facet and feature of the workplace. Even so, they can have a huge influence and impact on organisational business climate, employee behaviour and even performance levels. Left unchallenged, the leverage of office politics can easily rival that of the c-suite and become an alternate power centre.
So, let’s set some context. A mature organisation does not seek to prevent dissent within its ranks. On the contrary, the extent to which dissent is allowed is evidence of a healthy and vibrant workplace. Therefore, legitimate expressions of employee sentiment are not politics by any definition. Rather, politics is the attempt to apply leverage over others to enforce ‘order’ and ensure compliance, usually to undermine business systems, structures and processes.
If indeed office politics is an unavoidable fact of workplace life, can anything be done about it? Well, set out below is: ‘the secret science of managing office politics: seven lessons for leaders’.
1. Establish the cultural narrative
Cultural values function like an organisational compass and key point of reference. Without them, the workforce becomes directionless, drifts and can easily become susceptible to the voices of naysayers and provocateurs. In times of uncertainty or difficulty, strong cultural values become a ‘pull factor’, with the capacity to steer employees away from the perceived ‘attraction’ of office politics and help them to rediscover their centre of gravity. If values are sufficiently rooted and anchored, this positive influence can occur even without direct involvement from leadership.
2. Cultivate compatibility
This may surprise you but as a leader, the best way to manage office politics is to learn to live with it, not without it. Even so, recognition of the need for coexistence is not the same as a concession, but rather a call for pragmatism. It is simply not practical for leaders to stay on top of everything. Those who think they can, risk becoming needlessly and endlessly distracted by tittle-tattle and gossip. Therefore, the best way for leaders to navigate office politics is to maintain a distance that is close enough to stay informed but far enough to avoid unnecessary involvement.
3. Leave the room
As a senior manager, I remember walking into an office that I shared with my colleagues and just as I entered, the conversation they were having stopped. I then proceeded to gather some papers from my desk and left the office again. While I did initially feel self-conscious, I thought that it was important to allow my colleagues the time and space to freely converse without discomfort. I also had to trust that if an issue needed to be escalated, they would have the confidence to raise it with me. As a leader, there are times when comfort is experienced in your absence, not in your presence.
4. Tune to the frequency of organisational mood
While office politics can emerge undetected, the extent to which it can be detected relies on how well leaders are tuned to the frequency of organisational mood. Leaders must keep in mind that office politics is an effect, not a cause. That is why it is essential that leaders have their finger on the pulse of workforce sentiment. They must understand how organisational messaging lands at different levels of the hierarchy and with different constituencies of interest. Tuning to the frequency of organisational moods demands that leaders possess the ability to connect, not just a willingness to listen.
5. Legitimise the right to dissent
Every good plumber will tell you that one of the best ways to prevent pipes from becoming clogged is to regularly flush them with water. Failure to do so increases the likelihood that they will eventually become blocked and dysfunctional. Apply this same logic to the legitimisation of dissent and you will understand the importance of allowing employees to express their views, even when the things they say may be difficult to hear. Leaders who fear and suppress dissent create the very conditions that will allow office politics to manifest and proliferate.
6. Select the energy conversation mode
If leaders are not careful, their efforts to address office politics may begin to resemble a game of ‘whack-a-mole’. As this blog explains, for all its inherent negativity, office politics is a feature of the workplace, not an aberration. Therefore, attempting to eradicate it will likely lead to effort and energy being expended with little to show for it. At all times, the leadership response to office politics should be risk based and proportionate. To that extent, understanding what you are dealing with is the precursor to knowing how to deal with it.
7. Open the windows
Office politics thrives and flourishes in hidden organisational recesses and dark secret places. The predicate is that with greater transparency and openness, the clearer things become. This illustration also underlines a critical point about mutual accountability. After all, when the windows are open, it is much more difficult to hide because you can see others just as clearly as they can see you. When leaders are open and accountable about their actions it denies those who are inclined to misrepresent facts, for the purpose of politics, the opportunity to do so with impunity.
Office politics is complicated. This complication reflects the often-unpredictable nature of people themselves, as well as the fact that office politics is fundamentally about power and control. To effectively address its vagaries, complexities and subtleties demands that leaders possess a high degree of acuity and awareness. They need to anticipate, be prepared to do uncommon things and be willing to adapt to changing circumstances. While the way office politics manifest in a workplace is unique, the common denominator is that it should never be ignored.
Paul Aladenika is host of the 11th Thing Podcast
