When I hear someone say they don’t play office politics, I know they are either lying or losing.
We are tribal and therefore we play politics within our tribe and outside it – it’s human nature.
What matters is how we play politics. Positively or negatively.
The rules for how we play politics are set by the culture and they either follow the alleged values of the organisation, or they don’t.
Sadly, often they don’t.
Negative office politics is a direct reflection on the culture and the extent to which values are not being followed. It confirms poor leadership.
Some symptoms of negative politics are malicious gossip; withholding; misinformation; blaming; focus on keeping the status quo; reluctance to ask questions; unresolved conflict; factions rather than teams; silos; favouritism; bullying; segregation; isolation; employee disengagement; diminished performance. There are more, but you get the idea.
Positive politics is a direct reflection of a standard of leadership that is rare though attainable. Primarily it fosters the desired culture following the agreed shared values.
Symptoms of positive politics include conflicts occurring and being resolved; challenges to the status quo; freedom to ask questions; teams collaborating and cooperating across departments; accountability and consequences occurring, usually acknowledgement and recognition of good work; healthy debate; healthy social interaction; respect; high employee engagement and performance.
Trying to stamp out office politics is futile. Better for leaders to step up and live the values; set the best example; engage effectively with employees and create a culture with positive politics.
Put another way – the quality of office politics is a reflection of the culture, which is a reflection of the leadership.
What’s your experience?
