Office Politics - is there a cure?
I’m fairly sure that one of the things that drives most people bonkers in the workplace (and probably life in general) is office politics.
Of course, some organisations have it more than others and some people thrive on it. It’s a well-worn phrase that “where there’s people there’s politics” and to a large extent that is true. Some types are worse than others though…
Low Level Politics
This can consist of sycophantic behaviour such as crawling round senior staff or trying to engage a sponsor to provide a helpful shove up the company ladder. Or it could be trying to take credit for successful projects but running a mile and abdicating responsibility when things go wrong. Usually people who display these traits are either lacking in ability as they feel it’s their only route to progress. Alternatively, it can be disgruntled staff who do possess the capabilities but don’t have the opportunities to shine or are overlooked in favour of other more “high profile individuals who are better at “marketing themselves”. Otherwise it can just be basic school playground, tale-telling stuff. In some organisations where office politics are highly prevalent, people can often become drawn into them without wanting to just in order to survive. Where it’s worse is when you have more senior people demonstrating these behaviours when they don’t need to. There’s no apparent motive other than a sadistic pleasure in making people’s lives a misery. Often these individuals have a deluded sense of their own value and think everyone looks up to them when in reality nobody has a good word to say about them.
Psychological Warfare
Then there’s the more sophisticated, psychological approach – these are people who are actively on a mission to wage a campaign of negative disruption within your organisation. By being forthright in their behaviour they are effectively issuing a hands off message, by spreading fear and unrest. They also gather similar colleagues (disciples) around them to form a “terror cell” which, in their minds, endorses their anti-social behaviour. It stems from inadequacy and insecurity in the same way as playground bullying and is a way of protecting their position in the hierarchy. They might be spreading false rumours that they are “well in” with senior leaders in order to deter potential threats. Even HR can be afraid to stand up to these personalities, mainly because of the potential conflict it entails and their ability to damage your business from the inside. Blind eyes get turned and there is an acceptance of that’s the way things are. They are considered too much trouble but these people are also devious because they don’t tend to leave any evidence or DNA lying around at the scene of the collateral damage.
The Root Causes
I’m sure everyone can relate to some if not all of the above. Yes, we can pass it off as human nature but organisations do exist where the opposite occurs. So why does it happen? It stems from organisational leadership and culture. Senior leaders are those least affected by office politics - they’re already at the top so it’s not a direct problem to them. Some secretly like the ego trip and for others it’s actually an informal way of controlling what goes on in the company. The downside is it’s toxic because in-house politics are communicated overtly or subconsciously to customers. Word gets around partly because people talk about their experiences at work, but more so because when clients engage with your business, they get a “vibe”, a sixth sense if you like. You can tell whether staff are genuinely engaged or not. It’s also quite difficult to detect as a senior leader because everyone will tell you what you want to hear and that things are fine. The good people who genuinely hate it and don’t want to engage in bad-mouthing or title-tattle end up leaving, so look what you’re left with. As you can see, it’s a vicious circle but you need to find out and find out fast because it can do irreparable damage to your organisation.
So how do you go about creating that politics-free working environment. Well you can achieve it by implementing what we call a “Coaching Culture”.
A Coaching Culture
I’m often asked to describe what a “Coaching Culture” is and its benefits. It can sound idealistic as if I am painting the picture of some kind of organisational utopia, but it does work in reality. My only reservation is that the terminology maybe gives the wrong impression that it’s purely about Coaching & Mentoring. Maybe in time we need to give it a more precise label, but for now, here is a list of key indicators that will tell you whether you are on the right track or not. I’ll call them The Perfect 10…
1. Organisational Learning - All line-managers and leaders are skilled coaches. They realise that their role is to get the very best from their colleagues and to help them grow, achieve their potential and be the best they can be. They don’t feel threatened by this as they will experience the benefits of it themselves in their own personal development. Coaching enables continuous application and a high retention of learning, so you can see and measure the impact on performance. At the same time, it enables evaluation and review so that mistakes are identified, learned from and not repeated in future.
2. Change Ready - Your organisation becomes “change ready” rather than “change reactive” or "change resistant" so that people no longer feel threatened by change but instead embrace it as an exciting fact of company life. This increases your responsiveness to challenges, makes you a more agile organisation thereby giving you a massive competitive edge. Coaching becomes a Strategic Enabler, so rather than simply addressing HR & L&D issues it is actually used to drive the direction of the business.
3. Innovation & Creativity - A Coaching Culture is an accepted catalyst for innovation and change within the business. It is a success driver and significantly increases employee engagement and retention as all staff contribute to, buy into and own the vision of the organisation. Sadly, many companies under-utilise their employee’s competencies. In a coaching culture, leaders recognise that new ideas to profitably drive the business already exist within the company and so they get the maximum value from their staff’s capabilities. Once this exists, people have little or no desire to leave.
4. Empowerment & Engagement – staff are trusted and have autonomy to make decisions. This creates a psychological contract with the company team ethic. Anyone frustrated by this way of working i.e. purveyors of distrust, will take the decision to leave anyway because exposure to the next point is what they fear the most.
5. Openness & Transparency – staff are free to challenge others and say exactly what they think without fear of reprisals. Ask yourself the question – do you have that now in your current role? If you do then that’s a very powerful indicator of a positive organisational culture. People need to know that their voices are being heard.
6. People Development - coaching is all about individual & team effectiveness. Creating a “Coaching Culture” reduces L&D time and budgets in the long run because people learn continuously, in bite-size chunks and only focus on the key things that will make all the difference. Coaching is completely tailored to the individual and allows them to learn in their preferred way and from their own experiences. It is based on the assumption that the answers lie within and it is the role of the coach to ask the really incisive questions which will draw them out and get to the heart of performance improvement.
7. Common Goal – there are no sub-agendas, only a crystal clear Vision of what the company wants to achieve which everyone buys into. It’s fun and exciting and there is a constant feel-good factor or buzz in the workplace.
8. Mutual Accountability – people cease being on an individual crusade for their own personal career benefit. In fact, this behaviour is openly rejected by others, leading to collective responsibility for performance and results. Peer enforcement rather than hierarchical pressure ensures this new way of working is embedded within your culture.
9. Performance-Led Advancement – this is results-led as everyone is allowed to shine and reward and recognition are transparent. The right people are promoted fairly and there is a logic and rationale behind these decisions, not subjectivity and favouritism. Of course, there will still be situations where people will disagree with these decisions, but there will be a greater acceptance of them.
10. Client Engagement - you attract more people to your business and create brand advocates because what’s on the inside shines through and people are drawn to it like a magnet. Whether you like it or not, the public can spot a great culture a mile away.
At The OCM Group we practice what we preach and enjoy the benefits of a “politics-free” working environment. You can too!
Carl Gregory is Head of Client Engagement for The OCM Group. He is an expert in leadership, behavioural change and organisational culture with a proven track record of helping companies increase their productivity and profitability.
The OCM Group are coaching and mentoring specialists who use this expertise to support our clients achieve their strategic goals. We don’t offer generic leadership, innovation or change programmes but instead identify and build the leadership capabilities required to achieve strategic goals through innovative coaching and mentoring programmes.