VISIBILITY IS THE NEW VALUE

A well-meaning CEO once told one of her most trusted employees that the reason he hasn't risen any higher was simply because he didn't know how to play office politics.

Remember, I said she was well-meaning, so putting that into context, her statement should be seen as a piece of advice or better still, some career guidance to a subordinate she cares?about.

But as much as the individual cherished the wise words of wisdom, his perspective was to always focus on the job, perform excellently, give two hundred percent and always find ways of improving the organisation, even beyond the roles and?responsibilities handed down to him.

Appraisals showed he had outperformed all his peers, and the late nights and extra effort he put in had led to significant improvements with tangible evidence in cost savings, more efficient processes, more diligent staff and happier customers.

As such, this was a priceless jewel to the organisation, one that everyone knew had the brains, experience and complete knowledge of the ins-and outs of the company. A golden boy that nobody toyed with.?

His rapid rise within the company couldn't be questioned because he had earned every promotion and corresponding salary increase. No one worked harder and no one gave more than him to the cause. But as the organisation grew, the organogram also grew in width, and soon, the same people who clearly weren't working as hard as he was, started receiving multiple promotions and soon found their way to the management cadre he previously occupied alone.

Now, he was sitting at the same table with those who only came to work to drink coffee, make noise and take selfies. Those who only took on tasks with direct visibility to the CEO and who always jumped on issues that had management's attention.

Soon, he became sidelined in major decisions, many times not being called into big meetings because his focus and opinions were always contrary to his new contemporaries.

Still he wasn't bothered, this gentleman was too focused on his job and didn't have the time to be bothered by such. Then, one or two contemporaries got juicier positions, and all of a sudden, the new higher, more glamorous roles created were being occupied by the very people he had clearly and consistently outperformed.

If it didn't bother him before, it certainly bothered him now. What was happening?

Everything was changing right before his eyes and it seemed the rules had been completely revamped, and hard work was no longer the requirement for upward progress within the company.

When the company participated in major industry events with global attention, he wasn't part of representatives, and it became clear that there was a new company order that didn't include him in the vanguard.

He was stuck. Was the way out the only way up?

"No no," he thought, not after all he had sacrificed for the organisation. He was going to stay and fight for his inheritance. After all, his only crime was spending time doing his work,?which he believed was in the best interest of the organisation and not joining the ruling political party within the office.

Was he just being naive? Is there a way to stay valuable and relevant without pleasing all the stakeholders and power brokers in any organisation?

Can one truly work so hard that his hard work becomes the only yardstick or metric for measuring his contribution?

The best place to find the answer to that question is to delve into the sports arena.

Many team sports have players with varying degrees of contribution. Some of them are grafters, hard workers or labourers on the field of play. Others are glory-getters, often profiting from the hard work of others and making the most significant contributions for the camera. The deft flicks and tricks, and scoring the easy tap-ins after others have laboured to create the opportunity. Sometimes, in a game like football, the star player who refuses to contribute defensively even takes the ball off the hardworking one whenever he wins a penalty kick for his efforts. He doesn't even get to play his own penalty kick!

Is life fair?

Many of those who make the fewest on-field contributions get paid the highest salaries because of their high profile. Their image, endorsements and social media following are considered a greater contribution to the sports organisation than their performance on the field of play. And as such, any coach brave enough to demand more hard work from such players is shown the door, often surprisingly sacked after said star players have clandestine dinners with the owners of the club.

Aren't such coaches as na?ve as my friend mentioned earlier?

Don't they know better than to tamper with the unseen club organogram of "owner->star player->coach->other players?"

Business organisations are no different, and as such, beyond an intelligence quotient, social and emotional quotients, one needs a political quotient not just to survive but to thrive in any office.

So, let's not be na?ve to believe that just focusing on hard work alone can see you through. Even those on top are playing the politics of survival to stay there, lest they be deposed by those beneath them eyeing their lofty positions.

That said, focusing only on politics without diligence and hard work will only lead to short-term elevation, as those two qualities are the only two legs you can stand on for long-term success. Without them, your relevance could come into question when the organisation experiences bad results and begins to x-ray your true contribution?to the cause.

So, focus on hard work and play the required politics, because as long as you are working with human beings and not robots, every organisation is a political organisation and should be treated as such.

Be hard, be swift, be all you can be, but don't become what you weren't created to be because of a temporal office. Some are simply not worth it.

Above all, be wise.

To your success,

O.A. Williams?

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Copyright ? 2023 Olayinka A. Williams - All rights reserved.