What is Organizational Politics and is it really bad?

If you conduct a random poll and ask people, if they engage in organizational politics at their work place, the most common answer you will get is NO. Politics has a very bad connotation and most people don’t want to be associated with it. Politics is considered unethical; bad for career growth and the perception is that only those employees who lack merit, talent and are unwilling to work hard engage in such kind of behavior. But is organizational politics really that bad?

 

Organizational Politics is defined as the ability to understand and effectively influence others for personal or organizational benefits. Also, it does not have to be a zero-sum game – All the parties playing politics can have a positive outcome and lead to a bigger benefit to the organization.

Organizational Politics, or for that matter, any kind of politics is neutral on its own. It is the execution and the intent that makes it good or bad. In today’s corporate world, one has to have power and influence to get any kind of projects done – get budgets approved, convince people to support your proposal, get resources assigned to your prototypes, prioritize the right projects, select profitable customers,  etc. We all, knowingly or unknowingly play politics in our professional or professional careers. The question to ask is – “How do I ethically play politics?” and not ‘How do I stay away from politics” – because in reality, you cannot and you should not. 

But is there a framework or steps you can follow to get better at it? Yes, of course!

Here are a few strategies that effectively use Organizational Politics:

1.     Develop relationships and network with powerful people in the organization: It is extremely important to associate yourself with the right people in the company. If someone is extremely good at his/her job but has no clout or any decision-making powers, he/she probably cannot help you to further your team goals or agenda

2.     Always be aware and informed about critical projects:  One should not be so focused on his/her projects that they are completely unaware about what is happening around them.  Successful leaders develop a network to help them keep abreast, or ahead, of developments within the firm.

3.     Be a Subject Matter Expert:  It is very important to own your projects and never leave an opportunity to present your work. Always make sure that you come across as someone who knows his/her area of expertise and not just someone who gets the job done.

4.     Offer help and ask for guidance from influential people: Building relationships with new people joining the group is a politically-savvy move. Sometime old relationships that have been built by your team members with other stakeholders might be hard to influence – so go ahead and forge new ones. Offer on-boarding help, take them out for lunch, send them relevant documents to help ramp up, invite them to 101 sessions, etc.  Also executives, VPs and directors love to play Mentor – Identify a problem and present it to them along with timelines on execution and metrics on success. Then go and implement it.

Here are a few strategies that are not part of Organizational Politics:

1.     Incessant criticism and back-stabbing: Do not criticize a fellow team members just to be in good books of someone with power. This might not only come back to bite you but will also create a negative image about you.

2.     Set-up a person for failure:  You might be able to help someone to deliver on their critical projects with your contacts or information. Purposely stalling those projects to make them look bad is not considered ethical behavior.

3.     Information Hoarding:  Examples of unethical behavior include monopolizing time with clients, scheduling meetings so someone cannot attend, and shutting out coworkers from joining you on an important assignment.

4.     Creating a network where you have all the power: This is a common mistake made by people in power. They try to create a network of employees who are likely to follow them blindly. In this process, powerful people end up firing or alienating other team members who might be valuable assets to the company. Power should not come from fear – it will not last long. Power should come from respect – This is the one that will help you, your team and your company to achieve lasting success!

Ending this blog with a quote from Lord Acton “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Feel free to share the efforts that you have taken to become better at Organizational Politics.
Good Luck!

Thanks,
Almitra Karnik