Office Politics

Aristotle once wrote “Man by nature is a political animal”, and you only have to look around the workplace to see that it is, in fact, true. Gossip, glad handling and the ruthless pursuit of personal agendas are just a few ways that politics are rampant in the office.

It is unfortunate that such an important aspect of a workplace is often overlooked. The taint of office politics has the ability to sour an otherwise pleasant job, and the idea of politics breeding backstabbing, brown nosing, favouritism is certainly not a new one.

The problem with this is that candidates are taking into account what they know about organisations and their inner workings, stereotypical or actually known for sure, when applying for jobs. This has the potential to be damaging to employers because some of the best candidates will be put off applying for a role because of it.

The most obvious example of this is the idea that the Government, local, state or federal, are only advertising a role because they are legally bound to, but everyone knows it will be filled by someone who knows someone already inside the organisation. And sometimes this is true, and when this does happen, these stories spread and everyone remembers them when applying for a role later down the track.

Then there is that story told every so often about that guy who applied for a promotion, and even though he was the most qualified, somehow the senior managers nephew was given the job.

It’s so common now, that it’s easy enough to just consider it to be an everyday part of work life. For those not partaking in these games, it seems safest to just keep their head down and pretend like nothing is going on.

So what can an employer do to negate the negative connotations associated with workplace politics?  Lead by example – an organisation can either encourage office politics or stop it, it’s your choice.

One of the biggest problems caused by politics in the workplace is that it encourages secrecy and most employees, and candidates are wary of being kept in the dark. This leads to gossip, the true and the wildly exaggerated. The simplest way to stop this is to have transparency in your organisation. Make information available to your staff and future staff. Share organisational goals, profits, marketing strategies and even bad news. This is not to say that everything should be shared, the recipe for the “secret sauce” can stay under wraps, but executive decision making involves everyone.

Another benefit that comes with transparency is trust from your employees as well as candidates, of your organisation and brand. They feel involved when they understand the “why” of corporate decisions and this creates resilience during tougher times, as well as loyalty.

Measurable performance in the workplace show that an organisation and their employees have nothing to hide. This is also where rewarding individuals comes into it as well. Staff can see that people are being rewarded based on their performance and nothing else.

Lastly, create an office culture that doesn’t lend to the us vs. them school of thought. Don’t segregate your entry level employees from the higher ups. This creates an obvious divide in the organisation and can do more harm then good. Traditionally, this is the way it has always been in corporate workplaces, but times are changing and so are management techniques, and the offices that have a culture of equality tend to have the strongest staff and brand loyalty, as well as the highest productivity.

It’s unrealistic to believe that there is such a thing as a totally politic-free workplace. But by showing candidates that the company is making an effort to eliminate it, by encouraging transparency, measurable goals, team work and rewarding teams as well as individuals, as well as ensuring that rewards are earned, instead of given in return for favours, will go a long way towards reassurance.