Connie Steele I Future of Work Expert

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Ep. 68 - Office Politics (Part 1): Understanding The What, How, and Why to Navigate Workplace Dynamics Effectively

Strategic Momentum

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Office Politics (Part 1): Understanding the What, How, and Why Strategic Momentum Podcast

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While many of us would rather avoid office politics or pretend it’s not necessary to understand them, the reality is that we can’t — and if you ignore them, you could end up left behind. So what does it take to build that political know-how that will help you get unstuck and thrive?

This is the first in a series of episodes that brings together a range of business leaders to share their perspectives and experiences from different roles, industries, and company structures. They offer insights that will help listeners build political competence in order to navigate office politics effectively.

The guests include: 

  • Kimberly Henning, SVP of Enterprise Payments at Bank of America;

  • Preston Lewis, Founder and CEO of Intactic; 

  • Tony Orlando, Software executive and board member to several tech companies; 

  • Jennifer Trzepacz, commonly known as “JT,” Partner and COO of Wildcat Venture Partners; 

  • Jen McDonald, Chief Client Officer at VMLY&R Agency; 

  • Jim Brady, Founder and CEO of Spirited Media Consulting; 

  • and Michael Wilkinson, Master Facilitator and Founder of Leadership Strategies. 

In this episode, we get the lay of the land by exploring what office politics really means, the positive and negative sides of it all, and most importantly, what drives the political behavior at its core. Because being able to navigate politics efficiently starts with understanding the “why” behind human behavior. 

Defining Office Politics: What it is & How it Plays Out in Company Culture

Often times, office politics is immediately considered negative — some even shy away from it like it’s a dirty word. But the reality is that there are two sides to it, and the positive or good politics can help you become well-networked, an effective champion of your ideas and manager of stakeholders.  

It’s important to have context of what ‘office politics’ means first and foremost - it’s the process of (and behavior in) navigating the organizational and interpersonal dynamics within a company. 

It entails the combination of people, management and power dynamics where different perspectives and processes to getting things done exist. In that ecosystem, it’s about how those relationships between people play out in company culture, which is why you have to get grounded in what a company’s culture is like first. 

But, often, certain dynamics in an organization become detrimental — both to the people involved and the company’s bottom line. For example, the drive to want to succeed can cause some people to throw others under the bus, or create cliques that purposely exclude their peers. Or the politics come out in employees’ general subversiveness or when leaders avoid transparency in decision-making. As Michael Wilkinson points out, most issues come down to two things: misalignment and a lack of trust. 

Leaders can often exacerbate these dynamics by playing favorites or creating situations where people need to “choose sides.” And the unfortunate reality is that many people will emulate what their leaders do.

So what’s really driving this behavior?

The Root Causes: Emotions (like Fear, Insecurity) and Organizational Dynamics

Emotions and the behavior that emanate from them are at the root of many actions that lead to office politics (in fact, the topic of emotions when it comes to creating inertia in a business environment is something we’ve covered in previous episodes, if you’d like to check them out). 

Insecurity about where you stand leads to fear that you could lose your position, rank, salary, or even reputation. So people act in ways that help them regain that security. Further, according to Preston Lewis, what people do in those cases really all comes down to two innate human desires — the need to be loved and the need to not look incompetent. 

But the way a company is set up can also lead to negative political behavior. If you have a performance system that ranks and rewards individualized success, people are bound to develop a “me” versus “we” mentality.

And when accountability doesn’t exist — and negative behavior is tolerated — the subsequent implications can yield toxic outcomes. A toxic environment can easily occur when corporate cultures don’t prioritize accountability, transparency, and trust. 

So it’s important to understand what the company really values and how those values manifest in the rewards structures and power dynamics. At the end of the day, everyone is human and people will try to succeed in the environment they are placed in — and both employees and leaders need to understand that.

Politics - A Fact of Life That Starts and Ends at the Top

We have to remember that no organization isn’t political because some form of political behavior at work is a fact of life — it’s an inevitable part of being in the workforce. 

And regardless of the size of the organization or company, tone is typically set from the top. Power is a critical component of politics. As a leader, your job is to motivate others to act towards achieving a common goal. Or, as someone who has a strong belief and wants to champion that position, it requires you to positively influence others to see your point of view.  

Ultimately, for leaders, it’s about creating an environment that nurtures the behaviors, efficiencies, and beneficial outcomes that can lead to overall success for the company and the people in it. As an employee in this ecosystem, it’s always important to understand the landscape at the individual and work environment level. At the end of the day, however, you have to have the self-awareness to realize what will and won’t work for you.

Key Takeaways: 

Defining and Understanding Office Politics

  • Office politics is the combination of humans being humans at work and all that comes with that, combined with the objectives and organizational dynamics of a company. 

    • You have to understand that everyone who comes to a workplace has an objective of their own, and are tasked with objectives for their organization or for the company — but those can have positive or negative consequences. 

    • Office politics is about the interplay of power dynamics and human relationships, and how those interactions form a culture. You can have a great company culture but still have politics. 

    • It’s critical to understand the ecosystem in which things get done and decisions get made. These don’t always line up to an org chart and those who have the greatest impact can be much further down than you think. 

    • Office politics emanates from the culture and is used to get some power, influence, or advancement. It typically can be unwritten and have an informal network associated with it.

  • Once you have a good understanding of the interplay amongst those relationships, then you're well-positioned to understand the level of influence that politics may or may not have on any given day. 

  • Politics shouldn’t necessarily be perceived as negative — there are both good and bad politics. Regardless, surveying and understanding the full landscape puts you in a better position to know how to be successful.

    • When you come into any new organization or team, you quickly need to understand the relationships. The faster you are able to do that, the better you’ll be at positioning yourself to know how to be “successful”. 

      • Much of that success has to do with the relationships that you develop, nurture, and sustain over time. 

    • For example: When you are putting together a team, picking people who will be aligned with your solution is a positive thing to do. It might be seen as a political move, but if you’re making decisions based on alignment, you’re moving in the right direction.

    • If you are new to the workforce, think of it like a team sport — understand the roles, expectations, and history of relationships. 

    • Remember that positive or good politics can help you become well-networked, an effective champion of your ideas and manager of stakeholders.  

  • While there is a tendency to follow the leader particularly when they see negative behaviors garner advancement or power in the workplace, remember that

  • Lack of transparency around motives and subversive behavior can create a challenging work environment. When you say one thing and do another, you end up creating a culture of negativity that is not built on trust.

  • Office politics can lead people to not buy into something just because of what side of the fence they are sitting on.

Understanding Root Causes

  • How someone shows up is often a result of what’s underneath the surface. Many people come with emotions that motivate their behaviors and attitudes.

  • Realize that having a lack of alignment in the workplace and trust in others are root causes of office politics.

    • These happen when values and outcomes aren’t in sync or there is a fundamental breakdown in trust.

  • Negative political behaviors also occur when people are not transparent about what their motives are.

  • Fear and insecurity are the biggest drivers of negative political behaviors.

    • Humans crave a feeling of being needed, included, validated, and having power and a purpose. People often experience fear and insecurity when those feelings are at risk.

    • Insecurity about where you stand leads to fear that you could lose your position, or rank, or salary, or even your reputation. So people act in ways that help them regain that security. If you feel like your status is at risk, you’re going to behave in a way to protect it.

  • If a good employee or leader is constantly fearful that their job is in jeopardy, it might be a sign that there is something wrong with the organization, and not so much the individual. Management dynamics and overall corporate culture can foster all these bad behaviors.

  • People care about two main things: looking good and being loved (consciously or unconsciously).

    • When you apply that thinking to office politics, look at someone else’s situation through that lens and understand what are those things that enable them to feel that way.

  • We have to remember that we are all human with our own hierarchy of needs, and it’s important to understand others on that human level.

Politics at the Individual and Cultural Level - in Context

  • Company culture is the collective conversation. Conversations ultimately influence relationships, which directly impact politics and career success.

  • You have to assume that people are going to want to succeed, be promoted, and get recognized. So you have to think about what that will mean in whatever kind of system you've put in place.

    • Avoid creating ranks and implementing incentives that reward competitive behavior if your goal is to increase collaboration. Instead, find ways to reward collaboration.

  • It’s important to consider not picking sides and following the leader. If your decisions and actions depend on where you sit and how (or with whom) you are aligned, and nothing else, there's a problem in the organization.

  • Ensuring trust, transparency and accountability at the top is critical to creating an environment that minimizes the common negative behaviors (e.g. backstabbing, manipulation, gossiping) and power struggles seen in the workplace.

  • An emotional response to a political maneuver will not get you to where you want to be.

    • When you're meeting emotion with emotion, you're not going to get to any type of positive outcome no matter how you do it, unless you have some sort of intervention. So, it’s critical to take a step back, be introspective, and be objective so that you equip yourself with the non-emotional response to address the situation.

  • Addressing politics can’t be solved by simply focusing on or revisiting company values. You have to demonstrate what the right behaviors actually look like based on those values.

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