Why are you seeing politics everywhere in your workplace?
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it
On any given day in the world of product and transformation, you will experience or hear stories of politics playing out like:
you needing to reprioritise and replan your roadmap because a senior executive demands a lower priority item is fast tracked
you struggling to secure funding for a piece of work because no one wants to own the problem or pay for the solution
you needing to rebuild your team because a department or the organisation has decided to restructure - again
you struggling to keep people on track because they’re cherry picking the insights they want to see from the data
you slipping from the priority list of teams that you’re dependent on because their OKRs and KPIs are in conflict with yours
you struggling to make progress even when a decision has been made in your favour because it’s being ignored
you needing to relitigate decisions because the wrong decision maker made the call and didn’t have the right information
There is an endless list of these types of scenarios, so why are politics everywhere in your workplace? Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone could just get along and things just got done?
Where there are people, there are politics
Politics cut across all cultures, all communities, all industries, all workplaces, all departments, all teams, and all jobs in all countries. You can’t avoid them even if you tried
Workplace politics is not optional
You can’t opt out of workplace politics if you want to make progress. Politics are the differences between you and the people you work with (and want to influence). These differences can be in knowledge, skills, opinions, personalities, perspectives, cultural and social norms, rewards and punishments, hierarchy, authority, power, influence, and more
Politics are about the strength of your relationships
Good decisions and positive progress are made when two way conversations can occur. When curiosity enables the differences between all parties to be understood, and when respect enables the gaps to be closed in meaningful ways
Most conversations that are deemed to be controversial or political are often labelled negatively because they are one way conversations. When an order or instruction or decision is made unilaterally and they are followed without further discussion
An example of this would be you needing to reprioritise and replan your roadmap because a senior executive demands a lower priority item is fast tracked - and you do it without asking more questions. This could be the tenth time you’ve done this exercise this month because they keep changing their mind about priorities
Everyone has the right to ask for and engage in a two way conversation, however the ability to do that depends on the strength of your relationships. Using the above example, when you don’t have a good relationship with the senior executive, you would struggle to get time in their diary to discuss their fast track demand and you would be trapped in the constant and toxic reprioritisation and replanning cycle
When you have a good relationship with the senior executive, you would be able to stop them in the hallway or grab a coffee with them and discuss the impact of their decision to fast track a lower priority item. You could let them know about the cost of delaying your current priority items and ask them again if they would still make the same decision to fast track. They could stick with their original decision and you would still have to reprioritise and replan. But the two way conversation opens up the possibility that they change their mind and support your current priorities because they acknowledge they didn’t have all the information they should have considered when making the original decision
A two way conversation can save you the pain, time, and effort of the reprioritisation and replanning cycle. A two way conversation can save your team engagement and help you attract and retain quality talent by letting them focus and deliver good work; rather than distracting them with constantly changing priorities that cause them to have 20 half baked things done and no goals achieved at their next performance review
Strong positive relationships create positive workplace cultures. Smart decisions are made effectively, there is pride in the valuable work that is produced, you deliver exceptional customer and colleague experiences, patients recommend your practice, and you and the people around you outperform in life and at work
Strong negative relationships create toxic workplace cultures. Tension from unresolved conflicts fester, slow or no decisions are the norm, stress from an excessive workload is real, your customer and colleague complaints rise, patient safety becomes a concern, and work becomes life for you and those around you as you simply try to just keep up
This is why you are seeing politics everywhere in your workplace
Good politics are invisible and make the place hum with excitement and engagement. Bad politics are seen and felt a mile away and make the place one that people want to avoid
Need help navigating the politics in your workplace?
You know the fastest path to success is to sort out the people and the politics. Let’s work together on this. Here are three ways:
Influencing for Impact: This practical 2-day workshop is for you if you want to influence a decision maker, influence a change in customer or colleague behaviour, or influence someone to buy something from you
Executive and Leadership Team Coaching: Work directly with Lai-Ling to problem solve for your specific situation in a confidential setting. This is for you if you want to develop and execute on a game plan that is 100% tailored to you
Leadership Development: Invest in the product and transformation leaders in your company with leadership development that is customised for their role. This is for you if you want your people to learn about people and politics