Most of us have encountered office politics in some form or the other. Whether it is the manipulative senior, or the sycophant co-worker, or the feminazi driven team member, politics at work is an inevitability.
Politics at work is an attempt to gain power or influence over other people in order to get your own agenda delivered. It creates an unhealthy work culture, and demotivates victims from putting in sincere effort.
So, how does one deal with politics at work. HFT spoke to RituSoni Srivastava, the Founder and CEO of Obino, a Digital Health Coach. She has worked previously with Bharti Airtel Ltd, and Radio One.
Ritu suggests that mostly everyone experience two very overt forms of politics. And those are groupism and sycophancy. Groupism comes into play where like-minded people get together to form a power clique. They dove-tail their agendas, and forward a new proposal that serves both their interests.
The snide remarks and covert glances that result from groupism are not only thoroughly unprofessional, but they can also result in frustration, affecting work performance.
Ritu has also witnessed sycophancy at play. When juniors become yes-men and agree to everything suggested by the boss, they suddenly become the apple in the boss’s eye. The resulting favouritism can affect the overall morale and productivity of the work place.
Image Credit: techinasia
So, how does one deal when faced with these issues at work?
Ritu Srivastava suggest that dirtying your hand in such office politics is a lose-lose game. You become a part of the problem, with no solution in sight.
The best bet is to concentrate on your own task. The only way to break such political cliques is to focus on the organisational agenda. When you work to improve your performance, and focus on the larger goal, the petty politics at work retire to the peripheries of work life.
Ritu feels that the gender of the person does not play a part in political dynamics at work. The ultimate guiding stars are competence and attitude. Other external factors like age, gender do not play a major part in politics at work.
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