Don’t be a shrinking violet - Get in the ring and play like a pro

Are you afraid to get up close and personal with your colleagues? Perhaps this is why you are not getting those promotions and raises. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • It is generally the rule that colleagues are in competition for promotions and raises.
  • Add to this passion for one’s work, and often conflicting ideas and personalities, and you see how office politics is inevitable.
  • Often, the bosses aren’t always the ones with the most influence.

When philosopher Plato wrote that one of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors, he was definitely onto something. This is true, particularly when it comes to politics in the work place.

Politics is dirty, nasty and draining, and so a lot of women go into new work places with a silent vow to steer clear of politics. After all, your good work should be enough to speak for you right? Wrong.

“Office politics isn’t something you can sit out,” says 31-year-old Savannah, a copy writer. Doing so almost cost her job last year. She had been working for her current employer, an ad agency in Nairobi, for a year when their boss asked her to step in for a team leader from another department who was going on leave. “I blindly accepted the offer (but hell broke loose) when I did,” she says.

Suddenly, two different cliques of colleagues were up in arms against her. People who had seemed friendly with her were going to the boss to talk about how she wasn’t even doing the job she already had properly. “It was all very shocking. I couldn’t believe it,” she recalls.

Savanna dealt with the shock fast and invited those who were against her for a friendly chat. This chat ended with her letting the gig go but keeping her job. “Now I look at office relations very differently,’ she says.

The greatest lesson she learned up from the experience is that love it or loathe it, office politics is a part of every workplace. Now Savanna, who is a natural introvert, has been drawn out of her shell. “I listen very keenly to everyone at the office. I can now say that I know what motivates most of the people I work with. Every day, I try to help them meet their goals so that they can help me meet mine. For instance there is a lady who is obsessive about getting recognised and having her ego massaged so I make sure she feels that way with me. In return, I do not expect her to oppose me should I get an opportunity like the one I passed on,” she says.

It is generally the rule that colleagues are in competition for promotions and raises. Add to this passion for one’s work, and often conflicting ideas and personalities, and you see how office politics is inevitable. Often, the bosses aren’t always the ones with the most influence. This was a lesson that Miriam Njine, 30, learnt – just in time for the birth of her twins.

“I had been the loyal employee who came in first in the morning and volunteered for all the extra tasks at my former job,” she says. This strategy failed spectacularly when she was the first to be fired when the company began downsizing, leaving those who had seemed less committed. So when she got a new job at a PR firm a little over four years ago, she became a people-pleaser.

Except that “for the first two and a half years, I was pleasing the wrong people,” she says.

She had assumed that the people she automatically should try to please were senior management. However no matter how much she worked to please them, her career did not progress for two years. So she started engaging those who seemed to know the ropes.

PEOPLE WHO KNOW EVERYTHING

“There are these people who somehow seem to know everything that is going on with everyone. The ones who are not shy about going into the CEO’s office. The ones who are very good at mobilising others. These are the movers and shakers.”

This new strategy hasn’t earned her the top job yet but when she had her twins over a year ago, it was these ‘influential’ colleagues who put in a kind word for her with the overall boss. Getting flexi-time when she came back to work was easy. For most of her twins’ first year, she has been able to work around her parenting schedule. t isn’t in vain. To a degree, especially after having my children, I feel in charge of my life,” she says.

Her advice? Get to know your colleagues via the office rumour mill. Know who gets long with who, who can shake things up and whose ass you should kiss.

TALK CAN BE EXPENSIVE

Mastering office politics is an essential skill set. Gossip is the main ingredient of office politics. What you talk about and who you talk to is what sets apart good politics from bad. Eunice, a 34-year-old marketer, likes to talk. When she starts talking, she can’t stop. “One time, I was really unhappy with the boss and I started bad mouthing her to another colleague. The colleague told her and now the boss hates me,” she says. Her career took a hit. She hasn’t recovered yet.

“It’s been a tough seven months. I have gotten warning letters even for the smallest mistakes. Just this week, I was locked out of the office, sent home from the office and the day recovered from my leave days because I was three minutes late for a morning meeting,” she says.

She is not sure of her job with her current employer but if she could do it all over again, she would be more conscious about who she vents to.

“It also matters who you spend your time talking to. I have noticed that the employees who make the most money are those ones who have aligned themselves with the colleagues with the most extensive networks, instead of with the bosses” Eunice says.

 

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What does your boss think of your politicking?

Emma Kaari is the managing director of Lavender Properties Ltd.

 

“Office politics is inevitable. If it is about growing the business and the feedback actually gets to management, then it is good from the employer’s point of view. If it is driven by selfish interest, then it is bad.”

“What I reward as an employer is an employee’s attitude. Attitude and results are more valuable to me than skills and experience. If you can politick in a way that you are still able to work with your colleagues and the company benefits, then you will be rewarded for it.”

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Frida Owinga is a founder and lead business coaching consultant at Passion Profit Ltd.

 

“The truth is that office politics exist. If you bury your head in the sand and refuse to participate, your career will be affected negatively. The secret is knowing how to maneuver your way around it.”

“You know the ring leaders in the office – the people we like to call unflattering names like kiherehere? Those are the agents of change in an office setting. Having a good agenda is not enough. To see your agenda through, you need to identify the agents of change in your work place and get them to understand your agenda so that you can get them on your side.”

 

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How savvy are you at politicking in the office?

Just how good are you at navigating the office politics minefield? To find out, answer each of these questions truthfully choosing the answer that best describes you and how you react to situations.

 

1. You just got this exciting new job which you hope to keep. When you start working, you notice that the workplace is overly political. What do you do?

a) I steer clear of all the politics and hope that my work will speak for me.

b) I take my time to learn the ropes so that I can align myself to the right side.

c) I dive right into the political murky waters. I want to get ahead of it so that my career can benefit.

 

2. You are frustrated with your job and your boss. You feel like you are getting closer to the end of your tether so you…

a) quietly begin searching for another job.

b) selectively share your frustrations with a few thought out colleagues who can put in a word for you.

c) tell everyone who will listen and hope that word will get to the boss so that he or she can fix the problem.

3. At work…

a) I spend as little time and effort trying to network with my colleagues.

b) I make an effort so that the people I work with are comfortable around me.

c) I am myself. I figure that it is up to those around me to deal with who I am.

4. While communicating with your colleagues…

a) I do and say what is best for me, my family and my career.

b) I try to gauge the motivations of those I am communicating with before deciding what to say.

c) I am as genuine as possible, even if they do not like what I have to say.

5. Regarding your connections at work…

a) I know only the people who I need to know to get my job done.

b) I have made an effort to know the people who seem to have large networks of contacts.

c) I have gone out of the way to know the bosses.

 

6. You spend a lot of time at the office…

a) Keeping my mouth shut and doing my job.

b) Some of the time I do the work and some of the time I spend creating relationships especially with colleagues with a bit of influence.

c) I spend most of the time creating relationships; connections are what build careers, right?

 

7. Your daily goal at the office is…

a) To do my job well enough so that I can get rewarded for it.

b) To figure out what those I am working under and with want so that they can help me get what I want.

c) To get as much as I can out of this organisation.

 

8. You feel that being at the office requires you to…

a) Pretend that I am someone that I’m not. This makes me discontent.

b) Go out of my way to understand those around me so that at the end, we can all benefit.

c) Be myself.

 

9. Everyone works because they want to gain something. Your strategy to get what you want from your employer is…

a) Giving every task that I have been assigned my best shot and ignoring everything else.

b) Understanding that everyone wants power but only those that are conscious of their everyday decisions get it.

c) Enemies have to be crushed.

 

10. Outside the office, you and your colleagues…

a) We do not have a relationship outside the office.

b) We mostly do lunches or coffee. If we do drink, I keep it to a maximum of one drink.

c) I let my hair down and drink to my fill; we are not just colleagues, we are friends.

 

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Mostly A’s: You have taken the path that a lot of people opt for when they are new at a work place. You just want to do your job and stay away from the politics. Unfortunately, this is not a valid option and doing so will eventually hurt your career.

Mostly B’s: You seen to have struck that delicate balance between good and bad office politics. Keep doing what you are doing.

 

Mostly C’s: You spend most of your time and energy at the work place trying to navigate the grid of your office politics. You seem to take it all personally. If you are the one that comes up with every scandal and you are always chatting up your colleagues, you risk coming off as lazy and thus a bad employee.