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You
have been there more than once. You have a project
clearly outlined and then it turns out that the five people
with whom you have contact all have different agendas.
A sixth person you did not even know about now has a say in
what is happening. And their demands are not
compatible and they may change with the winds of power.
Company
politics! The bane of every consultant. What can
you do about these stifling politics? Actually, quite
a bit.
Things
you need to know about office politics.
First
let's look at the problem issues -- later we will discuss
dealing with them.
Political
intrigue is the general rule not the exception – this
should not come as a surprise to you, because a snarl of
conflicting motives is almost to be expected. You can
complain about 'string pulling', 'working the grapevine',
'infighting' and a hundred other terms but that doesn't
alter reality. Why does all of this office
politics occur and occur so often? Let's look at some
reasons.
Multiple
roles and motivations – In the idealized world of
management bestsellers employees are either functioning
well, mediocre or poorly; but, in any case they are usually
one-dimensional. Real people are not. CIO Mary
is an officer of the company but she feels a loyalty to her
departments and, specifically, three people in those
departments, one of whom has a child with learning
disabilities. Mary is also, 1. the mother of two
children—one of whom is in soccer and needs to go out of
town Monday, 2. married to a man who is having problems at
work, 3. daughter to a mother who wants to see more of her,
4. sister to – well, you see where this is going.
Mary has many relationships in and out of work and each one
affects how she acts and does business. It is fine to
suppose that everyone is thinking only of the profitability
of the overall company but it usually isn’t so. Mary
may be devoted to the profitability of the company but that
is not her only devotion and probably not the strongest. And
everyone else on the team is like Mary and to varying
degrees they may steer the project in different directions,
creating what we call 'office politics.'
Changing
contacts – If your contact within the organization
client is a committee of five people, not all five are
equally involved. Moreover, Bill may start as the head
of the client side of the project only to get distracted and
replaced by Maria – and Maria has different goals than
Bill. If your main relationship has been with
Bill you may suddenly find that things are not going as
smoothly for you.
Conflicts
within the team – As adults we should all set aside
personal differences at work. But that ideal is often
violated. If Jane and Ivan hate each other – and
that happens – Jane may be against anything Ivan supports.
As
a result of these factors and many more you may find that
you are getting mixed messages about what you are supposed
to be doing, with whom you are supposed to be communicating
and who is the final judge of your product.
What
you can do about politics.
You
have already taken the first step – you’ve quit being naïve
and outraged and realized it is something you must deal
with. Now let’s look at some other keys.
1.
Have a clear outline of what you are going to do and
what you are going to deliver. Make sure all parties
know that outline. Watch out for “scope creep” where the
deliverables keep growing. Be accommodating but also
recognize when the project outline – and budget – need
to be revised.
2.
Outline what you expect internal people to do in the
proposal. Don’t find yourself in a situation
where the project is due on the 30th of the month but no one
has given you the information you need. Your time
lines and deliverables should make clear that these can be
met only if you have proper, timely information and
resources.
3.
Keep in touch with all key people! There are
several key people in most engagements:
The
person who signs the checks. It will not be a good
project if the entire team likes the project – except for
the person who signed the contract. If you don't know
who initiated and signed off on the project find out and
meet that person and find out how and when he/she likes to
be updated on progress and what success looks like to them.
The
person who can help you. This person is the one
who may not appear on the contract but has an interest in
your project succeeding. Communicate with this person
on a regular basis, face to face when possible.
The
person who can hinder you. Some people have no
positive impact but they can make life difficult for you.
Be respectful of them, keep them in the loop with what is
happening and get their input.
The
people affected by the outcome. You may be working
at company HQ with very savvy people developing a program to
be used in the field. Remember you want a good
reference and that means that the project actually worked.
If your work is going to be used in the field make sure it
can and will be used in the field. Go through proper
channels but find a way to share information with the field
and get their input. Knowing that 15% of the people in
the field do not have cell phones may change your whole
project
4. No
matter what your experience level have a mentor you
can check in with when faced with difficult situations.
5.
Keep notes. No one likes a consultant who plays
CYA (cover your elbow). That said, it is
reasonable to be able to jog everyone’s memory about what
was discussed, and agreed to.
6.
Try to avoid being triangulated or co-opted.
This is one of the real keys to making your life
comfortable and keep things productive. Remember --
almost everyone has a slightly different way they want you
to go. If Bill says, “I need to tell you what Janie
is going to try and do with your project.” Respond
with, “Let’s go meet with Janie right now.” Try
your best not pick sides, to be “transparent” and serve
everyone and not get caught up in local turf wars
You can listen to different points of view while not
taking sides. Always reiterate the goal of the
project. If people have different goals at least make
them own them aloud.
Keep
focused on what you promised to do while recognizing that
sometimes the scope does change as the project is underway.
But also be savvy and realize that clients will try and
change your agenda often to their selfish ends. If you
understand this is human nature you can cope with politics
– or at least cope better.
Drs. Robyn Porterfield
and Bob Rose, industrial psychologists and principals of Rose Porterfield
Group (RPG), have been consulting to business in
teambuilding, hiring and solving people problems since 1976.
The Principals of RPG have written books and articles on
psychological assessment and people issues in business. RPG
consults to management teams in a wide range of industries
including consulting firms.
They can be reached at
(214) 234-0266 and e-mail at: rose@roseporterfieldgroup.com
and porterfield@roseporterfieldgroup.com
Their web site: http://roseporterfieldgroup.com/
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© 2008 Consulting Academy . You may reprint
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