I don’t want to “play the game”.
A phrase I said to myself often during my corporate days and something I hear either overtly or in the undertones of many of my clients as the companies they work for continue to expand and grow.
I catch myself using borrowed phrases like this often, but am working on stopping and asking myself, “What does that actually mean?”
In any group environment, assumptions are built over time about the power and status of its members. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a team sport, networking group, or company. The members of the group all have human brains that will form their own thoughts about how to coordinate efforts, influence others, and generally get things done using these assumptions. Most of us allow these to form unconsciously over time and these become the “politics” or “game” as I was referring to it.
By referring to it as a game to be “played”, it creates a negative connotation due to the underlying assumption that I should play to win. In order for me to win, someone else would have to lose and now every interaction is a competition. This sounds like a terrible environment to work in.
But what if I change my own point of view about the environment? I can consciously drop the point of view that all politics are bad politics. As companies grow, hierarchy with increasing levels of responsibility, influence, and decision making authority are very natural and can actually be helpful. Understanding how both the visible powers and invisible powers work doesn’t have to be a bad thing in managing my own work and that of my team. How is that any different than understanding and navigating interpersonal relationships? It’s not. When I simply look at it as an experiment, getting curious about the motivations and behaviors of others in order to maximize the impact of my team and the value we bring to the business, it completely changes the point of view for me. It’s no longer a game that someone else is losing. It’s a system of work that identifies common ground and propels everyone forward as a result of success.
So my entire point here is that if you find yourself frustrated with office politics, I want you to take the time to explore why. What are you telling yourself about what’s going on? How could that be helping or hurting both you and your team? How could you reframe your point of view?
Influencing others is a necessary part of leadership. Knowing your intentions and behaving in line with your values will help you stay in a space of integrity, no matter what the motivations and behaviors of those around you are.