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Workplace Politics—A Fact of Life

Rex clearly had a severe lack of political savvy, but he is not alone. Many leaders have room for improvement. Politics in the workplace is a fact of life. How people feel about that fact varies. To some, the ability to think and act politically feels like a “necessary evil.” Others would rather refuse to “play the game,” but they fear their careers will suffer if they don’t.

Many people would describe politics in their organization as coalition building, bullying, making people feel small, favoritism, stealing credit from someone else, or “stabbing someone in the back (or even the front)”—all for one’s own self-interest. In these environments, people make their own interpretations of what is right and wrong because there is no clear, understood way of doing things.

Politics is not a zero-sum game.

There are managers, however, who have learned that being politically savvy can lead to desired outcomes in a positive, authentic manner. In general, they have developed high-quality relationships and networks, they know themselves well, and they have a good sense about what is going on around them. They get the resources they and their subordinates or teams need to function effectively. They too see politics around them, where employees experience competing interests, scarce resources, ambiguity in decision making and authority, unclear rules and regulations to govern workplace behavior, and a lack of information. But politics to them is not a zero-sum game where they work the system to their own advantage and to the disadvantage of others. These managers regard workplace politics as neutral. They are effective because they understand others at work and use that knowledge to influence others to act in ways that enhance personal and organizational objectives.

Organizational politics is neither good nor bad. It simply is the air we breathe in organizations. It’s your perception of organizational politics that makes it what it is to you. How you view and respond to politics in your organization can have a great bearing on how well you do your job and how you feel about your organization and coworkers. One way to be effective in the inherently political environment of contemporary organizations is to change your way of understanding politics—to become politically savvy. Once you consider, understand, and accept that organizational politics is neutral and a natural part of everyday occurrences in the workplace, you can appropriately build your capacity to lead effectively in that environment. You can be regarded as someone with effective political savvy in your organization, one who can influence and persuade others in a sincere, authentic manner.