Seema Raghunath - The Corporate Jungle: Your Guide to Understanding Workplace People and Politics

THE
CORPORATE
JUNGLE

Y OUR GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING
WORKPLACE PEOPLE AND POLITICS

S E E M A R A G H U N A T H

This book is dedicated to some of my coaches who realized organizational political savvy is as important to thriving at the workplace as competence, skills and intelligence are known to be.

Dear coaches,

You have been my inspiration and also the reason behind penning this book. Thank you for allowing me into your work lives. Seeing and knowing things as you experienced them gave me much insight. Everybody needs a lighthouse in life and I thank you for being mine.

CONTENTS

The psychology of the human mind is wonderfully neutral and fair when there are no motives or personal interests. But when there is an agenda and much of I, the games begin. This book is not designed to teach you how to play politics but to understand types of political people and their strategies. Many of my coaches were exemplary leaders and managers, but despite that, they went through some storms most of them emanating from the games people played. I have, as a coach with a strong base in psychology, viewed the whole spectrum of skills, personality, mental make-up and sensitivities. My observation has been that all coaches who come into a coaching engagement for building success are promising leaders. They are strong in capability and very earnest about their careers. Yet those who were weak at comprehending organizational politics couldnt garner positive perception and they had more battles to fight.

Developmental feedback given to them around subjects like relationship building, influence, managing perception, challenging the status quo and working in teams carried at times more meaning than what met the eye. Some of the coaching engagements unravelled that the real problem was not the lack of skill. It was more related to lack of savviness at workplace equations and the inability to read people. The more they were honest in behaviour, spoke and stood by the truth, aligned to no power, meant business, neither formed camps nor made godfathers the more worry lines they carried. Either they were told to toe the line or struggled to get others to. Some found themselves stagnated or threatened by elements till they were stumped by what was going wrong. Such people overlook many behaviours, signs and indicators thrown at them by others. They dont tackle motives and objectives of other people, which is the reason why they fail. To put it simply, what they dont understand at all, they cant do. Organizational political savvy does not mean playing politics it means the ability to see things beyond face value and be able to comprehend how to defend/protect oneself and ones turf.

Another common pattern discovered is that the more non-political a person is, the more they assume the rest of the world to be the same. Because they dont work with a hidden agenda or strategy for combat, they write off the possibility of others being capable of anything like that. Knowledge of any wrongdoing, strange behaviour or results brings untold frustration, angst and worry to such folk. But beyond being flummoxed they cant fathom its genesis or find a cure that permanently heals such festering spots. Being square does not allow their mind to synthesize politics, which is not known to be a straight space.

Coaching gives a chance to answer tough questions, provide opportunities to mull over, introspect, reflect and then see patterns clearly, evaluate potential intentions in the environment and comprehend the root causes of unpleasant dispositions. Over time a lot of coaches learnt to process information differently and turn into their own coaches by learning how to question right, to find the answers. But not everyone has a coach and not everyone understands the subject of political savviness either.

Unattended issues and untreated gaps will have impact on career progress. We need to firstly acknowledge that we build our reputation each day we go to work. People decide certain things about our intelligence, tolerance and strength. Staying ignorant isnt progressive. It can however make one more vulnerable and an easy target too. It puts the workplace environment at stake and there are powerhouses and people with motives as well, however much you might choose to wear rose-coloured glasses. Being able to get a handle on workplace politics is like opening the third eye. It makes it possible to observe, connect, comprehend and protect personal interests while understanding other peoples drivers. The people who can do this without conscious learning are very few while there is a world of working people out there who cant.

This book is for them an outcome of a workplace journal I maintained for over fifteen years. It is for all those simple and square people who cant brag of being manipulative or strategic to the point of being scheming. Those on whom others deploy strategies. Those who admit they cant see it coming, even if politics honked or shone a headlight at them. It is also for those who have embarked on trying to understand workplace politics so that they can enhance their strengths or confront difficult people differently.

PREPARATION
THOUGHT
FUNDAMENTALS

Understanding workplace politics is as important as going to work, dreaming of a future, holding on to aspirations and working on yourself, to be more competent. Else you could end up like a trained rally driver in full gear, sitting in the best car; however driving on a dirt road!

ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS IS REAL

Are you one of those people who reads a lot on self-development, yet things dont really work out even after you consciously try to change yourself? Does life at work seem to be stuck in a rut every now and then? Do you see yourself as authentic and avoid being part of organizational camps, but nobody really cares about you? Do you give sound valuable ideas and opinions that get accepted but no one significant really favours you? Are you one of those people who are intellectually far ahead of others but never move up fast enough? Or despite coming up with ingenious solutions, being creative and willing to go beyond the call of duty, you find that others who were far behind now stand ahead?

Then the one realization you need to have is: As long as careers include other people, there are as many players contributing to your survival and progress. This is exactly why not everyone who is highly talented will be successful. Success is more than just being good at what you do. We will start with this.

Workplace politics is here to stay and as long as you dont work in a cave, isolated from the rest of humanity, this element will continue to be a stark reality. Some of us admit and accept it in all maturity, while some pretend it does not exist. There is also a school of thought that believes you can exist in a cocoon of self-sufficiency. Look inward and work on yourself relentlessly without looking up or around. Things will fix themselves. But thats like imagining you can change the mechanics of governance in the country, working alone out of your garage, fantasizing that there will be no interference from the state while you are at it. Every organization big or small, old or new runs on and with politics. The degree may vary, but the fact is, it exists. And it is not going away any time soon.