Political Dilemmas at Work: How to Maintain Your Integrity and Further Your Career

Everyone Does Politics—So Get Used to It

There is no such thing as a nonpolitical organization, stop searching for it and learn to cope more effectively in the environment you have. Organizations—both by nature and design—are political, so to deny the existence of politics is to immediately hand an advantage to your political rival. Politics is a fact of organizational life, and it is not going to go away. To ask, “Is this a political organization?” is okay, but better questions are “What kind of politics do I have here, and how do I learn to deal with it?” Holding up your hands and claiming that you “don’t do politics” is no longer an acceptable excuse for not learning.

Have you ever been to a premeeting with a stakeholder to ask for his or her support at the next important forum? Ever thought carefully about the exact words to use in a communication to have maximum impact? Have you given someone an earlier deadline than you really needed in order to apply pressure for results? Or perhaps you have avoided a public confrontation and instead followed up with a private meeting. Maybe you have agreed to pick up a cost on your budget in exchange for a favor in return. Or have you supported a motion you disagreed with simply because the consensus was overwhelming?

Doing any of these things means you have behaved politically. But it wasn’t so bad, was it? Politics can certainly be bad, and most people can usually think of examples where the politics of self-interest ...