Politics is inevitable, deal with it

Those who claim that organisations can exist without politics are naïve. As Aristotle knew, politics is very much a part of the human condition. Sometimes politics is the result of structural construct. It is the law of nature that sales and production will fight, that finance will fight with virtually every other department and the no one will have a kind word to say about HR.

Sometimes, personalities are at the root of political developments. If two senior executives are in competition for the position of the retiring CEO, they are not exactly likely to be warm and friendly to each other. Remember that whenever a Mughal emperor fell ill, his sons embarked on a fratricidal civil war.

After all, an empire is a pretty good thing to have. And who cares about love and affection between brothers when an empire is at stake!
The interesting thing about politics is how people get aligned by party with such predictable patterns.

Merely because I am in the sales organization, I must complain about delivery. If I don’t do so, then I am somehow disloyal to my fellow sales-persons. Similarly, if my boss is your boss’ rival, then we must fight irrespective of the fact that we may have no other cause to do so. Again, any other behaviour would incur the opprobrium of disloyalty.

The question, therefore, for each one of us is not to pretend that there is no politics in the organization or that we are somehow exempt, but to accept it and deal with the reality.

The first issue is how we deal with the fact that being politically loyal requires us sometimes to compromise ourselves professionally. A good example is where a boss encourages (nay demands!) that you doctor a presentation in order to make him look good and make his rival look bad. You can of course quit.

But that’s not always a realistic or even sensible option. One way to deal with this is to make clear that what you are presenting is an ‘advocacy’ position. People expect advocates to defend their clients even if they know that they are guilty. The trick is to get across to the organization at large the fact that you are an advocate without your boss suspecting you of disloyalty. This is the only way you can preserve your integrity which is crucial in the long run (much after your boss of today is gone). This is never easy.

But who said that the path of organizational success is easy? Your choice of words, your presentation methodology, your rapport with your audience all play a part in getting this tension resolved just right. It takes creativity. Observe the masters within the organization who do it well and learn from them.

Another challenge arises when you are caught between rivals. You have to make an intelligent guess as to who is likely to emerge the winner. If the eventual winner is not that obvious, then you must make sure that you are a survivor irrespective of who wins. This usually rests on the perception (and reality) of competence and utility you bring to the table.

Akbar retained Todar Mall as his Revenue Minister even though Todar Mall was a faithful (!) advisor of the erstwhile ruler Sher Shah. Todar Mall was competent and importantly was no threat to Akbar. A great deal of Akbar’s success was due to his competent minister. Remember to project your competence, utility and above all your insignificance as a threat to the new overlord.

Those who combine competence and usefulness (to the organization) are key elements of the mortar that makes for success. But in the absence of political sensitivity and smartness they may go waste. The challenge is to deal with the creative tension while maintaining one’s professional integrity. This is a challenge that one must not run away from. Author is chairman, MphasiS