Unspoken Lessons of Corporate South Africa (OFFICE POLITICS)

Office politics is one of those things that we all wish didn’t exist. Unfortunately however, where there are more than two people in one place, you are guaranteed to have them. Better still, in an organisation where human nature demands competition for position and perceived success, the intensity of these politics can move one to breaking point. The purpose of Part 3 of this blogging series is to provide a few insights that I have gathered in my career which will assist you to navigate your way around these politics with minimal bruising. That said, I must caution you that there is no silver bullet approach to this and mention that the strength of a leader lies within knowing what tools to use from what’s available as situations arise.

My first real encounter with office politics was in the second company that I worked for. Having come from a very small family type organisation, I entered real corporate and for the first time in my career, I learnt a few bad habits that we have all come to accept as normal. These include doing stupid things like sending emails to the person sitting right next to you just in case they point the finger at you tomorrow, speaking up in meetings even when you are talking rubbish just so you appear clever, nodding with conviction when the boss speaks and faces your direction in a meeting even if you’re actually wondering what will happen in the next episode of Generations, leaving your jacket on your chair the previous day so that the boss thinks you’re in even if you arrive an hour later, walking around with a laptop in order to look busy and the classic, being on the internet looking for jobs the whole day and having a spread sheet in the background that you could flick onto your screen (using Alt & Tab) when the boss walks past… If you can relate to any of these things, you too are sick.

The irony of corporate politics is that despite the fact that no one enjoys it, in a bid to survive and gain acceptance, we fall into the system and religiously practice these norms knowing that they are very counterproductive and do not get any company closer to achieving its strategic objectives.

In this organisation, I had been hired to join a small finance department of 3 people, one of whom was the Financial Manager, a lady called Pinky (my boss). Virtually every second day, Pinky would remind me and my other colleague how important her job was and how the two of us would never cope at her level. I remember a day when she went as far as to say, we are so lucky that she was there to protect us from all the politics… This statement offended me to a point, and definitely irritated my colleague, but most importantly, it got me thinking what exactly she meant. Am I incompetent? If so, she hired me... What does that make her? Am I not ready? Will I ever be ready? Is she threatened by me? Does she have race issues? I could never answer these questions with absolute certainty until much later on in my career when I encountered real die hard politicians. It turns out she was an absolute amateur in comparison.

Within a year of my joining, Pinky, who I had worked very closely with, resigned to join another organisation. Considering the fact that I knew virtually everything she did, I expected her to back me and if not, at least back my colleague to succeed her. On the contrary, she heard that we were both planning to apply and she crushed every attempt we made to get ahead during her notice period and she won. Neither of us got the job and we both left the organisation a few months later. What did I do wrong here? I knew no one above Pinky’s level and no one knew me. My destiny in this organisation was entirely in her hands and she did with me as she pleased.  

Since then, I have climbed the corporate ladder and learnt a few political lessons myself. Below are a few that I would like to share:

1. Get to know who’s who in the organisation – You MUST educate yourself on who’s who in the organisation. Get hold of the company organogram and understand what roles each person above you plays. You never know who you are standing next to and you do not want to say something completely inappropriate around the CEO. That first impression may kill your career.
2. Be visible – Use all available platforms and make an effort to introduce yourself to senior people in the organisation. These platforms may be: in the lift, the canteen, formal meetings etc.
3. Find a “sponsor” – This is someone senior in the organisation that you develop a “sounding board” relationship with. This person may also act as a mentor but most importantly, this will be your voice at senior level and they will come in handy when battles are fought. Seek advice from the person regularly.
4. Micro manage the perception that senior people in the organisation have of you – Always remember that not everyone is on your side and as a result negative sentiments about you will be out there. You must be available often enough to disciplel these sentiments.
5. Make your ideas known – Come up with clever ideas and don’t be shy to share them with senior people. Most of them will appreciate your guts and remember who you are (most importantly)
6. Volunteer – Be the first to volunteer your services for additional projects, especially those initiated by senior people. These projects often provide great networking platforms.
7. Take time to understand the clicks that exist in the organisation and be careful not to disadvantage yourself by aligning with the wrong crew.
8. Do not speak ill of your boss to senior people – Believe it or not, the last thing you want to do is position yourself as an enemy of authority. That builds instant mistrust. Speak well of your boss at all times and make them feel part of the relationships that you have within the organisation.
9. Always remain professional – Whatever you do, do not cross the professional line and get personal. Familiarity may expose your weaknesses and kill off any prospect of progress you may have had.
10. Develop some “praise singers” – As is the case with many other things, praise that comes from other sources other than yourself is deemed to be credible. One of the most credible sources of this praise is your boss. Make sure you manage this relationship at all levels. Have sufficient people below, at your level and above you who have good things to say about your contribution.

Despite growing up a very shy and reserved young man, corporate quickly taught me that those who get recognition and consequent promotion are those who put their hands up, are visible and back this up with performance, not necessarily the quiet hard worker who hopes that one day their contribution will be seen.

An unfortunate truth is therefore that all who are not willing to play politics should either settle for where they are and accept it, or go into business with the false impression that they won’t find more intense politics there.

Considering how diverse South Africa is as a country, the corporate world has been grappling with how best to deal with the integration of the different race groups and cultures for the last 20 years. Given the size and importance of this topic, I have excluded it from this blog and will be writing about diversity management specifically in the next one.

I would appreciate any comments and additional lessons that you too have learnt in your career as I build on this blog.

- Amasi Mwela