Our mind has a wonderful capacity to associate things with meanings, based on our experience.
Let’s understand it through an Example: If a person in their very first job had a tough time dealing with a toxic boss, who may belong to a particular gender and ethnicity, the entire experience is registered in the mind as a difficult one, and it is highly likely the person may hold a completely negative perception of their boss/supervisor or people from the same gender and ethnicity ,based on their past negative experience for a very long time in their career, which may also include biases for a particular set of people.
and from this complex phenomenon, cited above, stems our core beliefs.
Let’s visualize
So,
If I ask you to define or visualize a particular person as “Political” What picture comes to your mind?
I ‘am sure it is of a Leader (Man/Woman) clad in an attire usually worn by political parties in the government, standing before a mike addressing a group of people.
This was just the appearance part, now tell me if I ask you to describe a political person, what would your description be like ?
For most of us, it is a person extremely shrewd, sly ,cunning, manipulative and evil in every sense.
This is because our mind has a meaning and an association attached to the word politics or political from all that we have been feeding it since our growing years, this also includes the environment we were brought up in and the collective believe it had of the concept of politics.
This way, for most of us, Politics becomes a dirty word and usually comes with a negative connotation.
Going with meanings we carry in our sub conscious mind and our core beliefs about “Politics”, usually influence the way we approach “office politics” as on today, in our present role at workplace.
Label the person
If I ask you to label three people in your office who you think are very political, Iam sure you will be using the above description and immediately throw up answers matching it.
And then, if I label you as political, you would be either offended by my comment and may try to defend it with your reasons, or may totally shut down with no response, depending on how much of my comment aligns with the perception in your mind about “political people”.
The Real meaning
But what if I told you politics is part of every employee or individual at the workspace and, on a broad spectrum, is about the interplay of power, influence, and relationships at the workplace?
&
We are all part of it, as we come together as an employee, a team member, a subordinate or a supervisor to meet the organization’s goals.
The process is the same for all , but when the intentions and the power in it are misused ,is when things turn murky.
One reality about “OFFICE POLITICS” that holds true for every working professional. We are all in it together!
So,
This now brings us to a key question, since all of us are in it as a player, what’s our role in managing it?
In my second job just two years into my career, my mentor once told me “The best way to deal with Politics is to learn to play it and if you are not able to do so, then learn to deal with it, there’s no other option”.
My role as a Coach is to assist you deal with the latter.
Whenever you are ready, let me know.
© Mehnaz Amjad 2017-2024
Mehnaz Amjad | Coach
Hyderabad, India