Office Politics: Let the Games Begin!

I was recently sitting at a hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Behind me there was a heated discussion erupting. Toward the end of this conversation, an older gentleman announced, “I don’t play those games. All I care about is the people and the work. I am NOT going to get into some political fight with the Board…”

Sounds altruistic, even quite spiritual, but it is, in fact, quite naïve … at best. At worst, it is subterfuge, by which I mean it is actually a game he is running on his Board to remain the Big Cheese. “See? I am more worthy/spiritual/pure than ye all, so I deserve to be the Big Cheese.”

When I was a young man, my dad, a Southern Baptist pastor, said, “Where two are three are gathered together in my (Christ’s) name, there will be political machinations.” (For the uninitiated, Jesus actually said that where two or three were gathered in his name, he would be there with them.) I, of course, being far more spiritual than my father, didn’t want to believe this, or at least didn’t believe this had to be the case. It is. Period.

All Industries have their games, and if you want to succeed you had better understand the players and the rules of the game. My experience is that there are two “industries,” or fields of endeavor, where some people have difficulty accepting this reality: spiritual guides (ministers/priests/rabbis/gurus) and artists. These people often want to be above the fray, living on the mountaintop where they can breathe the pure oxygen of divine inspiration. The problem is that pretty much everyone else is down in the valley playing The Game. Why is this a problem?

If you are a spiritual guide, the people whom you wish to care for are down in the valley mixing it up in the market place, fighting to provide for their families. They might go to the mountaintop for a visit on the weekend, but the other six days of the week they are working their derrieres off down in the valley. Many of these people are going to come to you for advice. If you point them toward altruism, you might as well also tell them to begin working on their C.V.

Your Board members--your coworkers, elders, council, vestry, deacons, what-have-you—also have specific reasons for Being There. There is something they wish to accomplish, and, being well versed in political maneuvering via their business experiences, they are going to bring all their resources to bear so as to accomplish their mission. If you choose not to Play the Game, you are giving up on realizing your own vision.

If you are an artist, the marketplace—the place where you have to go sell your art—is also down in the valley. All those other chaps up on the mountain with you don’t have any money. Or, if they do, they have learned how to traverse from mountain to valley and back to the mountain, so as to have the best of both worlds!

You can get all hot and bothered about this reality or you can embrace it. Getting all agitated, however, seems to me to be counter-productive, as it handicaps your efforts to succeed. Embracing The Game, on the other hand, allows you to focus your energy on winning, or at least surviving.

Let the Games Begin
Right now, someone you work for or with is mounting an assault. For them to succeed, they are going to move players around the game board. “This pawn goes here, the knight will move just-so, and my Queen … WHAM … right here.” And you, my dear friend, are removed from the table.

It’s not always personal, either. People want what they want and are going to use all of their resources to get it, within their ethical parameters. While you might be sorely affected by their chess moves, they were not “after” you; they were after the project, or the promotion, or whatever.

Sitting out and refusing to play only insures that you remain a pawn, or worse, that you are removed from this particular chessboard.

Of course, if the game involves people with whom you wish to remain friends, there is a caveat. Here, I suggest that you consider being open as to your goals and intentions. Let your friends know what it is your moving toward. On the other hand, you had better remain aware of the reality that these people may not hold your friendship as valuable as you do theirs. If this is the case, you gave the game away before your first move.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2010