Workplace Politics: The worst kind of corruption eating away corporate ethics

I am sure all of us must have faced workplace politics at some point or the other in our careers. Either we are a part of it or we suffer from it. From gossip mongering to taking credit of your subordinate’s work, we all have accepted it as a norm. And to me dear reader, that’s the saddest part.

Where on one hand we talk about various forms of corruption, yet we fail to understand or even raise a voice against the root cause. It all starts when the officer who was not supposed to pass in a file, takes bribe and passes it on. No one however tries to figure out what made him do that. Money. Yes. But how did he muster up enough courage to do so? Well, in this specific incident i am referring to, the officer not only had monetary interests but was told by one of the colleagues that whosoever gets this file approved/passed on shall be in line for the next big promotion. To the colleague spreading this rumour, another one of the senior managers had asked to persuade this guy. In short its a trickle down effect.

Similarly, the harmless gossip we all do in the offices might shatter someone’s trust, confidence and affect their ability to perform. But we never realize that when we spread a rumour or lie against someone with or without knowing the entire context, we steal away from them, the right to protect their dignity, hence committing the worst kind of corruption.

Again you can’t expect people to not talk and discuss things other than work but when it starts to affect work and/or takes away from someone else’s hard work and commitment, it must be shunned. Organizations today however pay little to no attention towards “workplace politics”. All they want is for the work to get done and that’s it.

But, to a hard working employee office politics often ends up in demotivation, lack of concentration and eventually poor performance. If someone who puts in their 100 percent knows that its only their manager who shall grab all the attention and noone would know or care about who did all the work….they are bound to either give up or retaliate.

So what is it that can be done to protect yourself from becoming a victim of workplace politics? Here are my two cents:

1. AVOID all sorts of topics of discussion that do not concern you.
2. Become a WHISTLE BLOWER; when you see credit being taken away , some employee being bullied or harassed, speak up to your line manager.
3. INVEST your time in people who are growing themselves and can help you grow too instead of wasting time with pointless gossip.
4. NIB THE EVIL IN THE BUD; when a rumour reaches you do not pass it on.
5. And most importantly when you are about to say or do something be it a recommendation, a favour or a report, try and imagine yourself in the shoes of the other person you are about to act against. COMPASSION wins the day.

To all my readers going through workplace politics, its time to break the loop, to all those indulged into it; please understand that you can conspire against people and spread rumours and gain power but what you can not do is be bigger than the plans of the Almighty. Even if you don’t indulge in office politics what is yours will remain and what is not will never reach you.

I wish I hope and I pray people understand that it is far more important to let your work speak for you rather than committing the worst kind of corruption i.e. Office Politics.

Live to inspire and bring people together or else burn that degree that qualification cause its already down the drain!!

PEACE!!