What Happens To Office Politics When There Is No Office?
Navigating office politics is hard enough as a manager. But taking away the physical office environment not only raises the question: “how can I navigate office politics now?” but the question “does office politics even exist anymore?” and if it does exist, the most important question is, how?
The management of office politics ensures that the product you deliver is actually delivered in a timely manner and is of high quality. With office politics raging in your environment, people will lose focus, productivity, and overall, they’ll lose all love towards your company. At its core, the existence of office politics is toxic in nature. If not managed, it can break apart your company from the inside out. And office politics can’t be avoided. Mostly because of the inevitable existence of hierarchy in any office environment, some people will be more powerful by default, and soon enough, jealousy and “sucking up” will arise, ultimately resulting in enraged and unnecessary competition in the office. But if you take the nature of hierarchy out of the equation, there’s still the factor of workplace diversity. Every single person in your office has different backgrounds, different levels and qualities of educations, and different personalities. And all of them work towards the same goal with a different mindset. All of these factors add up to one thing: office politics is unavoidable, and dangerous for the company.
But even if you successfully navigate through the dangerous waters of everyday toxicity, how can you tackle the equation: office politics minus the office? Although remote work has existed for quite some time, the 2020 pandemic crisis has taken it to the next level, drastically changing the context of working virtually. It has eliminated interpersonal and physical human interaction, and with it, a lot of opportunities to engage in tactics of manipulation or impression of the management. Employees everywhere ponder: “Without the office, how can I pretend to work?” Because at its core, office politics is exactly that: people pretend to work in order to get ahead, and while they climb the ladder rather unfairly, they push everyone around them down. But does office politics even exist through Zoom and Teams, and if so, what’s changed?
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It would be naive to assume that office politics just disappears with the lack of physical human contact. But before figuring out what it has become, people must recognize the potential of 100% remote work. This is the perfect opportunity to rebuild relationships from the ground up, as the entire foundation of office relationships has shifted into new territory. If you’re an employee, you can rebuild some trust and prove that you have more in you. If you’re the employer, you have the opportunity to prove what kind of manager you are in a crisis situation. How are you dealing with the big picture, and how are you reacting to your employee’s well-being? This change to virtual work is a chance to layout new expectations for performance and communication. This channel of communication is one side of office politics that doesn’t go away no matter what. But employers and employees alike are most likely phased by this sudden shift in environment, both personally and professionally. People won’t have time to bully each other and bring each other down when they haven’t even figured out what to do with themselves yet. Managers can use this momentum of sudden peace to create a fresh foundation of open and transparent communication.
Another huge part of workplace politics is the social aspect. Social differences don’t go away, and will always be present when working with other people. The coming of this pandemic offers a natural opportunity to engage with one another on a deeper level via catch-up calls and inquiries about others’ well-being. A lot of people who embrace the existence of office politics and use it to get ahead have lost some of their greatest weapons. For example, the people who took their time to brag about their accomplishments to get ahead or to intimidate others don’t have that freedom anymore. There’s no watercooler, or parking lot gossip to press their agendas. Their only option is to directly call someone solely to brag about some abysmal accomplishment, and likely, that won’t happen. And even if there’s a virtual group meeting where they could find a moment to shine, their unnecessary mumbling will be seen as a waste of time. Because in the world of Zoom meetings, an extra minute can feel like a lifetime.
Cultural bias is also somewhat out of the equation, and people can no longer judge one another based on their appearance or demeanor. In most companies, everyone has the freedom to decide whether or not they show their face or not. A lot of companies view this as a chance to start over and completely migrate to a not only remote workplace but an internationally remote office. Some organizations even hire via chat, taking any bias out of the equation in the process.
Overall, a lot of weapons have been taken away from the toxic hands of office politics. But that doesn’t mean that human nature has changed overnight. Toxic behaviors of prejudice, bullying, “sucking up”, and jealousy will still arise, but in different ways. It will be much more subtle, and unless you promote honest, clear, and constant communication, maybe you won’t even realize it. This is the biggest obstacle to working remotely. At the same time, a lot of the most gruesome weapons have been taken away, and parallel to that, you have the momentum to rebuild from. The foundation of transparency and unity must be reinforced, as well as the suppression of jealousy and discrimination. In this new territory, your task is to explore the changes carefully and act quickly in a strategic manner. And in its core, the number one rule of managing office politics hasn’t changed: Always stay two steps ahead of the problem.
