Why ‘office politics’ is good, and how we could embrace it?

In organizations and teams, when people perceive unfairness that leads to anger, a loss that leads to sadness, and a threat that leads to fear, the easiest thing for them to do is to externalize and do those things, and have those conversations that lead to something that is collectively perceived as politics!

Reasonably so, because it’s a challenge to articulate and find reasons for those emotional states, in a very complex organizational context. There are usually multiple events and conversations, over a period of time that could have led to their perceptions and emotions, and hence a state of perceived politics.

Hence office politics is just the symptom, and it’s not the problem in itself. And we know symptoms are important, because through them we will know the problems that need to be addressed and solved. We don’t attempt to solve politics, because we can’t, rather, we solve the problems underneath it.

By the way, anger, sadness, and fear are all natural emotions. They are not bad, but sometimes actions driven by them are!

Doing, thinking and feeling are the three realms in which people express themselves and contribute in organizations. While organizations usually have metrics and processes to measure the doing (tasks & results), and thinking (knowledge, ideas, POV’s, IP etc), there are usually no formal metrics, processes and systems to measure contribution through the realm of feeling. Hence in the absence of such systems, office politics becomes an informal, but a crucial metric to understand (and correlate with) the level of contribution from people. Lesser the politics, better is the contribution.

That’s why office politics is good, especially if you are a leader. Because it gives you very crucial information to determine course of action in the context of organizational effectiveness. Exploring, sensing and taking relevant actions is how you embrace politics – That’s top down. Bottom up actions are possible too.

Next time you bump into a conversation on office politics, or politics around you, desist from running away or getting succumbed to it. Rather, get a little curious. And when you do so, you will find answers, the kind of answers that lead to transformative actions on you and outside you.

Then you enable people (and yourself) to move towards celebration and engagement, perceiving a sense of satisfaction that leads to happiness (the fourth natural emotion).

And by the way, happiness in itself is not good, but sometimes action driven by it is!

Looking forward to seeing your comments.

How to deal with an organizational environment that is uncertain and fickle?

We are face-to-face with a work environment that is uncertain and fickle almost on a daily basis.
And that's a good news. I will tell you how.

Uncertain and fickle nature of your organization is a result of it being in sync with the external business environment, which in itself is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA). And that synchronization is the key to sustenance of the organization, and hence the sustenance of your job & career.

There is a particular medical condition called congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP) where a person loses his/her ability to sense physical pain. That's dangerous. For example, with this condition the person would not be able to realize when his/her limb is being cut while asleep. Because of the absence of visual evidence.

All of us can recall a few organizations that existed in full glory, and now they are cut and are extinct. It's highly possible that they had lost their ability to sense and respond to the pain of VUCA world long before they perished.

So when there is unpredictability, inconsistency, and frequent change of priorities in the climate of the organization, you should know that you are in an organization that has the ability to feel the pain of VUCA world, and that it has the capacity to adapt itself, heal, and sustain.

And that's why the uncertainty, and fickle nature of your organization is a good news! But, how do you deal with such an environment? How could you possibly equip yourself for such an environment?

In a managerial development program that I delivered recently, I was facilitating an activity to enable learners to understand what it takes to speak-up and why speaking-up is important. After about 60 minutes of investment on this, just when I thought we had a great experience and that we had learnt a great deal, one of my dear learners spoke-up and said, “Look Naveen, speaking up will not work in this organizational culture. What works here is shutting up, especially with the boss, where most of our conversations happen. Now you shut up!” (Assume a bit of exaggeration here).

The point is that my dear learner spoke up! His skill of speaking up was made evident at that moment. There is no doubt that he is skilled. The point also is that many other manager-learners, though belonged to the same organizational reality, did not speak up.

So I told them the following: It is not about whether speaking up is relevant or not. It is about whether you have the capacity to speak up or not, in the first place. If you have the capacity to speak up and chose not to speak up because it is not relevant in the current organization context, that’s fine. That’s a lot of credit to your discretion. But if you hide behind the organization culture and say you don’t speak up because that’s how your organization wants you to be, then it’s a concern. Because sooner or later organization changes, or your role changes, or you choose to move out, where you are expected to speak up, and not shut up.

So how to deal with uncertainty and frequent changes?

Don’t deal with it. Rather deal with yourself. Build on your repertoire of skills. Be a master of polar extremes and mid-point of multiple skill continuums. Do you have the ability to speak-up, shut-up and talk selectively at the same time? Can you be Aggressive, Passive and Assertive? How about competitive, submissive and collaborative? You could think of many other skills that have two poles and a mid-point.

The key is to create as many number of points in your personality map that will give you enough options to navigate through, depending on how the winds of your role expectations push you. Then you will know that you are equipped to handle an organizational environment that is uncertain and ever changing, because that’s the way things should be.

Some polarities and mid-points that you can master

1. Detach – Belong, or Just be

2. Be an expert – Be ignorant, or Be half-cooked

3. Lead – follow, or collaborate

4. Be aggressive - be passive, or be assertive

5. Create – destroy, or maintain

6. Crunch numbers – hate numbers, or date with numbers

7. Coach – counsel, or observe

8. Laugh – cry, or be numb

9. Embrace - refrain, or watch

10. Talk – listen, or stay away

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Naveen, Principal Consultant

I can be reached at naveen@bisykle.com

Don't give your employees a BIG HIKE, give them value for their time

Reading this article qualifies you to get $1440 every day! I mean it - everyday, the rest of your life. Just hold for a bit before you dismiss that. You actually get it, I am serious, but if only you agree to the following three conditions:

Condition 1: This money can’t be donated or given to someone else, you will have to spend it by yourself.

Condition 2: This money cannot be invested or saved, and be used in the future. It has to be used now.

Condition 3: If you do not use this money, it will be taken away from you. No left overs!

Do you agree to the conditions? I am sure you do with a resounding yes! Well then, you have it. By the way, this offer is called “THE MOST POPULAR OFFER” because it’s offered to everyone irrespective of who. (Also because most of us have heard this, or been part of this conversation)

All of us are given 1440 minutes a day with the conditions mentioned above. It’s just that $ symbol is replaced with the word ‘minutes’. We have 1440 minutes a day that cannot be donated, that cannot be saved to be used later, and when they are not used on that day, they disappear. But you have a fresh deposit of 1440 minutes on your account the next day. That’s amazing.

If only you and I could value our time with a simple equation 1$=1minute. Time is the most significant resource and raw material all of us are generously (and fairly) provided with. It gets used to produce three products in our lives - memories of the past, experience of the present, and dreams of the future. They are priceless. When those products are good and enjoyable, it enables us to celebrate and be engaged with life.

That gives us a clue as to why many fragmented and often manipulative (carrot –stick) stances including salary hikes in an organization fail to engage and retain talent and resourcefulness of employees. Because sooner or later the intrinsic value of money comes down. And in some cases, where they realize that the biggest hike they got in their career is a little lesser than their colleague, the depreciation is almost immediate! (“Do not share your salary details with others” does not seem to work)

How well is your organization enabling your work-force to convert the time they spend with you, into lovable and valuable outcomes for themselves in the form of memories, experiences and dreams? I completely resonate with an article published by Stanford University titled “If money does not make you happy, consider time” (link to the article given at the end). I agree that it’s their responsibility to make their time count. But we as organizational leaders have a role to play too.

My take on employee engagement is this – enable employees to convert their time into valuable and lovable outcomes for themselves, they will be engaged with the organization to create valuable and lovable products and services for our customers. We understand there is complexity, ambiguity, frustration, letting go of the immediate benefits, and a lot hard work involved in striking that equation, but it’s worth the effort.

$1440 per employee per day. That’s a lot considering the size of our organizations. Let’s be wise in spending that resource.

Thanks for investing a few dollars in reading this. Hope it is contributing a little bit in creating a lovable outcome for yourself.

Stanford University Article: - https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/if-money-doesnt-make-you-happy-consider-time

Competition comes naturally to us, are we taming it enough?

The other day, we were reflecting & debriefing on an experiential activity in which a group of young executives had participated. 

They were thrilled to realize that they were killingly competitive, and that it came naturally to them! When giving instructions to the activity, though I had divided them into two teams, and had suggested different vantage points to operate from, I had never asked them to compete with each other (between teams). But they did!

1. Thanks to our warrior archetypes of the archaeological past, and socio-educational upbringing of the recent past. Competition - willing to pick up a fight, taking pleasure in the opposition's adversity, and assuming an opposition in the first place, happens so seamlessly and naturally.

2. Most often, organizational structures, channels of communication (presence or absence of them), team boundaries based on nature of work, and even the way people are seated in the workspace seem to trigger those competitive streaks in us, though not intended.

The cost of competition amongst employees, and amongst teams within an organization could be very significant.

Competition in itself is not destructive. But a misplaced competition is. And hence maturity is in demonstrating discretion - where to compete and where not to.

Before mastering collaboration, it only makes sense to know & tame competition within us, and outside of us.

The author is a principal consultant at Bisykle Learning Systems

He could be reached at naveen@bisykle.com

Your work can benefit you or kill you depending on where you are sitting

It is that time of the year, where appraisal letters are out!

A well-known statistical data says that in a given financial year, 80% of the employees in a typical organization think they are the top 20% performers which explains the enormity of disappointment and sulking that the managers and supervisors have to handle every year during appraisals. Well, they seem to be doing a fairly good job on that, getting better year on year!

Let’s look at the other side of the story: The story of the one who is disappointed and sulking.

The following is usually the story line “I gave my best, stretched my time, and worked really hard, but look what they give me?!” Most employees feel un-recognized, un-appreciated, un-noticed, cheated, and treated un-fairly. The root of these feelings is that they feel ‘not valued’. You could be one of those who is feeling ‘un-valued’.

If your only (primary) source of “self – value” is work, then you might perhaps be sitting on the tip of the branch, working hard to kill yourself (kill your spirit, I mean)! It is obvious that any business organization’s existential intent is not ‘valuing you’. It is everything else – valuing customers, valuing growth, valuing revenues, valuing profits and valuing business sustainability. When ‘valuing you’ happens, it is either secondary or strategic positioning to sustain business and results. And your equation in this is simply this - that you agreed to invest your valuable time and get compensated for that. It is called ‘compensation’ because organizations know that they can never equate the actual value of your time. Be happy that the world of business is clear and articulate about it.

Change your seating position. Sit towards the trunk – find alternate sources for your ‘self-value’. Then work hard, give your best, and when the branch falls, it’s only the branch that falls, and not you. Expand the canvas, and clarify what really is important to you in life, and get grounded there.
Your work is important. But that’s only a part of the generosity of life’s providence. Get a perspective, and that perhaps will help you sail through this little disappointment called appraisal paper!

Wishing you the best, as always! J

Some popular ways how people find their self-value in their professions:

1. Learning – becoming competent, skillful and knowledgeable
2. Finding a purpose and meaning in their work
3. Building relationships
4. Pursuing hobbies and interests (often making their hobby as work)

Respond with your views on how one can find self-value in life

If you would like to change a 'bad' habit, know its benefits first.

 

I had always been nervous when speaking to authorities. I had to change that habit because it was a bad one, and not so beneficial to myself and to the team that I worked with. I wanted to quit being nervous. I reasoned out just like a smoker who is wanting to quit smoking would – what are the harmful effects of my habit of being nervous? In other words, what do I loose when I am nervous? And the list looked something like this: It would not let me articulate what I had to; it would not let authorities notice me for who I am, and it would make me lose out on recognition. So I tried real hard to 'NOT be nervous' only to find that nervousness continued showing up every time I am faced with authority, each time in a different texture.

You could perhaps be on a similar engagement with yourself to change habits, both small and big. If you are like me and most other people, you would have quit working on habits, hoping they change on their own, or expecting some significant event in life could possibly alter your habit once for all, or you could be relying on a particular life stage that would make your habit disappear – after all you are not the same person you were ten years ago, for the good. All of the above stances of yours are valid and most often they do alter you and make you better.

But I am going to propose a three step approach that will empower you and me to alter habits of our choice. This is inspired by research work done by Lahey and Kegan of The Harvard University fame, who published their work in the book titled “Immunity to Change”.

1.       Ask the right question
When it comes to changing habits, it is essential to ask the right question. Ask what the benefits are, and not what loses or ill effects are! What are the benefits of smoking? The fundamental premise is that we as people will not engage in any behavior if there is no significant benefit in it for us, though often the benefit is unconscious.  So when I asked the question ‘what are the benefits of being nervous when speaking to authorities’, to my surprise I had a list of answers as follows: felt good and right about upholding my value of respect to authorities; I felt comfortable in acknowledging that authorities are more competent than I am; my nervousness pleased them and I felt secured in pleasing them; and that I let them make final decisions which enabled me to be free of responsibility, and so on. And I realized I had more benefits from being nervous than loses! A smoker most often enjoys benefits of being socially connected and related. Why would he want to let go smoking? Makes sense, right?

 2.       Validate your fundamental assumptions 
Now that we know the benefits of our habits, and hence are no more surprised by the grip they have on us, we should move further to explore the fundamental assumptions we hold on our perceived benefits. One of the strong assumptions that I held was that ‘I respect authorities when I am nervous’! Well, that does not sound valid, does it? Hence when I worked on my assumption by reasoning that it's not the only way of being respectful, I suddenly found myself staring at many alternatives to being respectful to authorities - by paying attention, by acknowledging, by responding promptly to requests, and by many more ways. Interestingly nervousness lost its stronghold and appeal, in the context of what I really wanted to express through it – respect.
 
3.      Replace, and don’t change
Now that I have alternatives, I just had to replace my behaviour of being nervous with a behavior that has better benefits to myself and to others in the presence of my authorities. You notice that I did not try to change ‘being nervous’ rather, I only replaced it. And nervousness remains as one of my options always, even today. But that does not matter because science of evolution suggests, that which is not in use, would eventually disappear, and that which is used consistently gets strengthened! And to use, not to use, and what to use is my choice. I am empowered.

So we will never change – we will continue to be human beings, and we should only look at moving on, moving forward, and transform in ways that is beneficial to contexts of our work and life. Trying to change is frustrating, but transforming is empowering.

We (at Bisykle) collaborate and work with teams and individuals to surface the benefits and fundamental assumptions behind their habits, that influences efficiency and effectiveness to deliver results.

 

Are your employees just placing bricks or building a mansion?

Just ask them -  which in itself takes some effort and commitment. Assuming that you found ways to ask that question, their answers to your question will have huge implications on your business.

It is essential that individual employees, teams and leaders in the organization clarify and know the contribution of their brick, in the overall scheme of business and market.
Young engineers in a manufacturing organization (a B2C business) asked exactly that question - How in my role as an engineer am influencing  my end customer's decision? Having asked that question they evolved answers to that question (and some just got on that journey) by engaging in a simulated production system. It turns out that three things they do or don't do in their role influences their customers decision - A) Knowing and adhering to standards, B) Articulating ideas, especially if they are silly, and C) Commitment to not repeating the same mistake again.

I thought that was some significant realization, though not a discovery.