Some people see a leadership position as a chance to inflate their ego, maybe make up for something that was missing earlier in life. Or maybe they find it easier to get satisfaction from the relatively easy method of playing office politics than from actually doing something productive. Whatever their reasoning,you should avoid being one of them. Because these people suck.
Office politics take different forms. Some leaders try to advance to higher positions. Others try to get more resources for their departments, not so much to do more with them as to simply have more than everybody else. Some are setting themselves up for another job somewhere else. And some simply have nothng better to do.
They don't help. Worrying about that kind of nonsense distracts you from the company's business, but worse, it distracts the people around you, too. Your employees suffer because they're trying to do good work and they don't get any top cover from you becaue you're focused on yourself. Your peers suffer because they have to deal with your childishness and try to keep it from interfering with their work. Your leaders suffer because they can't trust you to report accurately and objectively. Overall, the whole firm suffers from office politics.
Creative firms in particluar suffer because they require an environment that supports creativity and innovation. The negativity associated with office politics sucks the creative energy out of a group, wrecking everyone's focus.
Now, let's not be naive. Office politics are a normal fact of life. There will always be "those people," and sometimes even good leaders need to fight for their people. You need, though, to keep it to a minimum, and not play into it someone else's ego. If you're focused on inflating your ego rather than inflating your profit margin,then a leadership position probably isn't right for you.
0 comments:
Post a Comment