Are workplace politics having an impact at your workplace?
In my previous article on workplace politics – I promised to present some of the effects of workplace politics and ways to handle workplace politics where you work.
Let’s start with some of the negative impacts of workplace politics which are significantly costly to a company.
High rate of turnover
A high rate of turnover of employees which is much higher than similar companies of their size in their industry. Employee turnover is extremely costly.
Sometimes the rate of turnover is overlooked as it is buried in the HR area. There’s recruiting, hiring, training, onboarding, exiting process and associated pay and fees. Not to mention the time to replace and get a new person up to speed.
In addition there is a loss of experience and knowledge when someone leaves their position.
Decrease in productivity
The ability to focus and concentrate at optimal levels is impacted when people are thinking about their own agenda or how they will be impacted by someone else’s personal agenda.
This leads to and is directly associated with a decrease in productivity.
Employee health
The health of a company’s most important organizational part – employees – becomes at risk due to an increase in stress, unmotivated employees, and a high level of resentment.
All of these are from fear of losing their job, surrounded by a toxic environment and a general feeling of unhappiness with the entire company.
Not everyone runs a company, however, everyone has a role in workplace politics.
Here are some of the ways you may be able to rise above and keep things from going sideways for you at the office (and remote):
- Brush up on your people skills. Emotional Intelligence is the hot topic, tip – it’s not going to be handled by AI! – so know your level of people skills and get better at them.
- Know the informal network and interconnections at work. Who has influence over whom and who has the ear of whom?
- Sometimes the real organization chart matters and sometimes it doesn’t. Try to understand when it’s going to matter and when it’s not.
- Use your networking skills both outside your organization and inside your organization. If you need help with this contact me to work with you on this specifically to get you going in the right direction consistently.
- Possibly the trickiest of them all – when you hear negativity – do your best to neutralize it.
Are there more things to be done to keep things running smoothly?
Of course! Try these out for now and become comfortable with them.
Let me know how you’re making out.
Wenkroy International LLC is a boutique consulting company with a main purpose of helping entrepreneurs and business people create the strategy, the plan and the steps necessary to achieve that person’s vision for their business and often their life, while navigating the obstacles which may be blocking them from reaching their goals. The process may involve one on one coaching, advising, laser focus days, personal growth workshops and more. The process is utilized for individuals, teams, divisions and across entire companies. People are now able to focus on what matters most to them, because, they have clarity on where they are heading.
You may be interested to know:
Do you know I’m interviewing stroke survivors, their spouse or partner as well? The purpose is to compile these stories in order to share the information with others. The stories will inspire others, help them with tips for handling what they are going through now and what they may face in the future. It may even become a go to resource for stroke survivors and their families. Here’s the link if that’s you or pass on to someone you know.
https://mitchtublin.com/survivors
As always share the information in this article with people you know.
