How many of you have heard the positive political expression? This is the opposite negative politics and I think you can see a change in political positioning and behavior as you move up to the highest levels in almost any organization.
As you move up the corporate ladder, or any organizational structural ladder, you’ll find that the people higher up at the top rarely engage in what I consider to be negative politicking. Negative politicking is where the “backstabbing” manifesto occurs. That’s where people drop hints about other people’s shortcomings or mistakes. That’s where people herd each other into meetings, unannounced. People who are inexperienced in organizational dynamics have not yet learned the risk of gossiping or badmouthing someone. They mistakenly believe that by knocking down their competition, they will rise up. Oh what a lie.
People who rise up have learned the skill of positive promotion. In other words, they no longer find bad things in people. That’s what people do at the lowest levels of organizations. Instead, they work collaboratively and doing positive things for others they are serving.
What I am talking about is positive politicking. You can recognize it when you see it. As an example, in a group of people who are working together, a valuable project emerges. And suddenly, one of those people receives the project from another person with whom they have worked. This visible project is not just a reward for previous excellent work, but can be the result of collaborative relationships built with the group leader.
This is a reality in organizational America, whether corporate or not. What we want to be in a position to do is give that kind of positive visibility to other people, and ultimately we will also be beneficiaries of it.
We want to position ourselves to make positive opportunities available to people within our organizations. We want to do this regularly. We want to give things away instead of selfishly keeping them for ourselves. This type of thing is multiplied by ten for the people who do it.
This strategy is not just project-based, but can be as simple as congratulating senior executives on a job well done. Sincere, selfless, and altruistic behaviors are noticed, and more often than not, rewarded.
We rarely forget the time we were uncomfortably cornered and embarrassed in an organizational setting. It creates a long-term reluctance to help that person. The opposite is true. I’m sure each of you can think of a time someone did something positive for you and your career and how grateful you were. And from then on, if that person asks you to do anything, you will do it for them. Well, that’s how positive politicking works. And this is how we can create our own luck within our organizational structures.
So out with the negative politics, we don’t want to rat people out for things they’ve done wrong. That behavior actually makes the “rat” look even worse than the “victim.” That behavior occurs with people at the bottom end of their organizations.
What we want to do is do positive things for other people. And this is the way we can further the goals of the organization and find some luck for ourselves. Because most good deeds are returned.