This article is for those who are at times the target of office politics and their growth has been bothering the seniors and a humble attitude is being taken advantage of. In a way, if you are a fresher or have a shrewd boss or colleagues who make things a little difficult for you at times, this article is for you.
Let me start with a case I was told by one of my friends today. He was called by his immediate senior to the office of the immediate senior of his immediate senior. It means there were two people, his boss and his boss’ s boss. The background is that he has been growing as an employee and is known for his skill of speaking and training. He has recently got highlighted in the office and now he wanted a leave for a day or two when the boss wanted him there in the office. The situation in short is that he is getting highlighted to the level that the Managing Director of the company knows him for the little creativity he has and now he wants a leave for 2 days and has been called by his boss and his boss’s boss.
He entered the cabin and there was no warmth he could feel. He was asked to sit and the BB (boss’s boss) started telling him that he had not been working well. The reasons given were :
- You don’t carry yourself smartly.
- You don’t mark the attendance of the trainees on time.
- You are late by 5 or 10 minutes to the office almost every day.
The duties this man had recently fulfilled included a training of some fresh graduates to help them get hired by some top IT companies. He had at least two sessions a day of 100 minutes each and he had to speak continuously for these 100 minutes twice to train the students who hardly knew of the company standards they were getting hired for. This man was known for his creativity and hard work and he had come to the office even at 7.30 in the morning to prepare the training manuals as and when needed. So in a way, he was a man of tasks and not a man of time. He fulfilled every task he was given with diligence but he couldn’t bow to the idea of slavery of being there at a specific time when there was no work and getting the hair cut and oiled a certain way.
Coming back to the time when he was called in the cabin, the discussion went so that the bosses were trying to tell him that he had not been working well at all and when justifications were given, the BB raised his voice to prove his point. This man came out demotivated and called me to say that he is leaving the job.
I gave him a piece of my mind and said ” you are working with a big training organization and these things are common where there is a grapevine like this. The bosses are probably insecure of their position now as you are rising. As you told me that they are planning to get a new training team, you might be a threat to them. This is the time to take it as a challenge and know that they aren’t your well-wishers. If they aren’t your well-wishers, what are they? They are 2 jealous and insecure people who have to be dealt with care. So, it’s time to carry yourself the way they want you to and to be on time and mark the attendance of the trainees properly. Don’t give them a reason to raise a finger at you.
Secondly, try getting your work highlighted in front of the seniors who are higher than them and if possible your Managing Director. See that your work is visible to her. Their problem was the leaves that you had asked for when they needed you in the office for some work and your immediate boss who found his position weak ran to his boss to let you know that he is your boss and he commands you. He forgot how useful you have been in the office for the tasks he had given to you. Now it’s time you don’t rush for work to him and let him find you to allot you some work. Make him feel you have other works to be finished and he could distribute the work to others if they carry the same level of strength as you do.
I continued “The process that they practiced on you was “let’s knock him down.“” This is used by the people who are senior to us in position and who find us a threat out of their insecurities. The threat could be an immediate threat like losing their power to command you or a long-term threat like inability to get their own person in your position or something like your growth in the organization and your bypassing them. In this case, it could be the immediate threat he had of his inability to command you when he needed you in the office.”
This is a real-time situation which many of you will face. It’s not wise to run away by resigning over something like this. The situation can be rectified the way I wrote above, these people can be dealt with and you can always tackle this challenge by being wise and handling it well instead of running away.
All the best!