Management teams have continuously struggled with politics and its negative impact on teams and individuals that has a long lasting negative impact on an organisation. Most of us have been its victim at one time or other.
Here are some of the tools and techniques that can be used to reduce the play of politics.
* Goal alignment has proven to be an effective tool in mitigating political activism especially when the individual is doing it consciously to ensure his/ her goals are first met.
When employees or your colleagues sense that their goals are in line with those of their supervisor, colleagues or organisation, a sense of oneness is formed. As a result, a common group comes in shape; this group has a common objective and shares an understanding of end objective.
* Lack of information is commonly known to be a cause of fear to many people, especially as it applies to their livelihood and existence.
In the absence of information, people tend to fill these gaps with educated guesses that are negatively biased, as we fear the worst. The same pattern comes into play when there is a higher degree of uncertainty in the team or organisations. Political activism increases when organisations are going through turmoil or change.
Uncertainty and ambiguity are fertile breeding grounds for politics; uncertainty refers to the lack of information or having hazy information regarding the factors which individuals perceive to be directly related to their success or failure.
The best way to solve these triggering factors is to increase the flow of accurate and pertinent information to your colleagues and teams, thereby reducing uncertainty and ambiguity. This flow of information will help in two ways, it will reduce their fears, brought on by what they do not know and allow them to use correct information to hone their efforts on what is most appropriate.
Secondly, sharing pertinent information with your colleagues in a timely manner allows them to focus on what is actually happening rather than expending energy on fearing what may happen.
* It is commonly known fact that individuals respond to perceptions of reality than to the reality itself.
If your colleagues perceive that political behaviours are an accepted practice, it will influence how they evaluate the use of politics themselves.
Courtesy: www.humanresourcesblog.in