Pet Peeve of the Week: Office Politics

Playing into the game of office politics will eventually kill your company. Period.

Image by Francesco Marino

It is sometimes said, "It's not what you know, but who you know that matters."  Unfortunately, it's true.

In offices around the country, people are getting promoted based on politics and not potential.  It's an epidemic of epic proportions.  It devalues hard work and outstanding results while adding value to individual personality and likability factor.

Here is the problem in SAT form:

Say you own A company that makes B widget.  You hire C worker for $50,000 a year in R&D to improve said widget.  You hire D worker to do the same thing.  A promotion becomes available to both C and D.  Whom do you pick?

-C Worker-
Independent
New Hire
Extroverted
High to Top Performance
Leader

-D Worker-
Social
Tenure
Extroverted
Moderate to High Performance
Leader

If you hired D worker over C worker, consider the fact that; while office ambiance may be slightly improved by a more charismatic leader, productivity will not be improved due to the inherent poor time-management habits of a very social person.  Giving increased responsibility to someone you like; over someone who is qualified, simply means that they will do more things half-assed.

Add in the additional effect of employee burnout due to lack of advancement, and you have now crippled your work output.  You have also devalued the salary by example and will have to pay more people a higher wage for the same amount of performance.

The candidate you like may not always be the most financially sound choice for promotion.  Think about that before making your next hiring decision.