21 Dirty Tricks at Work E-Book

Mike Phipps

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 325

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

21 Dirty Tricks at Work is about lies. The type of underhand, pernicious and downright Machiavellian scheming that goes on in business every day. An estimated £7.8bn is lost each year in the UK alone though unnecessary and counter-productive office politicking. But 21 Dirty Tricks at Work is also a book of hope. It exposes the classic manoeuvres and gives practical advice on dealing with them to the vast majority who just want to do a good day's work. 21 Dirty Tricks at Work provides you with all the information you need to spot negative tactics and self-interested strategies. It shows you how to spot the games frequently being played and how to come out with your credibility intact and your sanity preserved. So, if you are fed-up of being on the receiving end of constant backbiting and skulduggery from workmates, join hands with the authors and get Machiavelli on the run!

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Immunity or Ignorance?

Chapter One: Destiny Beckons

DIRTY TRICK NO. 1: THE FALL GUY/THE PATSY1

DIRTY TRICK NO. 2: DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY

DIRTY TRICK NO. 3: KISS LIKE JUDAS

Chapter Two: The Apprentice

DIRTY TRICK NO. 4: BYSTANDER

DIRTY TRICK NO. 5: CREATIVE MAGPIE

DIRTY TRICK NO. 6: TELL ME MORE

Chapter Three: Commuting to (No)Where?

DIRTY TRICK NO. 7: INDIRECTLY YOURS

DIRTY TRICK NO. 8: JAM TOMORROW

DIRTY TRICK NO. 9: GUARDIAN ANGEL

Chapter Four: Escalation and Attrition

DIRTY TRICK NO. 10: E-MAIL TO THE GODS

DIRTY TRICK NO. 11: NAME DROPPER

DIRTY TRICK NO. 12: EXPOSURE

Chapter Five: A Rather Sad Display

DIRTY TRICK NO. 13: BURIAL GROUND/ DISCOUNT

DIRTY TRICK NO. 14: MALICIOUS FEEDBACK

DIRTY TRICK NO. 15: HURRY UP

Chapter Six: A Day at the Belfry

DIRTY TRICK NO. 16: NO INVITATION

DIRTY TRICK NO. 17: THE CAUCUS

DIRTY TRICK NO. 18: ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

Chapter Seven: Decision Time

DIRTY TRICK NO. 19: MY HANDS ARE TIED

DIRTY TRICK NO. 20: WE'RE RIGHT BEHIND YOU!

DIRTY TRICK NO. 21: RE-STRUCTURE

Epilogue: Florida – Six Months Later

Appendix One: Bibliography

Appendix Two: About Politics at Work Ltd

Index

Copyright © 2005 by Colin Gautrey and Mike Phipps

The right of Colin Gautrey and Mike Phipps to be identified as the authors of this book has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

First published 2005 by Capstone Publishing Limited (a Wiley Company), The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester West Sussex, PO19 8SQ

Reprinted January 2007, May 2008

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Acknowledgements

Whilst two names appear on the cover of this book, behind the scenes lots of great people made direct, indirect and even inadvertent contributions to our writing and thinking. In this small space we would like to acknowledge all those who helped us on our way and who continue to support and inspire us.

Diane Bartley and Jackie Gautrey, our supportive partners.

Edward, Oliver, Sarah, Luci and James, our inspirational children.

Bridget Farrands, Grahame Pitts, Eric Parsloe, Keith Francis and Carmel McConnell for your inspirational mentoring.

John Moseley our most helpful editor and the team at Capstone Wiley.

Tim Stockil, Linda Griffiths and all at Arts & Business who helped us.

Mark Trezona and Martin Duffy at BridgeBuilders for opening the door.

Claire Davies for her continued support and challenge.

Wendi Pasco and Penny Albertella at Laurel Consulting for all your support.

Julie Hay for opening up transactional analysis (TA) and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).

Annie Gray, Naomi Biggs and David Wilson for taking a risk on us when we were young.

All our business partners and everyone in the Politics at Work Associate Network for helping us to take these ideas into organizations.

All the delegates and clients we have worked with who told us their stories, added to our understanding and challenged our thinking.

Everyone who motivated us by saying we were mad to call our company Politics at Work!

Machiavelli, without whom this book would probably not have been possible!

Introduction: Immunity or Ignorance?

This is a book about lies. It is an unpleasant collection of some of the most common Dirty Tricks and political games that get played in organizations. We know that there will be controversy and concern about this material. One of our fiercest critics has already dismissed our work as ‘just helping people to lie more effectively’, and we are aware that by encouraging you to read and learn from these examples, that we are handing you a moral dilemma. There is a positive intention behind our work however. We are going to expose Machiavellian managers, get them on the run and leave them no place to hide.

This is also a book about hope and integrity. We know that the vast majority of people in organizations want to do good work, to be of service and to benefit in turn. But they are frequently frustrated or sabotaged by unhelpful politics and abuses of power. Our mission is to do something positive about that. Not only do we share these Dirty Tricks with you, we also provide expert advice on what to do when they stop you doing what is right for the organization. This help is based on our extensive work with senior managers from a diverse range of organizations large and small. If you are determined to act with integrity, you might like to think of this book as career antivirus software.

These Dirty Tricks are shared with you on the understanding that to know them, means you will be forewarned and therefore forearmed should you come across Machiavellian management in your organization, which you will. We do NOT expect you to try them out on ‘Jerry’ at the next project meeting. If you do, then you had better hope that Jerry has not read this book.

We believe that the more people who know how to recognize these games and have learned our useful strategies for tackling them, the less likely Machiavellian managers are to use them. Rather like the Nigerian Email Scam1, which was initially quite successful on the Internet. The more people who heard about it, discussed it and passed their knowledge on, the fewer people got caught out by it. The exposure of Dirty Tricks, dragging them from the shadows into the light, is to reduce their power. This is our higher purpose.

We propose that ignorance, ambivalence and reticence are no longer viable options. Holding up your hands and declaring that you ‘don't do politics’ is no longer good enough. Machiavellian management have been exploiting this outlook for too long. In this book we propose that developing inoculation, immunity and effective antidotes against negative politics will be more productive, for all.

By their very nature, we acknowledge that all organizations are political and that it is a competitive world out there. We are not naïve enough to believe that a Utopian organization exists, or is even that desirable. However, the downside to these Dirty Tricks and political games is firstly that the financial cost of internal power struggles and politicking can now measured in billions2. The second is that focus, energy and commitment drain from the organization, whilst more focused competitors laugh all the way to the bank. Thirdly, the talented, bright, articulate, future leaders of the organization (who we have aggressively head-hunted, selected and groomed) become disenchanted, burned out, beaten up, cynical … and then they leave. Ask yourself, how high is the talent body count in your organization? Learning to more appropriately manage the political dynamics in the organization delivers benefits not only to the emotional balance sheet, but to the financial balance sheet too!

These political Dirty Tricks are more than just a career-threatening nuisance; they also form part of the political backdrop to all the great recent organizational scandals. Enron, WorldCom, Equitable Life, Shell (oil reserves) and even the English Football Association (Sven-Goran Eriksson and Mark Pallios) were mired in power struggles and negative politics. The more that you scratch the surface of these scandals, the more unhelpful politicking you find. Why do these games seem to flourish and thrive in our organizations? Why do our competency frameworks, role specifications, vision and values fail to protect us from this type of exploitation? Why is there such a gap between the rhetoric and the reality?

1 Magnetic north vs true north

The work of leadership is to articulate the vision and values of the organization and set the strategic direction. Stephen Covey likens this work to setting the compass on behalf of the followers. But increasingly followers are getting an acute sense of where their own internal compass is leading them and are ever more determined to act upon it. When the two versions of north do not align, in the gap, there is a fertile breeding ground for the politics of self-interest to prevail, especially if the organizational culture somehow inhibits open conversations. For many, just casually raising the possibility that they might be looking to further their career elsewhere is a ‘career decision’.

2 The rate of change

The rate of organizational change continues to accelerate, and this is a significant factor in encouraging unhelpful political behaviour. More than ever, followers are asking; why bother being dedicated to following a long-term vision and being true to the values when no one is guaranteed to be here next week? Why invest in relationships, when results are everything? Given that negative political games can be effective in the shorter term, and given that everyone is overworked and stressed, it is hardly surprising that more people are seduced into short-term thinking. Even our organizational language can betray our lack of faith in the long-term strategy. People talk more and more about ‘quick wins’ and ‘low hanging fruit’ and are frequently rewarded and congratulated when they do so. But what is the longer term, hidden cost of this short-termism?

3 The flatter structure

There was a time when our organizations had clear hierarchical structures. We all knew where the buck stopped and who the powerful people were because they had job titles (and other overt, hedonistic trappings), which made it clear to everyone involved. Of course this state of affairs still encouraged game playing as people competed to get an ever-tighter grip on the greasy pole. But then came the new age of flatter structures, matrix management and non-hierarchical organizations, designed to encourage team working, co-operation and greater productivity.

Unfortunately the new reality for most organizations is that political game playing has increased3. Regardless of job titles, everyone knows who the powerful people are, and navigate accordingly. It seems that in the power vacuum, created by removing status and authority as the major orientation points for power, these gamey ways of transacting power continued along as if nothing had happened, and in many cases, just got more sophisticated and damaging!

4 Lonely at the top?

And as if the challenge was not difficult enough already, for directors and leaders there is the additional burden generated by the sense of isolation that many senior people talk about in their more honest, yet vulnerable moments. This was confirmed by research conducted by Leaders in London4 in June 2004, which found that 31% of senior managers considered loneliness to be the worst part of their job. The same research revealed that ‘office politics’ topped the most hated list at 46%. More and more they ask external consultants and coaches about ‘what is really going on’ in their organization. And the followers, who have an acute enough antennae to detect this isolation, and those who have already signed up to the politics of self-interest, take this as tacit permission to exploit the situation.

5 The absence of language and understanding

We notice that words like power and politics have strongly negative connotations for most people. Because of this strong reaction, these are topics which many are uncomfortable to raise let alone confront. In the first place, the absence of real understanding about power and politics and the lack of a suitable language framework, has led to these vital and productive conversations being easily missed, closed down, declared inappropriate, misunderstood or ignored. The challenge for leadership is to get the conversations about power and politics on the table, and to do it constructively. The ostrich mentality usually exacerbates the problem as silence (or ignorance) on the subject will be interpreted by Machiavellian types as an opportunity.

Secondly, making these issues taboo fuels the mystery and mystique, meaning that even some of the most senior people we get to work with are ignorant of all but the most obvious and clumsy political strategies. Finally, and most serious of all, is the way in which even our most skilled and talented clients are seemingly unable to find strategies to deal with these difficult situations effectively, without either ‘playing the game’ or resorting to fighting fire with fire, with predictable and frequently dire consequences.

6 The problem of management literature

Take a look on the bookshelves at Waterstones or visit the Amazon website and you discover a huge number of books all about power and politics. Normally this would be an encouraging sign, but a closer look reveals that the vast majority are all about ‘playing the game’, getting one over on your colleagues and justifying the politics of self-interest. Too many authors have spent time educating us to play WIN/LOSE strategies. Recent best-sellers highlight the problem; The 48 Laws of Power (mostly about how ‘wise’ Machiavelli was, with no regard to the damage these strategies promote); The Way of the Rat (apparently the only way to get ahead is to be a bigger rat than everyone else); 100+ Tactics for Office Politics (which are mostly strategies of self-interest, and damn the organization).

This book is different and will break the mould by proposing more productive strategies and ways forward. We notice that most books about office politics concentrate on personality types, alleging that type X people do this, or that type Y do it a different way. Whilst these generalizations are helpful, more needs to be done to explain the specific strategies and Dirty Tricks involved. This is vital because Dirty Tricks appear to cut across personality types, all types are susceptible to the temptation to act in negatively political ways, so to warn against only certain types of people is to ignore significant threats from elsewhere. This is why we are concentrating primarily on the tricks, tactics, strategies and games that people use, regardless of type.

7 The problem with culture and unwritten rules

If we search out and recruit and nurture the top talents in our industry, should we not be doing more to ensure that they direct their time, energy and talent into doing good work instead of ‘playing the game’? People take their cue about ‘how things get done around here’ not from the declared vision and values, but from the unwritten rules and codes of conduct from their seniors. So the challenge is the extent to which our senior managers are setting the correct example, or are they unwittingly cloning the next generation of Machiavellian executives? Is the competition in your marketplace not fierce enough already without handing your competitors another advantage by being caught up in your own political infighting?

8 The challenge of childhood

Before we even arrive in the world of work, we have already learned at a very young age a whole set of coping mechanisms and less than helpful political behaviour programmes as children. Many of these Dirty Tricks have their psychological roots in childhood, where our first experiments in manipulation and the testing of our personal power take place.

Anyone with small children will know how they will test out various indirect manipulation strategies on their parents and pay close attention to which work and which don't. In addition, further development of these skills continues in the playground and in the classroom where tactics are practised and refined.

By the time we arrive in the world of work we have already had a great deal of experience with power and politics and have, at a deep level, engrained a set of mental programmes and assumptions about how these dynamics work. If you are not convinced that every director has an internalized seven-year-old child in control of their behaviour from time to time, you should spend more time observing the board when they meet. Have you ever noticed how apparently professional exchanges suddenly tip over into ‘my dad's bigger than your dad’ or ‘it's my ball and I'm taking it home’? In addition to learning positive political skills we also need to do some unlearning or reprogramming of some of these deeply engrained thinking patterns.

9 These political games work!

The most depressing news is that these games get played because they work, at least in the short-term and those who play them are sometimes rightly confident that circumstances might change before they get detected. But now the time for change has come. By writing a book exposing these Dirty Tricks we will soon start to make inroads into removing the potency of their players.

WHAT IS A DIRTY TRICK?

For a series of moves to qualify as a Dirty Trick for our collection, all of the following conditions exist:

A lack of trust that behaving authentically will be effective.

At least one player needs to believe that they have the right to exploit others, or to be one up at someone else's expense.

Something is at stake, or there is an opportunity to exploit.

A need to cover something up, restrict or distort the real situation or information.

Frequently, a surface communication of helpfulness masquerading as a cover-up position for unhelpfulness.

A strong desire to act out of self-interest rather than serving the organization.

A negative pay-off for the victim, and an apparent victory for the protagonist

If at first you don't see some of them, look again; they're usually there, just beneath the surface. Note that they are more than just ways of behaving, they are all tactical in their intent and involve a motive, a lie, and a one up/one down pay-off. Scratch the surface of any of these Dirty Tricks, and you will find a lie.

TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS

Throughout the book you will notice that we have sometimes referred to the person who makes the opening moves in a Dirty Trick, and who is working with ulterior intent, as the ‘persecutor’. Also that we refer to the person on the receiving end as the ‘victim’, and two other roles, ‘rescuer’ and ‘bystander’.

These labels are based on the work of Steve Karpman and others from the field of transactional analysis. Despite our work being rooted in social psychology, this is not an academic or psychological text. For those interested in developing deeper understanding in this arena, we have recommended several books in the bibliography at the end of this book.

HOW TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS BOOK

To bring the Dirty Tricks to life we have written a story in seven chapters that follows a few key players in the Xennic Corporation through the political mire. We use this to illustrate in a true-to-life setting how these Dirty Tricks are played out in organizational life. Each chapter of the story is followed by a trio of tricks, each of which describes how the trick works, links back to the story and then provides advice on how to handle it.

Our suggestion is that you read each chapter in turn, consider how this relates to your work environment and then try to identify the tricks before you turn the page where all is revealed. In this way as you progress through the book you will be developing your own political intelligence with our help. We suspect that you will skip around but please remember that our purpose is to help you to develop your skills and help you to survive in the world of work without endangering your integrity, so think carefully about the issues presented.

You will notice that with each of the Dirty Tricks we have assessed the level of threat and potential damage at stake. These ratings have been developed as a guide so that you can be alerted to the more damaging tactics that Machiavelli is fond of. The statistics are based on our experience with helping managers navigate these situations and may not necessarily be how you might view them, especially if you are currently caught up in some of this unhelpful politicking.

We have also provided a series of power tips throughout the book. These are designed to highlight and focus you on some of the best practice ideas contained in our work. There is not always a direct correlation between the Dirty Trick and the power tip, but from time to time you will notice a delightful and helpful synergy. Taking heed of these will help you to develop your own personal power.

HEALTH WARNING

It is impossible for us to know as much as you do about any difficult situation you find yourself in at work. Because of that you need to read what we've got to say about each trick and very carefully tailor it to your personal circumstances and skills. We cannot accept responsibility for your actions (only you can do this); however, we are confident that you will fare better if you carefully adapt our insights.

TIME FOR CHANGE

The great organizational performance improvement opportunity of the 21st century is not going to be focused on TQM, ISO, IIP, Six Sigma or any of these other process type initiatives, great though they are. The real opportunity is to get each of us learning about how we can use our personal power to cut through unhelpful self-interest more effectively, creating instead a climate and culture of positive power and politics. As a business we focus on helping organizations and individuals to tap into the wasted resources and motivation so that they can influence with integrity. This book is based on this experience and has some pretty neat ideas about how you can get started with this work.

Imagine what you could do if you no longer had to ‘play politics’ at work to get things done? How much time would you save? How much more effective could you, your team and your organization become? How much more rewarding would work become? It is time to transform the political culture of our organizations and renegotiate the political contract. The challenge has begun and we are pleased that you have joined us. Now, together, let's get Machiavelli on the run.

1 The Nigerian Email Scam is a spam e-mail that still circulates around the web today. In it someone claims to be connected to a wealthy but allegedly oppressed Nigerian diplomat or businessperson and asks that you help them to get their rightful wealth out of the country, which the government are blocking. They offer to share the fortune with you by placing the money directly into your bank account and then when they arrive in the UK, you agree to pay it back minus the massive commission they are offering you. All you need do is to send them your bank sort code and account number and — here is the con — £500 for administration costs, and they will wire the fortune directly across.

2 The Reed Report from 2002 estimated the cost at £7.8bn for the UK based just on the time spent dealing with issues around power and politics. It did not factor in the cost of lost customers, cancelled contracts, damage to reputation, the loss of morale and the talent drain.

3 Linda Holbeche in Politics in Organisations 2004 found that ‘69% of respondents in the 2002 survey reported that political behaviour was rife — and on the increase’.

4 Leaders in London 2004 was an International Leadership Summit held in London, which included speakers such as Jack Welch, Michael Porter and Robert Kaplan. See www.leadersinlondon.com

Chapter One

Destiny Beckons

In foul temper, Ben pushed his way through the revolving doors of Xennic corporate HQ. He hated revolving doors, mostly because you couldn't slam them shut behind you. Not that he was an ‘angry young exec’ but that the Xennic building was already starting to become the embodiment for all that was wrong with his shining career. Revolving doors are of course both impractical and metaphoric.

Ben was annoyed with himself for saying ‘yes’ when he wanted to say ‘no’. But what else could he have done? Jerry, his boss had strongly suggested to all, that to say ‘no’ to the weekend strategy workshop would be a ‘career decision’. Spending five working days per week with these characters was abhorrent enough, yet to cap it all, this was to have been the weekend when he had planned a special trip for the family! Strategic away days were important, but anyone wanting to discuss ‘work—life balance’ with Ben would find it a short topic of conversation today. In conversations around the water cooler Ben's colleagues had been quick to dub the strategic away day using the acronym SAD, which is both depressing and rather apt perhaps.

The rent-a-guard on the front desk barely acknowledged his presence, fixated as he was on watching something on a screen. Ben swiped his card through the slot allowing the turnstile to rotate him slowly into another day at the office. What fun awaited he wondered as he made his way to the lifts.

Alone in the lift, he quickly ‘adjusted himself’ only then remembering the new security cameras that had been installed. Ah well, another cheap thrill for the security guy. The cameras had been fitted ‘for your safety and security’ the small notice said. Ben had taken it as another sign of the organizations’ big brother culture creeping over them.

He wondered how and when he had got so paranoid and cynical. Originally he had been delighted to be headhunted for this job from a significant competitor where he had been working. Along with the increased salary and status he was especially pleased as he thought it meant that he could leave the power struggles, bickering and office politicking behind him. Ben now realized that this made him naïve as well as cynical, as at times this place seemed as bad, if not worse.

Not that he wasn't good at his job, he was, it was just that at times it seemed that unseen forces in the organization were conspiring in the shadows against him. He had genuinely wanted to do well, to make a contribution and to exploit his talents for the benefit of all, but as one colleague had confided to him recently in an unguarded moment, ‘being good is never going to be good enough, Ben’.

When Ben asked her what she meant she explained that the ‘great game’ was all about whom and what you knew. Critical was how you looked and sounded, rather that what you said. Style was now more important than substance and that anything other than toeing the party line would lead to ‘career shortening activity’ as the organizational immune system kicked in to expel the ‘virus’. Above all the ability to influence people and events was now the key skill required. Ben had originally dismissed these views as those of the bitter and twisted minority, but these days he was increasingly beginning to wonder.

Political correctness might be the order of the day, ‘respect and togetherness’ might be on the Corporate Values Statement, but other attitudes always lurked in the shadows, and these days the shadows seemed to be getting longer and darker.

Certainly anyone who had faith in the 360 degree appraisal process as a measure of who got promoted and how you got rewarded were deluding themselves. Everyone knew that the reality was that performance evaluations were rigged to fit the distribution curve, and that the politicking and negotiating around the process was more important than what you delivered.

Ben emerged from the lift — yes, they really were that slow in this building — and walked across the open-plan office to his desk. The floor was deserted except for Jerry in his goldfish bowl corner office, yelling down the phone at some poor unfortunate who had presumably dared to have an opinion of their own, and even more stupidly, had decided to share it with this mini despot at 07.30 on a Monday morning.

Ben plugged in his laptop and punched the play button on his voice mail. ‘You have … 17 new messages,’ the metallic voice chirped, Ben's heart sank. Mostly they were just small stuff, chaff that clogged up your day and got in the way, but one got his attention, a message from Spencer in Finance asking him why he had not attended the Project Genesis meeting last Friday. What the hell was Project Genesis? Sometimes he wondered if he knew what was going on, or if he was losing his grip. He was certainly out of the loop on this one.

Ben realized he should never have given up smoking. As a smoker you get to go to this hovel of a room in the basement to partake and inhale at regular intervals. The added bonus is that you get to mingle with the disparate band of other tobacco dependent individuals, many of whom were also senior managers and directors. In between lungfuls of stinking blue smoke, trivia and gossip, astonishing indiscretions were often made, and you really got to know what was going on. Had Ben realized that giving up smoking would lead to such political isolation he would never have stopped. Okay, so he might have died sooner, but at least he would know what Project Genesis was.

He checked his other messages, rooted back though his online diary and inbox messages for any trace of Project Genesis. Nothing. Not on the company intranet, but no surprise there! Very strange. Perhaps Spencer was mistaken; perhaps it was a wind up? Ben decided that he had better discuss it with Jerry in their Monday morning ‘catch-up’ at 09.30. Quite why he needed to ‘catch-up’ with Jerry given that he had just spent the whole damn weekend with the ogre was beyond him, but at least Jerry would probably know about Project Genesis, being a 40-Marlboro-a-day man.

Jerry finally hollered for Ben at 11:10, close to two hours behind schedule. Ben had been sitting nearby during this time watching a stream of visitors being ushered into Jerry's office, and his time slot. Many were clutching large files but he also noted that they all carried the same ‘rabbit in the headlights’ look in their faces. Ben entered Jerry's office with some trepidation. ‘Ben, sit down,’ barked Jerry without even looking up from his papers. Could it be possible that Jerry had somehow risen to such heights without ever hearing about interpersonal skills, politeness, friendliness, respect, etc? Ben smiled inwardly, shifted uncomfortably and noted the extent of his optimistic stupidity.

Before Ben had a chance to draw breath, Jerry launched right in. ‘Ben, I've got a development opportunity for you.’ Ben was caught by surprise since he'd been steeling himself for some bad news. Perhaps he was getting too cynical in his old age. Maybe this was going to be the golden opportunity he needed to get into the ‘in crowd’. ‘I'm all ears Jerry’ Ben said in an unexpectedly cheery tone.

Jerry continued, ‘We want you to take control of Project Genesis’. Ben reeled and held on to the sides of his chair, he hoped Jerry wouldn't notice. Jerry blathered on… ‘As you know it is a business critical initiative which is a year late and we're nearly £12m in the hole, so we need someone to take over from Mark who has been leading it. Everyone believes that Mark has been doing a great job in difficult circumstances, the MD even said so at the last shareholders’ meeting, so the main task now is to sail the ship safely into port.’

Ben was stunned, too stunned to reply for a moment. Project Genesis was ‘business critical’ and he hadn't even heard of it. Either it's a well-kept secret or he really was out of the loop these days, and given that this organization was pathologically incapable of keeping anything secret … Ben's discomfort increased. During this mental sojourn he missed Jerry mentioning that the chairman had recently, very publicly, reconfirmed his support of Mark as project leader in difficult times, but despite this, for reasons not yet disclosed, a change of leadership was now thought necessary.

Ben focused back in on Jerry who was sledgehammering on. ‘…and you don't need me to tell you that the board have high hopes from Project Genesis and it is going to be a significant milestone on anyone's CV and career at Xennic. From today I want you to clear the decks, drop everything else and get over to the Luton office where you'll be based from the start of next week. Now, I'm running late for the board meeting, so no time to catch up on anything else now but I will check in with you later. Congratulations Ben, oh, and don't let me down.’

And with that, the whirlwind that is Jerry swept out of the office clutching a Marlboro. Ben half expected the huge plate glass window to implode in the vacuum. Ben was still sitting in stunned silence five minutes later when Jerry's personal assistant came in to see if he was okay.

Eventually he found himself back at his desk discussing Project Genesis over the partition with Lewis, a colleague with unbelievably bad hair. Lewis laughed and told Ben that Project Genesis was not some great corporate secret but was in fact Project Achilles. It had been renamed last week as part of a rationalization of initiatives, although the cynical Lewis really believed it was just to make it sound better and to stem the flow of people angling to get off it.

Ben knew that Project Achilles was indeed a big deal and he suddenly felt a bit better about the whole affair; well maybe not the part about going to Luton. How the hell was he going to convince Hanna — his wife — that Luton was a good move for the family? Yes, this might indeed be a great opportunity. Certainly Mark, who had been leading it had done very well out of it, because Lewis had heard that he was now off to Florida, to head up Project Horizons. Perhaps Luton would not be so bad in the short term if Florida became the next stop for him too.

Ben commented that it was good that Mark's hard work on Achilles had been recognized by the organization. Lewis looked at Ben with the sort of patronizing sympathy that politicians usually reserve for their constituents. ‘… And you don't think that Mark, being the MD's son-in-law, has anything to do with his Florida appointment?’ The brief moment of happiness that Ben had experienced evaporated.

CHAPTER ONE: MENTORING INTERVENTION

Whilst this first chapter is fictional it nevertheless portrays a scenario similar to one that is played in organizations of all types, all around the world. A bright, talented young thing, new into the job and full of high hopes, finds that their best efforts and positive intentions are gradually strangled by unhelpful establishment politics.

As we stated in the introduction, our main purpose is to equip people with critical career-enhancing knowledge about the complexities of organizations. We do not seek to encourage Dirty Tricks, far from it. Rather we aim to expose them for what they often are: self-serving tactics used by manipulative yet savvy people to get their own way, always at the expense of another, and often at the expense of the whole organization.

Before we analyze this first episode and we introduce you to the first three Dirty Tricks, treat yourself to a brief time out for some one-to-one political coaching. To get the most out of this exercise, view it as a real development opportunity. Ask yourself the following questions to check the levels of your own political savvy, astuteness, innocence or ignorance.

What should Ben have done differently in his meeting with Jerry?

Why do you believe that Project Genesis was re-named?

What warning signs are there about Project Genesis/Achilles?

Should Ben take up smoking again?

What could it cost Ben if he takes up this ‘opportunity’?

How might the organization suffer if Jerry continues in power?

What has really been going on behind the scenes?

Luton and Florida both have international airports, so does that make both places okay?

The critical question to ask yourself is: if you were in Ben's position, what would you do next? The following pages will help to shed light on your answer as we explore the Dirty Tricks in play. The more politically savvy amongst you will have detected three tricks at work here. For each trick that you identified either breathe a sign of relief or hang your head in shame.

THE DIRTY TRICKS IN CHAPTER ONE

DIRTY TRICK NO. 1: FALL GUY/THE PATSY

Assigning projects or tasks that are destined to fail to an expendable manager so that they can be blamed for the failure, and/or to reassign favoured employees away from reputation-threatening failure.

DIRTY TRICK NO. 2: DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY

The tactic of motivating someone to take on a task, project or assignment they might reasonably refuse, by pretending it is a development opportunity.

DIRTY TRICK NO. 3: KISS LIKE JUDAS

Declaring public support for an embattled project or individual, whilst privately plotting for change behind the scenes: ‘I am more convinced than ever that Mark is the right person to lead the team through these difficult days.’

DIRTY TRICK NO. 1: THE FALL GUY/THE PATSY1

Assigning projects or tasks that are destined to fail to an expendable manager so that they can be blamed for the failure, and/or to reassign favoured employees away from reputation-threatening failure.