10

Owen thought his colleague Clarissa was on his side. After the birth of his second child, he took a semester’s paternity leave as the chair of the English department at a small university, and Clarissa agreed to fill in temporarily. Then, a few weeks into his leave, he heard from two different colleagues that Clarissa had said in a meeting that she was hoping to take over as chair when Owen was “ready to step down” or if “he decided not to come back.” That made Owen a bit nervous (he had every intention of returning to his role), though he was pleased that he’d have a competent successor if and when he was ready to step aside.

Then, two weeks later, Clarissa called to say that the department would need to complete an evaluation for the university review board that they’d originally agreed to put off. “She was completely stressed-out,” he recalled. It was a high-stakes review that would determine the department’s funding and would put Clarissa in front of several senior leaders at the college. So he spent hours on the phone with her explaining what needed to be done and agreeing to help. “On the call, I signed up to do three-quarters of the work, but I could tell right away that there were going to be problems with who would get credit,” he explained. She wanted everything to go through her and was already calling it ‘my report’ and bemoaning ‘all the legwork I need to get done.’”

Owen suggested that he and others working on the report meet by video to go over it before submitting it to the review board. In the meeting, Clarissa began by “representing the draft as hers.” When a few of their colleagues pushed back on aspects of the report, Clarissa responded by saying, “As chair of the department …” It rubbed Owen the wrong way that she didn’t acknowledge that she was “acting chair” or that he had “done the lion’s share of the work,” he says.

Owen lost trust in Clarissa and felt like she was playing political games to advance her own career—at his expense.

Of course, everyone has to engage in office politics to some degree. We compete with one another—for promotions, raises, plum assignments, and C-suite attention. We need to advocate for our ideas, and our accomplishments, to secure support and funding. But what if your colleague is fixated on getting ahead and has a take-no-prisoners approach to doing so?

Here are some of the behaviors you might be dealing with from a careerist colleague:

• Bragging about their successes
• Taking undue credit
• Currying favor with people in power or those in a position to help their career
• Acting like they’re in charge, even when they aren’t
• Gossiping and spreading rumors, particularly about coworkers who they believe are standing in their way
• Pushing their own agenda, often at the expense of team or company goals
• Hoarding information to appear powerful
• Purposely undermining you by not inviting you to a meeting or sharing critical details about your work

Dwight Schrute, the character from the TV show The Office, often comes to mind when I think about this archetype. He was in an endless (and fruitless) competition with his fellow salesman Jim. He insisted he was the “assistant regional manager,” not the “assistant TO THE regional manager.” And he constantly kissed up to his boss, Michael Scott. When Dwight was given any sort of power (like getting to choose the company’s health-care policy, in one of my favorite episodes), he relished it and lorded it over his coworkers. While Dwight’s character made for good entertainment, it’s hard to imagine anyone would enjoy working with him day in and day out.

So how do you react to a hypercompetitive colleague who sees work as a winner-takes-all competition? Can you ever trust them? How do you avoid getting dragged into their game? And are there any lessons you can learn from the way they operate?

There is some overlap between this archetype and a few of the others—in particular, the passive-aggressive peer (chapter 6), the insecure manager (chapter 3), and the know-it-all (chapter 7). You may want to review those chapters for additional background and advice on how to deal with a political operator.

Now, let’s take a look at what motivates a careerist to be so calculating—and at times disingenuous.

The Background on Politicking

First things first: all offices are political. Work involves dealing with human beings who are driven primarily by emotions rather than logic. We have conflicting wants, needs, and underlying (often unconscious) biases and insecurities. Working with others means negotiating clashing motives and often reaching compromises.1 In addition, our work increasingly depends on others. Researchers have found that in the two decades since 2000, the time spent by managers and employees in collaborative activities has ballooned by 50 percent or more.2

Most of us recognize the need to play some politics. A 2016 Accountemps survey showed that 80 percent of people believe office politics exists in their office, and 55 percent said they take part. More than a quarter of those same respondents said they felt that “politicking” was essential to getting ahead.3 Research backs them up. Numerous studies show that there’s a connection between political skill and career success.4

It’s important to understand what makes your coworkers tick (I’ve certainly advocated for doing that throughout this book), and it’s politically savvy to use that knowledge to advance your and the organization’s objectives.5 You might leverage your understanding of what your marketing colleagues care about to convince them to get behind your project or present ideas to your boss’s boss in a way that makes them most likely to approve. Understanding who has power and influence and tapping your network are necessary, even aspirational skills, as long as you use them for more than just personal gain.

But that’s probably not the version of office politics that your colleague is modeling.

Good versus bad office politics

It’s not always easy to distinguish between acceptable forms of playing office politics and more toxic varieties. To some people, the idea of sending your boss flowers to congratulate them on a promotion may seem obsequious; to others, it might just be a kind gesture. And still others might consider it a smart political move, knowing that a positive relationship with your manager is likely to help your career.

To discern what’s appropriate and what’s not, I ask myself: Is someone pursuing success at the expense of others? If the answer is no, then it’s likely a shrewd approach to advancing their career. For example, speaking up in a meeting to share what’s going well on your team’s project is a great way to increase your visibility and enhance your reputation. And as long as you don’t interrupt others to do it, or speak badly about another team, there should be no harm done. But if your colleague intentionally takes up the majority of a meeting so that others can’t present their ideas, that’s a different story.

One person I spoke to while writing this book described their “highly manipulative” coworker this way:

What compels people to behave so ruthlessly?

Scarcity, insecurity, and power

Of course, different people will be motivated by different things, but there are a few common reasons why your colleague is engaging in cutthroat politics, including a sense that resources are limited and must be fought over, insecurity or feeling threatened, and a desire for power or status.

One of the main factors that drives hypercompetitiveness is scarcity, or the idea that there isn’t enough to go around. If everyone got exactly what they wanted at work—the salary they dreamed of, the budget for all of their pet projects, endless attention from higher-ups—there would be little need to engage in politicking. But resources are finite, and we’re often made to compete for them. Your colleague may be focused on winning those resources to further their own agenda and bolster their position.

People who engage intensely in office politics sometimes do so because they’re insecure or feel threatened. A friend of mine once noted that most of the political operators in the media company where she worked were people who weren’t particularly good at the technical aspects of their jobs. Driven by a fear of having their incompetence exposed, they adopted underhanded tactics such as agreeing with everything their division head suggested and trying to steal clients away from their peers. (You can read more about how bravado is often a cover for incompetence in chapter 3.)

Finally, many careerists are simply driven by a desire for status or power. Jon Maner, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management, was inspired by a friend’s complaints about a bad boss to research why some people sabotage their colleagues. He and a doctoral student found that leaders willingly undermined their own team members by limiting communication or pairing people together who don’t collaborate well so that rivals would look incapable of filling a leadership role. These strivers cemented their status by eliminating any competition. Power-hungry leaders were even more likely to sabotage their team if they believed that their position wasn’t secure and the hierarchy wasn’t stable.6 In other words, in a politically charged work environment where people are angling for influence, your colleague’s natural inclination toward making others look bad may be intensified.

Many people play these games because it works for them. They keep their job as the boss, they get promoted, or they get the funding they want. But office politics doesn’t work for everyone in the same way.

Who gets to play?

Women are more likely than men to say that they dislike engaging in office politics and more likely to experience what researchers call “political skill deficiency.”7 This is not to say that women are politically naive. They may be opting out because playing the game doesn’t garner them the same benefits. There is some evidence that women and people from other underrepresented groups who engage in identical political behaviors as white men don’t experience the career advantages that accrue to the white men.8 In one survey, 81 percent of women and 66 percent of men said that women are judged more harshly than men when they are seen as “engaging in corporate politics.”9

This leaves many women and racial minorities in a particular dilemma. On the one hand, they recognize it’s not possible to stay out of office politics altogether and still be effective at their jobs. On the other hand, they feel uncomfortable engaging in political operating, often as a result of seeing other people like them suffer punishment when they do engage.

This double bind is something to keep in mind when dealing with your opportunistic colleague. They may have the privilege and leeway to play politics because of their gender or race, or they may be acting out because they feel stuck on the sidelines.

What happens in virtual work environments?

The shift to working virtually, greatly accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, may exacerbate your colleague’s competitiveness. Not being able to keep tabs on everyone or to observe who is interacting with who or who is getting time with the top brass may deepen your coworker’s insecurity about their standing. And there may be unusually limited resources for which everyone must jockey because of a tighter and more uncertain economy.

Working over email and Zoom also makes it harder for you to know what a political operator is doing behind the scenes to get ahead. Leadership consultant Nancy Halpern, who has developed a tool to measure the health of office politics on teams, told me, “There are so many conversations happening off-camera, and you have no way of knowing if and when they’re taking place. Sometimes a colleague will just pop up on your screen during a meeting and you don’t know who invited them or what role they’ve been asked to serve.”10 I’ve definitely had this experience. When I’ve used the private chat during a meeting to say hello to a coworker I haven’t seen in a while or to compliment someone on their sweater, I’ve wondered who else is having side conversations and what they’re saying.

But in some cases, ignorance is bliss. Not having to witness your coworker buttering up the boss or talking about people behind their backs may make it easier to get along with them.

A note on gossip

Gossip is one of a careerist’s most common weapons. They will often intentionally spread rumors, mine for information, and strategically decide whether to keep intel to themselves or pass it along, often in exchange for juicy details from others. Being the target of such machinations is frustrating at best and career damaging at worst.

But gossip is one of those behaviors we all engage in occasionally, and while you might find it distasteful in your overly political colleague, it’s not always wise to avoid it altogether. If you have a blanket rule of staying out of discussions about other people, for instance, you may be missing out. Listening to office banter is a great way to learn what’s going on at your company—what group recently landed a big deal or what initiatives the CEO is likely to approve, for instance.11

But there are costs, especially when gossip is personal (talking about someone’s divorce, for example) or negative (questioning a colleague’s ability to do their job). Studies have shown that negative gossip can lead to lost productivity, erosion of trust, divisiveness, not to mention hurt feelings.12 I suggest you ask the same question about gossip that you ask about other political behaviors: Is your colleague spreading it at someone’s expense?

That will help you decide whether to engage or not. There are several other questions you should ask before settling on an approach to dealing with a ruthless striver at work.

Questions to Ask Yourself

As with any of the archetypes, it’s important to begin by recognizing which of your power-hungry colleague’s foibles are causing problems.

Which behaviors are problematic? And how problematic are they?

You don’t want to unfairly judge or punish ambition. If someone is intensely focused on furthering their career—and you aren’t—that’s OK. Don’t assume bad intentions. Instead, consider what your colleague is doing that’s rubbing you the wrong way. Is their go-get-’em style just irritating? Or does this person pose a real threat—to the organization, the team, or to your career? Are they stealing credit? Lying? Spreading rumors? Throwing others under the bus? What is the negative impact of their actions? How have you or others suffered because of their behavior?

Frequency of politicking also matters. Nancy Halpern has a good rule of thumb to follow: “If they do something once, forget it and let it go. If they do it twice, take note. And when they do it a third time, now there’s a pattern.”13 For example, if you catch your colleague in a minor lie, which doesn’t have serious consequences, you might ignore it. But if it happens again or it’s causing harm, then it’s time to take action.

What do the people in power care about?

Organizational culture plays a big part in whether or not employees engage in office politics—and whether they’re rewarded for doing so. If you work in a cutthroat environment, your colleague’s behavior may not be considered abnormal, especially if the people in charge of deciding who gets ahead have sensitive egos or are political players themselves. Look at who gets promoted and recognized. Is it people like your colleague who try to game the system?

Should you be playing office politics more?

A somewhat counterintuitive consideration is whether you could benefit from doing more politicking yourself. Would it help your team if you improved your persuasiveness or made new connections with influential leaders? Or would a shot of a careerist’s confidence help you ask for the promotion you deserve or seek a stretch assignment that could boost your visibility? Of course, we all want our work to speak for itself, but that’s not how most offices work. So consider what you might learn from your colleague. Of course, you shouldn’t cross ethical lines or adapt tactics you find smarmy, but observe how they win favor with decision-makers and figure out which strategies are worth emulating.

Having answered these questions, you can now decide which tactics have the best chance of improving your relationship.

Tactics to Try

Keep in mind that it can be tough to hold a political operator to account, precisely because they have important connections at work and know how to make themselves look good. They also have little incentive to change their ways because overconfidence (as we learned in chapter 7) is often rewarded. So, instead of trying to take your colleague down a notch, which is probably unrealistic, start by removing yourself from the entanglement.

Don’t get dragged in

If you have even a small competitive streak (I know I do), then you’ll likely be tempted to try to beat your colleague at their own game. When they spread rumors about you, for example, you may want to turn around and do the same. Don’t. Engaging in unhealthy competition or gossiping, even about a gossiper, will reflect badly on you. You don’t want to appear petty or do something that’s not aligned with your values.

Akila’s boss’s boss, Rajeev, cared a lot about how he was perceived in their organization and often sought the spotlight. Akila was particularly frustrated when Rajeev would overcommit just to make himself look good and then pressure the team to meet the unrealistic goals he’d set. Akila admits that she occasionally gave in to the temptation to fight back. “Sometimes, out of spite, I would try to ‘get back’ at him by not responding to him for days,” she told me. “But that backfired and made me look irresponsible.” And when Rajeev would lose his cool because the team wasn’t able to keep up with the promises he’d made to the company’s executives, Akila understandably struggled to stay calm. “If I was at the receiving end of one of his shouting bouts, I would try to justify myself immediately, but that would only make him even more worked up.” So Akila focused on putting emotional distance between her and Rajeev. “When things went south and he was rude to me, I would just go somewhere quiet to let out my emotions through tears or prayers. That didn’t change the immediate situation, but it did help me feel better.”

Make your good work known

As Akila discovered, your colleague’s politicking can negatively affect your reputation or career, so find productive—and ethical—ways to make sure that the right people know about your accomplishments. This can include keeping your manager up to date on your projects and how you’re contributing time, ideas, and effort to other teams, or volunteering to share an overview of the initiative you’re leading at an all-staff meeting.

When I found myself helping out as an informal adviser on a project that I wasn’t officially assigned, I would occasionally mention it to my manager, saying something like “I’ve been fortunate to have some input into the decisions so far.” And when the team presented at a division meeting, I asked a question that demonstrated to people in the room that I’d been involved. These subtle ways of increasing my visibility have also helped me guard against some of my more political colleagues taking credit for my work.

Of course, it’s not always easy to toot your own horn—and research shows that women in particular tend to engage in less self-promotion than men because they’re often penalized for doing it.14 So find a colleague who understands your contributions and can speak on your behalf in a meeting or when your projects come up in conversation. You might approach a coworker and say: “I worked really hard on this report but sometimes find it hard to promote my own work. I’d appreciate it if you asked me questions at the meeting so I can talk about the key takeaways.” This kind of peer advocacy benefits both parties. You get credit for your work, and your colleague gets a reputation boost for being curious, engaged, and selfless.

If your careerist colleague tries to take credit for your accomplishments or downplay your involvement in high-profile initiatives, it also helps to document what you’re working on—either in emails to your boss or other forms of hard proof. A paper trail can often stop careerists from undermining you.

Offer help

Offering help to a political operator can be surprisingly disarming. They’re accustomed to seeing everyone as competition, and they may not receive a lot of generosity or support. You could suggest working together on a project, offer to brainstorm about an initiative they’re leading, or provide them with information or insight they’ll find valuable. Because most people are inclined to help those who help them in return—the law of reciprocity—you could gain their favor.

One note of caution on this approach: be mindful of how others perceive your colleague. In your efforts to align yourself with this person, you don’t want coworkers to see you as a political operator too. But if you have a positive reputation, people may appreciate your efforts to turn a notorious self-promoter into a collaborator.

Ask for advice

Research on negotiations points to another counterintuitive tactic: asking your hypercompetitive colleague for advice. Seeking their counsel on anything from how to phrase a tricky client email to how to persuade a senior leader to support your latest proposal could help you earn their trust. If they know you value their opinion, they may begin to see you as an ally as opposed to a rival. Studies have shown that asking for advice makes you seem cooperative, rather than competitive, and can win someone over, perhaps even encouraging them to become a champion; if you take their advice, they’re more likely to feel invested in your success.15

The other advantage is that asking something as simple as “What would you do if you were in my shoes?” nudges your colleague to see things from your perspective. This is what Akila did with Rajeev. If she anticipated any snags with the project they were working on, she’d immediately alert Rajeev and ask for his thoughts. “By involving him, I noticed he would become a little more friendly with me. I think it made him feel I was not his ‘enemy’ after all,” Akila told me.

Be wary of an attitude reversal

Proceed carefully if a careerist starts to take you into their confidence. It will probably feel like a relief to be aligned rather than at odds, but keep your antenna up. They might be using you for their own gain, perhaps feeding you information about other people in the hope that you’ll pass it on or trying to make themselves look good by “playing nice” with others. Be wary of their intent and consider asking about it outright: “I’m a bit confused. What are you hoping I’ll do with this information?” or “What’s your intention in telling me this?” Posed in a humble and genuinely curious way, these questions won’t sound like accusations.

Bring up what’s bothering you

Since power-hungry colleagues are rarely straight shooters, being explicit might catch them off guard. And, as with many of the other archetypes, a political operator may not be aware of the impact they’re having on others. Holding up a mirror can give them a sense of how they’re perceived and encourage them to change. In conversation, keep your language neutral and devoid of emotion or judgment.

Of course, they may deny that they’re engaging in toxic politics. That’s fine. At least they will know that you’re aware of what’s going on and that you’re not an easy target.

If you have any concern that your colleague will use such a conversation against you, perhaps as fodder for the rumor mill, then skip this tactic and employ one of the others instead.

Kirk, who worked for HR in a military infantry unit, noticed while reviewing self-assessments for his division that one of his colleagues, Bernard, had taken credit for an idea that Kirk had come up with. It was a time-saving report for teams to document their work, a report that “helped us avoid duplicating efforts,” Kirk explained to me. But Bernard had listed the report as one of his accomplishments for the review period.

Kirk decided to approach Bernard directly and asked him why he’d said he’d implemented the reporting change. Bernard was a bit taken aback, but mostly “he was indifferent and acted like it didn’t matter who got the credit,” he says. Kirk found the response odd since Bernard was the type of person who was “quick to make sure people knew what he did [and] became quite petulant if he didn’t get credit for his efforts.”

From that point on, Kirk made sure to copy others when he responded to Bernard’s requests for input. “And if it was a project that included units beyond my own, I blind-copied superiors I knew in the chain of command,” he explains. “I had to protect my contributions.” This nipped the behavior in the bud because Bernard could no longer take credit when others knew better.

Tailor your approach to the political strategy

There are three specific tactics that political operators often employ that I want to address here: lying, gossiping, and stealing credit. Let’s take a look at how you might respond to each ploy.

If you’re dealing with lying: Confronting a careerist who is a frequent liar can quickly turn into a battle over who is telling the truth. If it’s possible to gently point out mistruths and present contrary evidence, go ahead and do that. At first, try doing so in private. For example, you might send an email (which will also serve as documentation of your good-faith efforts later) that says something like “I’m confused about why you said your team wasn’t aware of the rollout of the new feature, when, as you can see from the email chain below, we discussed it back in September.” This can gently expose deception and make clear that you won’t let them get away with it in the future. If they don’t respond positively (or at all) to these one-on-one interactions, you might go to your manager or correct your colleague’s lies when they occur in front of others.

If you’re dealing with gossip: Whenever possible, interrupt negative gossip when you hear it. If an opportunist says something that could harm another person’s feelings or reputation, speak up. This takes courage, of course, but doing this even a few times will put the political operator on notice. If they try to bend your ear about someone else on the team, you can respond with, “Have you told them you feel this way?” Or go a step further and neutralize rumors by providing contrary information. For example, if the careerist speaks poorly of a colleague’s performance or rolls their eyes when another coworker is brought up in conversation, you can mention a specific time you were impressed with their work.

If you find out your colleague is spreading harmful gossip about you, deal with it directly. Be specific and don’t make accusations. You might say, “I’ve heard on several occasions that you’re uncomfortable with how I’m running these meetings. Is there something you want to tell me?” Again, they may play dumb, but at least you’ve shown them that you’re not going to let their behavior go unchecked.

If you’re dealing with stealing credit: If you find that your careerist coworker is claiming they did all the work on a project that they were barely involved in, start by asking questions, something along the lines of: “I noticed that when you talked about the project, you said ‘I’ instead of ‘we.’ Was that intentional? Why did you present it that way?” Asking questions shifts the burden of proof to your colleague: they have to explain why they felt justified taking credit.

Sometimes credit-stealing happens unintentionally. So allow for the possibility that your colleague may realize and acknowledge their mistake, and if they do, refocus the conversation on how you can make things right together. Perhaps they could send an email to the group thanking you for your contributions, or you could both talk to your manager to set the record straight.

If your colleague is notorious for trying to take credit, be proactive to prevent it. Make a point of agreeing up front about how credit will be allocated. Who will present ideas to the senior team? Who will field questions? Who will send the announcement of a new product release to the rest of the company? It can be helpful to write down these agreements and share them with everyone involved in the project in an email so there’s no room for misunderstanding.

Model generosity

As always, model the behavior you want to see from others. Give credit generously and speak highly of your colleagues in meetings. This not only builds trust and positivity on your team but also encourages others—including your problem colleague—to follow suit. Someone who is prone to backstabbing may actually ease up if you’re kind to them. And, if they don’t, at least you’ll have allies who will come to your defense if your colleague does attempt to undermine you. At the same time, don’t go overboard. If you thank everyone who worked on any little part of a project, for instance, you risk coming off as disingenuous. Focus your recognition on the people who truly deserve it.

• • •

Owen did return from his paternity leave and resume his position as chair of the department. Clarissa continued to have her eye on his role, but he decided to not let her get under his skin. The reality was that she was the best successor, so he focused his efforts on making sure she was ready when the time came. He included her in meetings with the college president’s office and often sought her advice on decisions. Enlisting her as an ally demonstrated that he was invested in her success and tempered her need to compete with him.

When I think about what approaches work best with a political operator, I think about how Jim handled Dwight on The Office. He never stooped to Dwight’s level but always approached their relationship with a sense of humor and playfulness. Sure, he teased Dwight, and even pranked him on occasion, but he behaved ethically, found comfort in other people, continued to do his job well, and even saw the humanity behind Dwight’s sometimes absurd behavior. Dwight was often just looking out for Dwight, but Jim knew that he also cared genuinely about his colleagues. Dealing with someone who seems like they are out for themselves can be tricky, but it helps if you can remember that they’re human too.

TACTICS TO REMEMBER

The Political Operator

DO:

• Choose collaboration over retaliation.
• Find productive—and ethical—ways to make sure that people know about your accomplishments.
• Create a paper trail of who did what on a project so your colleague can’t take undue credit.
• Offer to help: suggest working together on a project, offer to brainstorm about an initiative they’re leading, or provide them with information or insight they’ll find valuable.

DON’T:

• Assume that your good work will speak for itself, especially if your colleague is bad-mouthing you.
• Stoop to their level and try to beat them at their own political game.
• Always trust them when they try to align with you—proceed with caution.