#79 Jennifer Selby Long on Growing Beyond Office Politics: Breaking Free from Toxic Cultures That Follow You - Part One
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What are the challenges of navigating office politics?
Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show, Chief Change Officer. I'm Vince Chan, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist community for change progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world. Today's guest is an old friend of our show, Jennifer Selby Long. Jennifer was with us in season three, episode seven and eight. In the last 30 years, Jennifer has been helping tech leaders navigate the waves of tech evolution, leading and managing organizational change. But leaders can't successfully drive organizational change without being a master of their own personal transformation. So last time, Jennifer and I looked into the natural process of personal change. We also talked about how to manage self-doubt and self-sabotage. Jennifer, welcome back to Chief Change Officer. You are setting a new record for us. For one guest, you are going to have four episodes under your own name. Indeed. Thank you for having me. I so appreciate it, Vin. At the end of our last conversation, we talked about something that really resonates with everybody.
How some people, when making career moves... leave a toxic boss or a harmful culture or an environment that is so vested in office politics only to find themselves in a similar situation at the new job. It's like running away from one problem only to land in another. that led us into a bordered discussion on toxic cultures and even the role office politics play in these dynamics. We also touched on how some leaders or managers might unknowingly struggle with their personality disorders, which can contribute to these environments. Today, we are honing in on office politics specifically. Let's be real, who hasn't faced them? Whether it's subtle power struggles or outright maneuvering is something everyone has encountered.
Yet, when I type office politics into Google, I don't find as much as I expected. Maybe the term isn't as trendy, but that doesn't mean the problem isn't real or common. People might call it power dynamics, workplace dynamics, but the underlying issue is universal. So Jennifer, let's start with a two-part question. In your view, why do office politics exist? What factors contribute to the presence in the modern workplace?
I think it's a very fair and valid question. Why do they exist and what are those factors that contribute to the prevalence of politics in our modern workplaces? In my practice, what I see are two main reasons that office politics exist. The first one is failure to build trust and cohesion, which is, if you will, the subjective or personal reason.
Why do office politics exist in modern workplaces?
And the second one's failure to align on strategy or strategic direction, which is more the business side. I do think politics are part of a human condition, and they always have been.
What are the main reasons for office politics according to Jennifer?
Now, there is a newer factor that I think contributes today, and that's the global and virtual nature of many businesses combined with what I'm going to boldly call a certain willful blindness on the part of nearly everyone to accept some of the hard realities and trade-offs of that situation or condition. So fundamentally, what we know is even in today's more virtual environment, people who need to make difficult decisions together in a complex business environment actually need to be together in person far more often than most of us realize. So the resistance to this comes from both employees who've now gotten used to working at home, they're resisting traveling to get together for off-sites, resisting coming to office locations to work together in person, and from senior leaders who winced at that travel and entertainment budget that's going to be needed to bring people together who aren't in the same city, certainly quite a bit more than once a year.
Now, Vince, would you like a recent example? Yes, please. An example would be nice. A leadership team that I worked with over several years now, and they used to work together really well. In fact, when I first started working with them, we didn't even do any sort of team effectiveness assessment because I assessed informally this team is very effective. That's not what they need my help with.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What are the challenges of navigating office politics?
0:11–4:28
2
Why do office politics exist in modern workplaces?
4:28–4:41
3
What are the main reasons for office politics according to Jennifer?
4:41–7:05
4
How does remote work affect team dynamics?
7:05–8:05
5
Why is in-person collaboration important for leadership teams?
8:05–12:23
6
How can leaders create a positive work culture?
12:23–13:58
7
What strategies help thrive in politically charged environments?
13:58–25:44
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Chief Change Officer™: Ensemble
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