(This is a guest post by John Fletcher. John is an Englishman now resident in Europe, with a long career in the public sector in several countries. He has spent a good deal of time in working environments outside the Anglo-Saxon world, and has written and lectured on organizational issues.)

Tactics: good and bad

 
In the first part of this article I looked at a major cause of unhappiness at work — lying to yourself about what you really think or want, so that you “fit in” — letting others pull your strings. In this second part, I look at some strategies, good and bad, for resolving the problem.

Tactics that do more harm than good

The worst tactic is to play the Superficial Rebel. We’ve all met the kind of person in a large organization who likes to say “of course I’m known as a bit of a rebel” or “let me give you my views on this subject — strictly personally, of course,” before launching into an almost note-perfect rendition of the organizational line on the same issue.

In the end, such sad beat people fool only themselves, but they are unconsciously trying to resolve a fundamental internal conflict in western, especially Anglo-Saxon, organizations. Unlike cultures which value and reward conformity — some in Asia for example — the cultures of most of the English-speaking world exalt the tough, heroic, individualist, at the same time as organizations demand mindless conformity from their workforces.

The Total Cynic has given up, switched off, and does nothing but complain incessantly. Such people are often quite competent, especially at middle and lower levels of organizations, and are tolerated so long as they don’t overdo it. But ultimately, they spread poison around the system without doing themselves any good. Ultimately they would do better simply to leave.

Then there’s the Out and Out Rebel, whose brief passage through an organization illustrates that truth we were all told when we were young; that you can’t beat the system.

What works

But you can beat the system if you act as a Subversive. Unlike the Rebel, the Subversive lives and prospers in the system by undermining it from within — not for the sake of it, not to destroy the system, but to ensure that it meets their needs.

For some people, this need may be as simple as money — not in the pathological sense that people pursue money these days, but just enough money to enable them to pursue their interests and hobbies and to feel secure. Many people have consuming passions outside work which they cannot, or do not want to, turn into a job: what they want is enough time and money to pursue these interests privately.

Others may want, more than anything, to set their own work patterns, or to become an acknowledged specialist in an area. They may turn down promotion, knowing that senior people in organizations often have very little control over their time and can never become true experts.

Some may genuinely dislike managing others, and refuse promotion for that reason. Some may value freedom and autonomy above all, and may be happy as a local representative or a regional manager.

But as well as these negative factors there are also positive ones — how can I influence the system and those I work with so that it is more to my liking, and a better place to work? What can I do to prevent the system doing silly or negative things?

Ultimately, there’s nothing more tragic than the Next Monday Syndrome: the faithful organizational warrior who retires or leaves after a long career of doing the right thing, having the right opinions, licking the right posteriors, taking the right jobs, and it’s thank you very much, goodbye. The next Monday morning there’s another man or woman in a suit in the same chair, probably with the same opinions, maybe even with the same suit, and it’s as if our loyal employee had never existed.

You don’t want to wind up like that, do you? It’s better to ask yourself, when you finally leave, not what the organization has done to you, but what you have done to the organization.

Just what difference has your time with the organization actually made?

If someone is pulling your strings, shouldn’t it be you?

[ratings]

Technorati Tags: career choice, finding your own way, avoiding career traps, being happy at work, following your best interests