2.2 Mistakes to Avoid

Office Politics

Office/workplace politics
Office or workplace politics involve the minefield of self-serving behaviours of individuals within an organization entailing power, status, rivalry, and, in the most serious cases, unethical and illegal actions. New members of a team often find themselves stuck in a quagmire of poor interactions with others (Virtual Labs Inc., 2023, Office Politics; Fox 223-30). A wise strategy is to avoid office politics through some of these best practices:

• Study the ‘psychological’ terrain of the office
• Remain neutral in the conflicts of others
• Set personal and professional boundaries with colleagues
• Steer clear of showing attitude
• Do not throw people under the bus and avoid gossip
• Develop emotional intelligence and build authentic connections (Meyer, 2020, 16-20; Zinn, 2021, 3-13).

From the case study above, you have experienced entanglement with Barbara, a Senior Marketing Associate, who exhibits narcissistic or toxic behaviour, trying to manipulate you into her malevolent “version” of reality, playing upon your lack of knowledge about the personalities at Randolph Marketing. Although only a registered clinical psychologist or psychiatrist can diagnose an individual with one of an array of personality disorders, you should be aware of certain toxic patterns of behaviour that may be detrimental to your work performance and even your career.

In a nutshell, toxic people: lack empathy; act in an arrogant, self-centred, and entitled manner; often are petty, jealous, and controlling; may fly into a rage without reason; lack civility and courtesy (manners matter!); enjoy gaslighting targeted individuals; and engage in lying, bullying and intimidation (Fox, 2008, 225-29). Basically, ‘it’s all about them’: most likely, you have run into similar friends or acquaintances from school. Trust your gut extinct that ‘something is off’ about this person. Remember Liang taking credit for your work? It is not uncommon for antagonistic bosses or others to steal the ideas of new employees (Ploeger-Lyons and Bisel, 2023, pp. 1123-26). Experts suggest that when confronted by this traumatic environment to document carefully what is happening by saving noxious emails, to keep back-up hard copies of your labour offsite, and to take screenshots. Save anything that may serve as evidence of abuse if you decide to approach Human Resources or your union.

Beyond this, try not to be alone with colleagues like Barbara:  with no one around—this is often when she will pull the rug out from under you and may inflict the most emotional or mental damage. Erect firm personal boundaries with her and do not react to her provocations. Lastly, seek out advice from others whom you trust (Durvasula, 2021, pp.231-32, 247-248). Overall, you want to keep your integrity and your reputation intact while advancing on the strengths of your work performance despite being drawn into someone else’s drama.

Unrealistic Expectations

Aside from the draining experience of dealing with problematic co-workers, new employees frequently harbour unrealistic expectations of what work life is really like. Work is work—even when you are ‘doing what you love’.  The bitter truth of this can lead to frustration, disappointment, disengagement, and depressive moods as younger people tend to be impatient on several fronts.

When moving from university or college to employment, anxious new recruits often expect that the projects that they are working on, internal organizational processes as well as their careers will move much more rapidly than they actually will. Part of this enticing illusion lies with entertainment and social media messaging, where young people often seem to have happy, successful lives and rise to the top in a short period of time.  The reality is that this fantasy scenario is a relatively rare occurrence and that work is more stressful, painstaking, complicated, and demanding than any of us would like it to be.

Not only do you have to deal with difficult people frequently, but also you may face problems with team functioning, ever-increasing demands in productivity, the adoption of latest technologies, and the constraints of government regulations. Unlike at school, you may not receive praise each time that you complete a task (as rewarding as that would be). Everyone has to learn how to accept constructive criticism and turn it into improved performance (De Visé, 2023, Gen Zers).

Part of developing your emotional intelligence is to accept the reality that you are expected to offer your best efforts even if no one is watching. The dream of being able to easily juggle the demands of the workplace with those of friends, family, and personal interests is more of an uphill battle than you realize as work often follows you unhappily home (Tilo, 2024, Employers Avoid Hiring). Many new employees also have unrealistic salary expectations as college graduates in many fields–one survey suggests by an average of $50K. According to the survey, the average starting salary for college graduates is $55,260 (Olya, 2022, Gen Z is Overestimating).

Audio transcript for Module 2.2 Mistakes to Avoid

Six weeks into the new job, you’re depressed and stressed out. It’s been tough. Senior Marketing Associate, Barbara kindly takes you under her wing in the third week of employment. She gives off maternal vibes, and she even encourages you to start calling her “Auntie Babs.” Barbara gives you the scoop on how the department works: the personality types, who’s in, who’s out, who’s liked, who’s feared, and who’s despised. However, you notice that Barbara constantly gossips about your unit, sparing absolutely no one. She warns you to stay away from your other senior colleague, Warren.

Your gut feeling is telling you two things: 1) Warren appears to be a good, reasonable guy, whom everyone else seems to respect and 2) Barbara makes you nervous as she doesn’t seem to like anyone at all, catching on that she appears jealous of some of her colleagues. You also notice that she changes her mind a lot on issues dealing with work. So much so, that you find it hard to learn or even to implement ideas without her criticizing you, even though you don’t report to her. And you start to wonder…what is Barbara saying about you behind your back? You experience major Emperor Palpatine vibes from the Star Wars movies, feeling confused, and fearing Barbara now—despite her initial charm.

Another problem comes up at your departmental progress meeting: You notice that Liang lies about fulfilling her work duties. She claims to have completed the Kanakos project, when, in fact, it was Warren and yourself who finished the work. Liang was not even there! When you speak up to correct the fabrication, Samantha scolds you for being rude and for not being a team player. Oh! The injustice! Is Randolph Marketing the right fit for you? You’d like to ghost these people and not have to deal with them anymore.