I was speaking to my wife who started her corporate career very recently. She was spending a lot of time guiding juniors/peers who were struggling and in the process dedicating extra time and effort to do so. I asked her why she was doing this and she said she was helped by some colleagues when she was new and this is the “right” way per her. She is quickly becoming the go-to person for her peers and juniors to ask and resolve questions. This is great news, right? If I have gained something out of my ten years working as a human resources business partner (a fancy way of saying I am an HR ) and working closely with senior leaders and creating promotion recommendations and rewards. This is may not be the best way.
In fact, this is a sure-shot way to dig your own grave. It does not matter if you are starting your career or looking at one of the Top Jobs at your firm, remember the only situation you can be safe is if you are indispensable and you can only be indispensable if you are on top. Helping others even if you have free time should only be done if it directly benefits your work.I floated through my initial career just based on competence and hard work but be assured it was sheer luck that I survived this long without acknowledging the basics of office politics. Considering politics to be something beneath me was to my own peril and it took a hard fall to realize and course correct.
Why shouldn’t I help my peers or juniors even if their work doesn’t help mine? not that the way to build good relations at work. What happened to comradery?
- You are always in competition and there are no friends at work. Think back and reflect if the only “friends” and social life you have revolves around work. This is a big no-no. I understand that as an introvert you bearly want to meet people and since the office is a place you cannot avoid you might as well form a few relationships there. But this will blindside you to the fact that they are not your friends and every one of them will undercut you if it comes to a question of their ascending or their survival between them and you. So no there are no friends at work. In fact, make sure you hint and let them arrive at the decision which you know is bound to fail. Be careful not to explicitly suggest it.
- Cost-effect analysis of your time spent. You can spend the time coaching correcting your juniors and helping your peers on their projects. What do you get in return? Their gratitude? what is the value of that in real life? You need to move on from the fact that you need allies and a safe space if you want to succeed. Gratitude from your peers and juniors has no value.
Success in a corporate is a zero-sum game, for you to progress someone has to fail. The more your peers and your juniors look inept the more the organization will come to depend on you. No, they will not think it’s just this bunch and fire them, they will assume it is the unique situation the firm is going through that everyone is unable to perform. Everyone but you !!. The only safe place is to be your boss’s favorite their boss’s favorite. The more people who fail around you the better you look.
There can be people you can use and thus help them to achieve your results only or if they are powerful enough to have the ear of an important stakeholder.
Remember your loyalty is only to your family and yourself and their loyalty to theirs.