Paula-Tics

So why does politics make "Paula Tick"?  Because it can make my job so much harder than it needs to be. The hidden agendas and personal motives are sometimes less to be desired. It would be nice if everyone could get along and truly work towards the same end goal, but that is more a fantasy than a reality in this industry of business analysis and project management. I have found that this sort of thing is heightened if you are involved on projects where what is being developed is replacing jobs, which leads to positions being eliminated. This is when individuals get real creative on how to play the hidden agendas card as they are in self preservation mode, that is providing they are even told which is political in itself in some cases. However, this self preservation mode is what brings pain to those working these projects because it's like walking on egg shells to get what you want because there are certain things you can't say or trouble will come upon your head and it's even worse in cases where people don't know because you can't let anything slip. So how do you navigate through all of this to get your job done? There is really no easy answer to this because you can't control people but you can control how you react to this and you can control yourself.

1. Don't heighten the political game by having your own personal agenda and joining in the politics.
2. Stay focused on your end goal which is project success and partnering with you business partners to obtain that.
3. Try not to get emotional (as you can tell I struggle with this sometimes so I'm preaching to myself right now)

I will admit that politics ticks me off. I'm not the one to really season my words and I'm pretty direct and honest. I'm not the one to hide things from the stakeholders and sponsors, which might be the reason I'm in business analysis and not project management where a lot of this conversations occur. I do believe that despite how good or bad you MUST be honest with your project sponsors to allow them to make good decisions. Don't get caught up in the hype of politics to the point you lose yourself, integrity, ethicsa nd credibility. Do what you know is right though others may not agree. They may get mad but eventually they will be glad you did it. Poltics to me equals personal agendas and hidden motives. No one wants to look bad or fail so the politics card comes in. Whether that means finger pointing to take the focus of you or manipulation to get what you want. Remember the boomerang effect, what you do to others will come back to you in some shape or form.

So let's stop the madness and work with each other to meet the end goal. Let's be strategic, critical thinkers, visionaries and problem solverss. It will make everyone happier and stop ticking people off, like me. 

Regards,

Paula Bell