Corporate Politics
Politics is present within any organisation. It is an inevitable occurrence, Every manager needs to be able to deal with, and work within, the confines of a political context.
For someone with Asperger Syndrome, corporate politics are an area fraught with difficulty as it – essentially - revolves around people and inter-personal relationships.
It involves:
• Personal agendas and hidden, related meanings;
• Necessitates the effective accumulation, and use of, resources and political power;
• Often means conflicting interests and, sometimes, conflict itself;
• May involve utilisation of less than honest and underhand methods.
All of these facets are potentially hazardous for a manager with AS. As corporate politics is unavoidable, a manager with AS needs to: acknowledge the importance of it; understand what corporate politics actually is and constitutes; what the implications of it are and; formulate an effective strategy for dealing with it.
Fundamentally, the insular nature of someone with AS, along with their desire and need to remain largely inwardly focused and unconcerned about the outside world around them, potentially make them highly susceptible to the negative possibilities related to corporate politics.
The starting point for overcoming this potentiality is effective understanding as to what corporate politics is, what it constitutes and what its potential impact is, especially in relation to the traits and characteristics inherent within Asperger Syndrome.
Politics As Usual
A company can be thought of as a mini-society formed to make money. The fact no one is told in school is that getting along with co-workers is a bigger factor in success than competence alone. Forming relationships for someone with AS is difficult since most people match your non-verbal cues to your verbal output as a makeshift lie detector. If you're out of sync, they don't buy what you're saying. Furthermore, having AS makes it difficult to read others' non-verbals to check their sincerity. The AS manager has a worse problem: politics.
To advance in a company, you need friends and contacts as well as technical skill. As people move to higher positions, the amount of risk they assume becomes higher. They are responsible for broader areas and have less detailed knowledge of those areas as they move up. It becomes more necessary to rely upon others for information and support to get the job done. Cooperation is key to any business and cooperation is based on deals forged by department and division heads. Trust is paramount for this, and trust is based on how well you present yourself. If your verbals and non-verbals don't line up, you've got a problem. If you can't read others' nonverbals, you've got another problem. How's the chicken farm looking, now?
There is hope in confidence artists. These people learn how to pose their bodies and faces to back up their lines. Actors do the same thing for entertainment. You can do it, too. Work with a communications consultant, take communications and acting classes at the local college or community theater. Watch TV shows and movies for how the actors cue a scene or mood change. They will exaggerate their nonverbals a bit to keep the audience interested ("on the edges of their seats"). The goal is to communicate more effectively and more honestly with others, allowing you to build the relationships you need in the company.
The AS manager will tend to argue a point logically, with the passion expressed in ways most others won't catch. Learning to show people what they're missing will help get the point across more clearly, helping you and your allies work more effectively.
Black and white thinking and personal ethics
I have begun several jobs with the intent of "working my way up from the bottom",but find the same brick wall at each job.The brick wall appears to be one I have built myself,making it even more frustrating.The brick wall is my own black and white thinking,ie,the "correct" and logical way to do something.The other is when I encounter something that I think is unethical;dishonesty,laziness,lack of compassion for the vulnerable populations we work with in social services.After a few months or a year working with each particular company,I begin to realize that ,the higher you are in the orginization,the more expected it is to except their idea of "ethics".When I point out any inconsistencies in what the company says it is doing(PR)and what it is actually doing....well,lets say it doesnt make me very popular with management.Intellectually,I know that it is best not to speak-up in these situations,but I seem compelled by an internal discomfort,perhaps a touch of OCD?
This sort of "idealism" might be expected in someone who is 16 or early twenties but I am 43 and found that it has not lessened.I often stay in these jobs,feeling that I can at least advocate for the more vulnerable,but I seldom make more then a small impact in company ethics,other then the situations where they fear a law-suit,if caught.Even in these situations,they seem to resent the messanger,more then the message.The one thing I think has helped me,as someone with AS dealing with the politics of a company,is the places that require documentation for everything.This has protected me more times then I can count.No one can comeback later and claim I did something that I did not do,as long as I have documented everything as it occurred.
"Just because one plane is flying out of formation,doesn't mean the formation is on course."R.D.Lang
Oh well, I'm still very
Oh well, I'm still very idealistic in some ways and I'm now in my 40's. We shouldn't have to lose all our principles to advance and if we do, is it really worth getting into the higher positions?
This is a question everybody in the workplace needs to consider, especially those who have any condition that makes it more difficult
to advance within an organisation or company.
With a great amount of personal determination and some degree of luck, I imagine it is possible for some of us with Asperger's to become managers.
But we need to be sure we are willing to pay the price in terms of personal discomfort, stress, and loss of leisure time. I say good luck to those willing to make such sacrifices but I'm not prepared to make them and would rather stay in a lower level operative position. The money is good enough to keep me afloat and that's the main thing.