Working for an incompetent dolt is both frustrating and career-dangerous. But attempting a coup d'etat — usually by confronting your boss's boss with a list of grievances — is probably worse. Here's why.
- If your boss really is a dolt, look above
- True incompetence is obvious to all, including your boss's boss. When people have been in place for some time, something is likely keeping them there. Chances are that the bosses of incompetent bosses are either content with incompetence, sometimes for strategic reasons, or incompetent themselves. Any coup that depends for success on decisive action by the boss's boss is likely to fail.
- If you fail, you pay
- If you take action, and it fails, expect retribution in the form of anything from undesirable assignments to termination. Is the risk really worth it? Wouldn't it be better to just move on to a new position? And there's also this: retribution can come your way even if you succeed.
- It really isn't in your job description
- Your job description probably doesn't include formulating corrective action for performance issues for people you don't even supervise. When you find yourself taking actions that don't fit your job responsibilities, you're taking risks that probably won't pay off.
- What you can do to others can be done to you
- Do you want to stay
in an organization where
coups, legitimate or not,
do succeed? - Even if you succeed, you've got a problem, because you're now working in an organization where coups can be successful. Everyone will understand that, including the people you supervise. That isn't bad in itself, until you realize that not everyone tells the truth all the time, and not every coup will be truly "justified." Do you want to stay in an organization where coups, legitimate or not, do succeed?
There are two exceptions that I believe might justify action.
- Legal liability for you and possibly for the organization
- If doing nothing exposes you (and possibly the organization) to legal liability, and especially to criminal liability, seek the advice of an attorney. If your concerns are real, you'll probably be advised to express them in writing to your boss's boss, and you might even be advised to resign as well.
- Ethical violations
- Ethical concerns are similar to legal issues, but generally the ethical constraint is tighter than the legal constraint. Consult an ethicist or coach. Recognize that while inaction doesn't necessarily expose you to legal consequences, it could nonetheless end your career due to licensing or certification consequences. And just as with legal liability, registering ethical concerns has more impact when accompanied by resignation.
If you're even thinking about a coup, you're probably pretty unhappy where you are. Take a look outside the organization. Can you find a thrilling and rewarding position elsewhere? It's a big world out there — take another look. Top Next Issue
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Related articles
More articles on Workplace Politics:
- Empire Building
- Empire builders create bases of power within the larger organization. Typically, they use these domains
to advance personal or provincial agendas. What are the characteristics of empires? How can we navigate
through or around them?
- Stonewalling: II
- Stonewalling is a tactic of obstruction. Some less sophisticated tactics rely on misrepresentation to
gum up the works. Those that employ bureaucratic methods are more devious. What can you do about stonewalling?
- How to Stop Being Overworked: I
- If you feel overworked, you probably are. Here are some tactics for those who want to bring an end to
it, or at least, lighten the load.
- Obstacles to Finding the Reasons Why
- When we investigate what went wrong, we sometimes encounter obstacles. Interviewing witnesses and participants
doesn't always uncover the reasons why. What are these obstacles?
- Human Limitations and Meeting Agendas
- Recent research has discovered a class of human limitations that constrain our ability to exert self-control
and to make wise decisions. Accounting for these effects when we construct agendas can make meetings
more productive and save us from ourselves.
See also Workplace Politics, Managing Your Boss, Ethics at Work and Conflict Management for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
- Coming May 15: Should I Write or Should I Call?
- After we recognize the need to contact a colleague or colleagues to work out a way to move forward, we next must decide how to make contact. Phone? Videoconference? Text message? There are some simple criteria that can help with such decisions. Available here and by RSS on May 15.
- And on May 22: Rescheduling Collaborative Work
- Rescheduling is what we do when the schedule we have now is so desperately unachievable that we must let go of it because when we look at it we can no longer decide whether to laugh or cry. The fear is that the new schedule might come to the same end. Available here and by RSS on May 22.
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Beware any resource that speaks of "winning" at workplace politics or "defeating" it. You can benefit or not, but there is no score-keeping, and it isn't a game.
- Wikipedia has a nice article with a list of additional resources
- Some public libraries offer collections. Here's an example from Saskatoon.
- Check my own links collection
- LinkedIn's Office Politics discussion group