Turning the last corner on his way to his boss's office, Matt heard laughter, and he instantly knew that Robert was again working on Will. He paused and took a breath, but when he turned into the doorway and looked into Will's office, he was hurt by what he saw.
Robert was in Will's chair, at Will's desk. Robert looked at Will as if to say "Up to you."

Photo courtesy U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"Excuse me," Matt said to Will. "I can come back."
Will turned to Matt. "No, come in, come in," he said.
'So it's come this far,' Matt thought. 'Robert sitting at Will's desk, telling Will what to do and what to think.'
"It's OK," Matt said. "I'll be back after lunch. No problem." He turned and left, but he knew there was a problem.
When a peer curries favor with your boss, your options are limited. Before you act, think carefully.
- Time is short
- The current favorite has probably been working on your boss for longer than you know. If you're considered a threat, you've been targeted. And for aggressive operators, truth is no constraint.
- Unless something changes, your current job probably won't last.
- Assess the competition
- Those who curry favor are usually well practiced. They expect their peers to respond somehow, and they're probably ready for all the obvious or typical counter-tactics.
- Know their level of expertise. Unless you can deal with their tactics, taking direct action could further jeopardize your tenure.
- Don't respond in writing
- Writing, either
electronic or hardcopy,
is dangerous - Writing, either electronic or hardcopy, is dangerous. Pretend that you've been given an organizational Miranda warning: Anything you put in writing could be used against you.
- Email can be especially risky. If you do take action, do so in person.
- If you act, expect a response
- Responses to your actions might be difficult to handle. The boss might feel accused of favoritism. The current favorites will likely defend their positions. Others on the sidelines might view your action as an attempt to become the new favorite.
- Choose actions that take account of these risks.
- Open your mind, not your mouth
- Keep an open mind about what you see happening around you. The really effective operators are so clever that they're very hard to detect. They can curry favor with you at the same time that they do with your boss.
- Trusting the wrong person can be a serious mistake — one I've made myself.
If the favorites are making headway, the boss is partly responsible. Possibly the boss knows what's happening and chooses to play along, or your peers are exploiting a vulnerability that the boss cannot control.
The situation is unstable in either case. If you manage to restore fairness, and the boss remains in place, a recurrence is likely. Any progress you make has to be considered temporary, until you can permanently discredit the favorite. Consider moving on.
All this can be hard to hear, I know. I can say it only because I'm not trying to curry favor with you. Top
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Is every other day a tense, anxious, angry misery as you watch people around you, who couldn't even think their way through a game of Jacks, win at workplace politics and steal the credit and glory for just about everyone's best work including yours? Read 303 Secrets of Workplace Politics, filled with tips and techniques for succeeding in workplace politics. More info
According to The Dictionary of Word Origins (Joseph T. Shipley. Published by Rowman & Littlefield, 1967), the original expression was not to "curry favor," but to curry favel. In medieval times, Favel was used as the name of a horse. The etymology is complex but fascinating. Check it out. Order from Amazon.com
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Related articles
More articles on Workplace Politics:
Stonewalling: I
- Stonewalling is a tactic of obstruction used by those who wish to stall the forward progress of some
effort. Whether the effort is a rival project, an investigation, or just the work of a colleague, the
stonewaller hopes to gain advantage. What can you do about stonewalling?
The Attributes of Political Opportunity: The Basics
- Opportunities come along even in tough times. But in tough times, it's especially important to distinguish
between true opportunities and high-risk adventures. Here are some of the attributes of desirable political
opportunities.
Kinds of Organizational Authority: the Informal
- Understanding Power, Authority, and Influence depends on familiarity with the kinds of authority found
in organizations. Here's Part II of a little catalog of authority, emphasizing informal authority.
On Badly Written Email
- Even those who aren't great writers do occasionally write clearly, just by chance. But there are some
who consistently produce unintelligible email messages. Why does this happen?
Congruent Decision Making: II
- Decision makers who rely on incomplete or biased information are more likely to make decisions that
don't fit the reality of their organizations. Here's Part II of a framework for making decisions that fit.
See also Workplace Politics, Managing Your Boss and Ethics at Work for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming March 29: Time Slot Recycling: The Risks
- When we can't begin a meeting because some people haven't arrived, we sometimes cancel the meeting and hold a different one, with the people who are in attendance. It might seem like a good way to avoid wasting time, but there are risks. Available here and by RSS on March 29.
And on April 5: The Fallacy of Division
- Errors of reasoning are pervasive in everyday thought in most organizations. One of the more common errors is called the Fallacy of Division, in which we assume that attributes of a class apply to all members of that class. It leads to ridiculous results. Available here and by RSS on April 5.
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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