Business is ruthless, but here’s how you win
“In life, you can have friends, family members, wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, colleagues & enemies. The only person who’s with you for the rest of your life, is you.” – Richard Wheeler
Business is a cutthroat business – and there’s nowhere more tribal than the office environment.
Politics, rumours and ‘he said/she said’ has ruined more careers than any other force.
So how do you survive the jungle?
There’s one tip, that I’m about to teach you, that has kept me climbing the squeaky clean professional ladder all my life.
People have taken shots, but none can ever land.
This tip has helped me catch colleagues embezzling, got me free income for a month and avoided the cross-hares of H.R. in every job I’ve had.
It’s not what was said, it’s what you can prove
I’ve paraphrased that slightly from the movie ‘Law Abiding Citizen’.
In it, Jamie Fox’s character says to the accused “It’s not what you know, it’s what you can prove in court.”
The elaborate ruse that pursues is void of evidence to support a prosecution against Gerard Butler’s character.
This lesson, although illustrated in a completely fictional story, is an important one to learn.
Translating it to the office environment, every lazy colleague, every thief, every ‘jobsworth’ can only be disciplined with evidence.
It’s either them, or it’s you
When playing the blame game, contestants are never friends.
Office disputes are as real as they are regular.
In a high-pressure situation, colleagues will turn on each other.
One day, if not already, you’ll find yourself in a situation where someone needs to be disciplined or fired – and you’ve been shortlisted.
The person or persons you’re apposing, even if guilty, could try to move the target from their back, to you.
Desperation works wonders against integrity.
Even if they’re friends, people’s motives, intentions and needs change.
Depending on the situation, if it’s ‘hunt or be hunted’, they might come after you.
It’s not that you can’t trust anyone… But you can protect yourself from betrayal.
The way to never lose
Firstly, it’s a given that you should never break the rules, steal or hide your mistakes from your employer.
With everything above board you only need to email yourself regarding conversations or decisions and you’ll never be called into question.
For years I’ve emailed myself when decisions I don’t necessarily agree with are made. Or when things that could come back on me are presented.
Did I tell the receptionist I was sick today and wouldn’t be coming into the office?
Yes.
Will I trust them to relay the message to avoid a mark on my record or lost income for a no-show?
Absolutely not.
You need to document everything important in writing.
If I have suspicions about someone’s performance or ethics, I email myself.
Until evidence of wrongdoing can be gained, it’s a handy way to ensure you’re always keeping the best interests of yourself and the company in the forefront.
Should a mountain ever turn into a molehill, you’ll have timed, dated proof of what was said or done by who and why.
On one occasion, when making a formal complaint about an employee, they simply turned the tables on me and cited malicious intent.
With a dossier worth of evidence against them, I was able to provide times and dates of suspected behaviour. That was then investigated and found to be true.
This wasn’t a hunch or gut-feeling, by taking such notes I was able to pinpoint the exact day such incompetence occurred – making it easier to prove when my own character was called into question.
With my boss and this employee being close friends, I wasn’t believed on my formal complaint alone.
It was my word against theres.
However, once given tangible dates and subjects to look into, I was vindicated and proven right.
It’s wasn’t enough to be right, I had to prove it.
This tip of emailing yourself to always have written proof can translate to all areas, not just office disputes.
If a pay rise is agreed in person, email yourself with your boss cc’d.
If you ask someone to switch a shift, put it in writing, even if it’s just to yourself following a phone call with them.
The office is a potentially tribal environment and you need to always be prepared to deal with it’s wrath, or you could become collateral damage.