A private coaching client was expressing his frustration about the political activity surrounding his work. It was a familiar conversation. What struck me was not the frustration itself but the assumptions underneath it: that politics was something being done to him, that it was separate from the work, and that capable people should somehow be above it.
That conversation prompted me to put a question to my professional network. The question was simple: is organisational politics a necessary evil or a complete waste of time?
The responses numbered in the hundreds. A selection follows, unedited.
‘Politics in Greek means of, for citizens. It is a phenomenon constructed by people, so managing politics has a lot to do with managing people. Time, frustration but also sense of achievement and engagement can result from it. At senior manager level, people need to learn to navigate and use politics to their advantage.’ Karine M.
‘One has to learn to manage corporate politics as this is indeed a necessary evil. More importantly, one should not let the politics get in the way of company objectives.’ Stephen M.
‘An unfortunate fact of life that you have to deal with. I see it as waste since it consumes energy and delivers little if any value.’ Barry G.
‘Power and politics is a reality of everyday organisational life. The secret to getting things done in my experience is to understand the objectives of peers and align them with your own in a collaborative environment.’ Carl L.
‘I would say it is neither. It is endemic to human interaction in organisations. It is the sum of relationships, interactions, and preferences. It is also highly malleable, so rather than bemoan the existence of politics, I think the best action is to treat it as a solvable challenge and get to work.’ David C.
‘Politics can be frustrating but advantageous. Political savvy and professionalism is a mandatory requirement in business today. Too often we become frustrated with peers trying to attain favour with executives or senior leaders. This behaviour can undermine key elements of good business and organisational progress.’ Eddie C.
‘I see politics as an essential part of professional life. As soon as we have more than two people on a team, there will be some amount of back-end influencing. Gone are the days when one could stay away from office politics, keep a low profile and progress in their career.’ Raj K.
‘Participation is an unfortunate necessity for survival but the toxicity level is set by the tone from the top. It can facilitate personal branding and career growth. The evil flip side is that it can be the short path to the door. It all comes down to morals, ethics and culture.’ Tom M.
‘In life I strive to be genuine and utilise my personal talents to the best of my abilities. I do not participate in office politics. If people self-reflect and are honest with themselves they will realise a negative impact on their life if they try to manipulate the office to their benefit at the expense of other coworkers.’ Matthew C.
‘Necessary evil in a high performing organisation. Ambition is rarely fulfilled without some degree of game playing.’ Pete N.
What is striking across these responses is not the disagreement but the consistency of the underlying tension. Almost everyone is grappling with the same thing: the gap between the work they want to do and the political reality they find themselves operating in.
Very few respondents questioned whether their definition of politics was accurate. Fewer still asked whether the behaviours they were describing as political were meaningfully different from the behaviours they would describe as influence.
What those responses revealed about the cost of unexamined definitions is brought into sharper focus in Upgrading Your Attitude to Politics and Influence.
Colin Gautrey, June 2016. Updated April 2026