Can internal company politics cost a company revenue, business and long-established customer relationships? It most definitely can. In fact, it happens all the time.
However, it’s those forward-thinking companies who understand how to measure performance and have a plan for growth that are never held back by internal bickering. They won’t allow it.
These companies would never allow politics to stop them from achieving their goals and objectives. So, are internal politics stopping your company from winning business?
Perhaps it’s best to start by understanding why politics are allowed to take hold within certain poorly managed companies. First and foremost, the primary reason a company allows politics to dictate decisions is because the company is unable to measure performance against well-established benchmarks and key performance indicators (KPI).
In fact, it’s those companies that don’t have a plan, and don’t have the means or willingness to track progress against the plan, that ultimately fall victim to internal politics. When you combine the inability and unwillingness to measure performance with a management team unable to make tough decisions, then you have a recipe for disaster.
Most companies think internal politics could never actually cost them an order or a customer’s account. These are the companies that think cooler heads will prevail and the right decisions will be made. However, it’s not about the politics itself as much as it about time.
Delays in business are costly. It’s speed of response that wins the day. Companies that have internal strife, and can’t move forward, provide that all-important window to competitors. By the time these companies come to their senses, and make the decisions and changes that should have been made long ago, it’s far too late. Customers have no other choice but to move on.
Why Does Politics Happen in Business?
In sales, it’s common for a company to allow someone to pursue a path that is not conducive to winning business simply because they have a history of performance, or worse, because they appear to be doing the right things. Granted, companies need to give their business development people and salespeople a longer leash, especially when they have produced results. They need to allow them to pursue a strategy that may or may not work. However, it’s not a question of trust.
Politics becomes an issue when there’s widespread consensus among everyone that the company is making the wrong decision, but one individual is protected at all costs and is still allowed to move forward with an unpopular decision. It’s made worse when the reason or impetus for the decision is not supportable.
Mistakes happen all the time in business. Sales should be given the option of falling short. However, when one individual makes the same mistakes repeatedly, or continues to lack the necessary skills in a given area, then it’s no longer a question of trust – it’s a question of who is protecting whom and why.
So, why are some employees protected? In some cases, that employee may have a real aptitude and ability that nobody else has. They then leverage this ability to secure more control. That control often comes in areas where they lack the necessary competencies to get the job done. This often happens when companies are afraid to directly challenge the individual and their actions. Instead, they’re given free rein to do as they please.
In other cases, it’s a question of culture and compatriots protecting one another. It’s common for individuals from the same country or culture to back each other up, often at all costs. Or, at the very least, that individual is given plenty of leniency because of who they are and where they come from.
Favoritism is another issue. It’s common that employees and managers like to deal with likeminded individuals, ones who support their viewpoint regardless of whether they’re right or not. This is often why “yes” men so often succeed in certain businesses. The idea is to never rock the boat and to continually support the endeavors of those individuals most like themselves. Building loyalty amongst individuals with similar pursuits and needs are powerful agents in business.
As bad as each of these instances are, it’s much worse when it impacts a company’s customers. When internal business politics cost a company business, then politics is directly affecting the company’s bottom line. How bad can it be? Perhaps this example might provide some insight.
I provided consulting services to this one customer where political gamesmanship was a constant issue. The sales manager avoided visiting a customer over an 8-10 month period, a customer that was at one time a multi-million dollar account. However, their volume of business declined steadily over the years and they had become less of a priority.
While their business volume wasn’t what it once was, it was still substantial and still needed. Yet, the customer never once placed an order during this 8-10 month period. Everyone continued to inquire as to what was happening with this particular customer – but nobody would broach the subject about why. Nobody would dare venture down the path of asking the person in charge of the account why sales weren’t happening.
When my customer entered a slowdown in sales, everyone got together to decide what customer accounts we could generate sales from. However, nobody ever brought up anything about this account because of who was managing it. Most importantly, nobody ever brought it up because of who was protecting the individual who was managing it.
In the end, it was a chain of favoritism. The sales manager was protected by someone above him who was protected by someone above him. Would it surprise you to hear these players were all from the same country? Did it cost this company that customer? It did and it happened when the company needed that customer’s business the most.