Dismissal for no reason: how to understand that the boss is intriguing against you?

Office intrigues are the norm rather than the exception. If you think there is no intrigue in your office, there may be level 40 intriguers near you. According to American sociologists, 78% of participants in an anonymous survey admitted that they are actively involved in intrigues. XNUMX% said they were ready to harm their boss or colleague if they did not have to answer for these actions.

Most often, intrigues are weaved in family businesses and offices, where the principle of openness and loyalty is declared. “Our man”, “has been working since the founding of the company”, “we know each other from the institute” are markers of belonging to a clan. Between high results and loyalty to the leader, the choice is made in favor of loyalty.

Companies are less subject to intrigues, where an employee is evaluated solely on the basis of work results. In these businesses, it is impossible to raise the question: “We have gathered together to decide what to do with Dasha. Dasha is not our kind of person. She has no place in the company. If Dasha fulfills the sales plan, few people are interested in her spirit. In any company, the risk zone includes:

• adult experienced employees who are subordinate to baby managers;
• young professionals with leadership inclinations under the inert, anxious leaders of pre-retirement age.

As a rule, the head-schemer understands his incompetence and does everything so that this information does not come out. The higher he climbs, the more often the atmosphere in the company resembles the movie “Dumb and Dumber”. Mistakes happen, and the team turns out to be undesirable pros for the intriguer. The manager made so much effort that recruiters did not bring people to him, against the background of which his incompetence would be too noticeable. Any competent enterprising employee is a threat to everything that is important for the schemer: his self-esteem, position, influence, career prospects. What can you say? If the schemer fires more than the first employee, the song of any newcomer is sung – all potentially dangerous people will be discredited and fired. To have talented specialists under your command means to populate the chicken coop with foxes.

Intrigue always has a motive and a plan, it is not a surge of emotions, but a cruel cold war.

How do you know when it’s time to be concerned?

1. Suddenly, the distance between you and the leader has changed. You are brought closer or farther away.
2. Your boss gossips with you about your superiors.
3. You are often told that you are one team and should be open and trust each other. The more often you hear that you are “one big family”, the less you should believe it.
4. You have been entrusted with an important task, but in every possible way they interfere with its implementation – they are thrown into extra-urgent tasks, loaded with meaningless work. You ask for prioritization of tasks, but the requests are ignored.
5. You are trusted with the project and on the eve of its delivery, the inputs are completely changed. There is no evidence that you originally received different introductory, and the manager in a clear eye claims that there were no changes.
6. You are trying to get the information you need to complete a task, but there is always an excuse not to give it to you.
7. You are accused of not doing the work that the other person should have done.
8. The manager failed the project and turned the arrows on you.
9. You see how at the meeting the leader presents your idea as his own.
10. You are appointed “the captain of the Titanic” – they entrust the project, the impossibility of which everyone knows except you.

If you saw a couple of familiar symptoms in the above, it means that your “big family” is a tangle of snakes in which you are more like a rabbit than a boa constrictor.

What to do? Do your feet. The faster the better. If you decide to stay, master the high art of intrigue and manipulation.

• In addition to learning to intrigue, take precautions.
• Be able not only to work well, but also to document it.
• Don’t talk badly about anyone behind their backs. If you are asked to speak, name both the pros and cons.
• Don’t vouch for anyone. Don’t trust anyone.
• Do not sign documents that you have not read. Keep correspondence, forget about verbal agreements, everything is on paper or by mail.
• Track the behavior of colleagues. If they stop smiling at you, you may already be given a cross. Debriefing requires the presence of all parties. Don’t be afraid to get fired. Have a financial cushion and an alternate airfield.

Don’t be under any illusions: if you’re not good at manipulation, you’re more likely to lose. And then, when looking for a job, choose not only a company, but also a leader. The right leader does not intrigue, but invests in the development and promotion of his employees, is proud of their success.