Dear Social Worker, Welcome to the world #1 Personal
Development podcast For social workers.
Skill alone isn't enough. Building your character is what
sustains careers in social work. I'm Lisa Ann, a social worker
turned full time entrepreneur at socialworkcoachinghub.com.
While I can't reduce your caseload, I can help you level
up your career with practical tools, leadership strategies,
and tips to build resilience. This is real talk.
From one social worker to another, empowering your
personal growth, you're exactly where you need to be.
Today's episode is focused on managing office politics in
social work, and we're going to start with a quote by Unknown.
You can't control how others play the game, but you can
choose how you show up. Welcome back to another episode.
Today we're tackling A tricky but unavoidable topic around
managing office politics in social work.
We know that collaboration is crucial, and navigating team
dynamics, office politics, conflict, etcetera, sometimes
might feel like a minefield. Maybe you've experienced clicks,
fell, overlooked. Whatever it may be, it can feel
draining. But it doesn't have to be that
way. With the right strategies, you
can protect your energy, maintain integrity, and stay
focused on what really matters, and that's your work with
families and communities. Early in my career, I found
minimal of his politics, but the moment I stepped out into low
term and agency work, woo, there was a lot going on.
It was rampant. And I remember a moment which
was maybe halfway through my career, where I thought, it's a
jungle In there. There was an unspoken hierarchy
that had nothing to do with job titles, who got invited to
certain meetings, whose ideas was taken seriously, who's
speaking to who? And I remember feeling
disheartened after thinking, how am I going to be myself in an
environment which requires a level of survival for you to
navigate? And that's something that I
would say has been part of my social work career.
Very much so. I have a strong sense of social
justice. And when I see something that's
just morally wrong, it's very difficult for me to not respond
to that, even if I respond in a professional, calm, appropriate
way. And particularly if the response
to that is maybe not meeting my expectations.
Not saying that they should meet my expectations.
I'm just telling you I'm human, right?
Then that often turned into some form of conflict, whether it was
something that was spoken or unspoken.
And there's many ways in which people play the game, and I've
spoken about this on my LinkedIn profile before.
I don't approve of anything that is underhand, anything that
makes someone feel small or singled out, anything that
creates a form of bullying. I'm very much against that and I
have no qualms whatsoever speaking out against that when I
see it, particularly if I feel it's coming in my direction.
To manage office politics, you've got to be authentic.
You've got to build a support network and know when to speak
up and when to step back. There's an art to all of this
and art personally I'd rather not get involved with.
I just want to focus on the work like many of you do.
But we know that we cannot avoid these things.
It's not just in social work, it's any office really.
And some of the common challenges that you may come
across, like feeling unheard or overlooked, recognising that
your team or other teams are forming form cliques, conflict
in values, some form of avoidance.
All of these play a part in how you feel in your team and how
valued you feel and whether you feel you're going to be listened
to and and taken seriously and treated fairly.
All of these things matter and it's still to this day blows my
mind how we can be in a caring profession.
And some of the behaviours that I've seen over the years is
absolutely shocking. And I'm still flummoxed as to
how this behaviour continues. We have good solid social
workers leaving the profession as a result of being treated
badly, as a result of them feeling overlooked or a result
of them feeling like they've been bullied.
And I've coached a lot of these social workers, those that have
experienced racial trauma in the workplace.
We shouldn't be bullying or re traumatizing our own social
workers who are dealing with vicarious trauma and dealing
with abuse when we're out working on the frontline.
Unacceptable. I do not have a magic wand, but
I can give you 3 practical strategies for managing office
politics. And the first thing is about
building genuine relationships. Often politics thrive on
relationships and particularly they thrive on relationships
being fractured as well. So focusing on building
authentic connections is going to help you get the support when
you need the support. So make sure you are
approachable and you listen actively and show respect for
everyone regardless of their role.
People think that networking is literally just for external
events and it's not. It's a very powerful tool that
you can use inside your team as well #2 Master the art of being
neutral. Stay out of unnecessary drama by
maintaining A neutral stance. When I was working in offices,
you would never catch me in the staff room talking and
gossiping. That just was not me not
interested. I'm too busy for that.
So as far as you can, avoid the gossip.
I know sometimes it's just happening around you.
Since we've we've moved into open plan working.
It never used to be like that when I first started.
But avoid gossip and just focus on the facts.
Focus on your work and when the conflict arises, address people
professionally and directly with the right parties.
Don't go around the houses and speak to this one and that one
and this one and that one. Try your best to direct it to
the person. I know there are nuances to all
of these things because in the midst of all of this, you have
people with their own agendas, people with their own
personalities, people that are unhealed walking around in the
workplace and they are responding to you in a childlike
manner as a child ward or as a teenager ward, right?
And you are trying to respond professionally and with
maturity. And that sometimes can also
inflamed a scenario. It doesn't matter what you say
or how you say it, it can inflamed a scenario.
So it's being mindful of the fact that you may be listening
to this podcast every week and growing every single week in
self-awareness and reflection. And that person may have stopped
reflecting six years ago, right? So they may see you and think
they think they're too nice because they're managing things
in a certain way, but actually you're just investing in your
personal growth. They can make their own choices
and you can make yours, but how they see you, it will be
different. And sometimes it can evoke
further conflict as a result of you trying to manage something
appropriately. There are moments where you just
can't win and you ultimately have to make a decision what's
best for you and what's best for your career.
I am not saying it's right, but I've had to make those
decisions. So I can't sit here and pretend
like those scenarios and those questions and those thoughts
never come up. They do.
You don't ignore issues that will continue to just grow and
grow in resentment because it's going to come out of you in one
way or another. So when you are trying to master
the art of being neutral, try your best to do that.
But when you need to address something directly, then you
know what to do in relation to that #3 communicate your value.
Oh, the day that I learnt this, it was a sweet, sweet day.
Not necessarily for the people I was speaking to, but it was
because people can exploit and take advantage of your good
nature. We know that in our personal
lives. It's no different in the office.
It's it's no different being a social worker.
So there are moments where you have to ensure your
contributions are visible. You are bringing those
compliments, you are bringing those good comments, you are
bringing your positive outcomes into your supervision.
It may be speaking up and saying this is what I've achieved.
It may be speaking up in meetings and saying this is what
I've achieved. Document your achievements.
I've said to you, don't underestimate all the things you
do in one day. Imagine adding up a year.
Wow. Be clear, this is not bragging.
It's ensuring that your hard work is recognized by yourself
first, then by others or the necessary people, and that your
role is secure. Well, let's move into our Q&A
for the week. It has come from Danny, and
Danny is in New Zealand. So hello to you, Danny.
And he asks, how do I handle a colleague who takes credit for
my ideas without causing tension?
Didn't I tell you about unhealed people in the workplace?
Let's rewind this question a minute and think about why is
this person taking credit for your idea?
What is it that they are lacking or that they need?
As to why they are doing that to you?
It's likely that they see something in you that they wish
that they had themselves. The irony is they probably have
it themselves, but they may not have the courage or the
confidence to step out and do what you've done or put forward
the idea you put forward. So the first thing I would
recommend is document your ideas and send those follow up emails
just summarizing your idea or summarizing the discussion and
your contributions. And there may come a time where
you need to approach the colleague.
Now it may be you do this privately or make sure you do it
respectfully. You may choose to do this in
e-mail. However, it needs to sound
something like this. I noticed you presented an idea
similar to mine from the last meeting.
Can we collaborate on this moving, moving forward?
Now, what does that do? It minimises the conflict.
It doesn't. It doesn't blame or shame.
It's not like pointing at somebody and it's a way of you
collaborating. Now you may be thinking, I don't
want to collaborate. I don't want to be restorative.
I just want them to stop taking my ideas.
Then perhaps you need to think of other words that you would
say to to ensure that it stops. Or of course, you've got the
option of addressing it with your supervisor in a
constructive way, right? You've got to focus on impact
rather than the person. So as far as you can be
restorative, and then once you've tried being restorative,
if that's not working for you, then you will have to do take
another strategy. So the key takeaways from this
episode, the three key takeaways are #1 office politics are
inevitable. They don't have to derail your
work or your morale. But I tell you something for
nothing in let's say 50% of my coaching sessions, it does.
It really impacts how you view yourself as a worker, as a
person. It really, truly impacts your
morale. And this is where we need when
we've talked about resilience, having those strategies that
help you to reassure you first is going to be what's key
amongst your support system, which leads us into #2 around
building authentic relationships as far as you can stay neutral
in conflicts and communicate your value effectively.
This is a conversation we could have around people using work as
a form of social development. Basically, they want to make
friends. And some people are very clear,
I do not come to work to make friends.
I've got friends but some people don't.
People have different attachment styles, so it maybe you take the
view that these are not my friends, or maybe you take the
view that they are your friends. You need to decide what's best
for you and what's going to help you protect your piece most.
But ensuring you've got some form of support system and
making the right decisions around staying neutral and
communicating your value effectively will help #3
remember, you've got the power. You've got the power to navigate
politics without compromising your ethics or your well-being.
You can choose how you respond to this.
It's your choice. And often social workers come
into coaching sessions thinking that they don't have any options
available to them, thinking that the only option is to leave.
You have the power to choose how you respond that is in line with
your own values, without compromising your ethics or
well-being. It is possible to do that.
The nuances around that of course is how people respond to
that. And whilst that is not your
concern, I certainly would invite you to consider the long
term impact of raising certain issues because you have to
continue to work alongside all of these people.
What I ended up doing long term, I decided to make a choice that
was best for me and that was I will not compromise my moral
compass or my ethics or my well-being for work in any way,
no matter who the person is. And I am not responsible.
Again, this is just me. This is just me.
This is the place I've worked up to.
I am not responsible for how someone responds to me if I know
and I am confident in my approach, IE I've been
professional, I've been constructive, I've not used
blaming language, I've communicated my value, all the
things we've talked about. It is possible to do all of
those things. What I'm sharing with you is
that is the place that I've got to now where I'm say to myself,
I'm not responsible for how they respond, but I am responsible
for how I communicate what it is I need to communicate.
And if I'm confident that I've done that in the correct way
through the right channel, let's move on.
If this episode resonated with you in any way, I want you to
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social workers. Remember, thriving in social
work starts with you. If you're ready to level up your
career, visit socialworkcoachinghub.com for
more tools and resources. And until next time, keep
growing, keep thriving, and God bless.