Let the games....end

I hate playing games. (Not the Scrabble-Monopoly-Trivial Pursuit ones--love those!)

No, I mean the political stab-them-before-they-stab-you ones, the ones that are in nearly every corporate office environment. And you'll also find them in churches, in non-profit organizations, in bowling leagues and women's circles, in associations and service clubs. It's a rare group that doesn't have dissent and us-against-them politics.

You know the scenario:
PowerHungryAggressiveToadie (or PHAT) A doesn't like PHAT B's power/ideas/style/name-your-own attribute. So PHAT A conspires with PHAT C, who usually is a few steps lower on the power ladder than either A or B, although not always, to overthrow or embarrass or undermine PHAT B's leadership/reputation/power.

The plot nearly always thickens through covert phone calls, lunches away from the usual organizational hangouts, e-mails and IMs, and thinly veiled "suggestions" or challenges. Sometimes the exact nature of the plot isn't even discussed forthrightly, but is set up with innuendo and rumor, so that PHATs A & C, and all their lemming-like minions, can claim that they didn't have ANY IDEA what was going on. Sometimes all appears fine on the surface, but when you dig a little, you uncover creepie-crawlies and slime at the core.

It's nasty. It creates an us-against-them environment, with undercurrents of stress and angst all the time. It takes huge amounts of time away from productive activities that could actually benefit the group/company/consumer. In the end, one PHAT has replaced another PHAT, and promptly overturns much of what little had been accomplished by the previous PHAT. Corporate and organizational wheels spin. Worker bees who either report to a PHAT or whose work is subject to approval by a PHAT chew up lots of brain cells just trying to figure out who to avoid this week.

And this is not limited to corporate offices. I have seen this scenario firsthand in church governance, both at local and conference levels. I've seen it in associations to which I've belonged both as volunteer and as staff (although my area of expertise is usually a self-starting, one-person job that few in leadership roles understand enough to be threatened). I've seen it in very small clubs and organizations, fer Pete's sake!

Playing head games is such work! Who said what to whom, what happened, howcanwelethim/hergetawaywiththat stuff? It's anxiety all the time just trying to keep up with the players, much less be actively involved.

I wasn't ever good at corporate games, and as a result, never advanced very far up the career ladder. While I *will* listen to gossip (okay, I'm nosy), I rarely remember enough of it to repeat (and don't care about it anyway), which means that the real gossip mongers leave me alone because I don't have any dirt to share in return.

When I left my last corporate job, I swore I would never play games again. I am a WYSIWYG personality -- What You See is What You Get -- although I *am* capable of keeping my mouth shut and my opinions to myself occasionally.

So when the games begin, when I see political motives creeping into a group of which I am a member, I say something, I may try to change that course. Failing that, I bail.

Life is too short to spend time with people who are doing things that plot against other people. It's too short to waste talent and invest time in a group that is more concerned about power and which faction has it than about accomplishing the goals of the organization in a way that will benefit the members, the endusers, or the profession.

I have a strong moral compass that keeps me doing what's right (thanks, Mom and Dad). I have to look at myself every morning and night, and I need to be okay with who I see -- in right speech, right action, right intent, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness. If I compromise that compass, I am not okay mentally or physically.

It doesn't make me the most popular person. My actions are sometimes misunderstood and maligned, usually by those who wrap power around themselves like a snakeskin. Sometimes I get hurt and agonize over my decisions. But the compass always swings to show me the path.

Anne Frank said, in the nightmare of the Holocaust, "I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."

Me too. Even the game players.