Monday Morning Leadership Q&A – 7/9/18 – Susan M Barber Coaching & Consulting, LLC

Client Question: “I don’t feel like I can trust any of my peers at work. The environment is very political and unfortunately I can’t really seek advice from any of them. What can I do differently to be able to manage this for myself?”

When they talk about it being “lonely at the top” they are referring to just this type of situation. Highly political environments are very competitive and people look for opportunities to take advantage of any weakness that someone else shows. Just being able to find someone that you can trust is very difficult in these environments. Here are some suggestions to navigate this type of situation:

Create your own “board of directors.”
- This is a group of people that can listen to your concerns, help you make decisions or offer advice to help you. They should be people that have diverse experiences, will be honest with you and that you can trust.
- You can meet in person or virtually on a regular basis. In an urgent situation, you could set up a group text to connect with them.
- Just be sure to share the context of the situation and where you need their help to be able to move forward.
- A Mastermind group can play a similar role to a Board of Directors if you have one available for you to join.

Find a mentor outside of the organization.
- A mentor that has been through a similar situation is ideal and can offer some of their own lessons learned.
- They can also provide some perspective on how to manage in this type of environment and what the did to succeed.
- Have an agreement so that the mentor knows if this a relationship where you meet regularly or just as needed.

Find a coach outside of the organization
- A coach can offer an objective view based on what you share that can help you uncover blind spots, additional options or insights about the situation that you are going through.
- They can also help you come up with an action plan to handle these situations so you don’t feel so alone.
- Some people may meet with coaches for one specific situation or a fixed amount of time. Others may build a long term relationship with their coach for their own on-going development, focus on their goals and to have a trusted advisor that they can rely on.

The key is to ensure you have a place to share your concerns and ask for help when needed. Keeping all of this inside is challenging and takes a lot of energy to manage. You need a safe place to be able to talk through things and if you can’t find it at work, you can build one for yourself.

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