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Business, Politics, Empathy

I find myself in situations at work where my boss has political reasons for me to not do the otherwise appropriate thing. It's become apparent, over time, that I'm oblivious to these politics, and we've been working out a protocol I can follow, to stop interfering.

During the conversation, they observed that I "give away" far more "information" than I think I do. Initially, I agreed; I do broadcast a lot of what goes through my mind to those around me. Something haunted me, though: why am I oblivious to their politics, yet, clearly aware of my broadcasts?

I can see a lot of what I send out, and I'm accustomed to reading it in others; it's best described as empathy. Tuned for emotion, and not guaranteed to work, I excel with some, and flail with others. That doesn't really bother me, though; it's the kind of communication with others I enjoy. Why, then, does this interfering with business politics?

I can neatly summarize all the politics I've seen in business as "competition"; for money, for influence, for recognition. In competitive events, one team often loses to an opponent who exploits a weakness in their team. Many teams will try, preemptively, to hide or resolve weaknesses. Am I exposing a weakness of some sort?

In many situations, I'll "poll" the opinions of my friends, simply because I'm curious what they think. Generally, you'd see this in a group of friends walking into a party, or between two women when a guy approaches; it's that turn of the head, the comment to a friend, a quiet reply. I do this with my friends, in many situations; I also do this in business.

In many situations, when there's a problem at hand, I'm quick -- too quick, sometimes -- to offer my thoughts, ideas, disagreements. If they're not needed, no harm done; if they help, so much the better. I do this to a small extent around friends, and more so in business; I was hired to be a problem-solver, after all. Recently, though, I've become aware that my willingness to share my differences interferes with business politics.

In business, there's a need to have your team appear, to the competition, as a unit; no one should be breaking ranks, and the entire team works together towards a single decision. Expressing disagreement (doubt) in a manner visible to the competition is viewed as a weakness; a team must operate

Business teams try to appear as a group operating in unison, in agreement on decisions that are to be made. Disagreement expressed during a competition is viewed as a sign of weakness by all; thus, when I share my doubts, I'm making us look weak in the eyes of others. However, I view this inability to accommodate differing viewpoints as, itself, a weakness.

Train a team to work together efficiently while airing opinions that may differ, in a quick and competent manner; to reach consensus and take action in a matter of seconds, when little time is available. Those people would likely move faster, solve things quicker, adapt better to new situations, than any other team out there, using efficient, subconscious, nonverbal communications; an empathic team, if you will.

The discussions would, initially, be mostly verbal; an unpracticed team would, initially, be crushed in competition. A good solid month of training, however, and many people would form tight-knit, cohesive teams. A good empathic team could, after training, take advantage of the "weakness" inherent in a business team.

When placed into situations requiring fast decisions and ambiguous information, I think that an empathic team would be able to respond quicker and more effectively than most business teams. The ability to air differing opinions and reach consensus quickly would provide for a flexibility that might go unmatched by other teams; it also provides for a level of satisfaction that goes missed in business.

I'd like to be a part of an empathic team, someday; there's a level of feedback and trust, present in all of my friendships, that I'd love to see incorporated into business. Perhaps I'll find what I seek in business, or perhaps not; but I suspect it'll be a lot of fun looking.

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