Most of us would like to believe that our workplaces are free from politics and drama. However, in my experience, even the best organizations have multiple levels of tension due to politics, drama, inertia, fear, and intimidation.
These issues are especially dangerous when new people join an organization, but they also affect the morale, performance, and retention of everyone in the organization.
If politics and drama exist in the best organizations, imagine how prevalent and harmful they are in organizations already struggling with underperformance and other issues.
I believe most people joining a new organization are both excited and nervous. They want to start off well, they want to create good impressions, and they especially want to do a good job. They want a fresh start or to build on their past experiences. Almost always, they are operating outside of their comfort zone.
All of these conditions make them vulnerable.
Whether they stay or leave, are successful or unsuccessful, is largely dependent on how the organization, through its procedures, people and leaders, treats them and manages the internal pressures that already exist whether they are apparent or hidden.
There is no single action an organization or individual can take; however, there are some basic principles that can help these new people avoid stepping into politics, drama, and bull#@%!.
Let me share a personal example.
Several years ago, I had given five weeks’ notice at my previous employer to accept a new role with a large regional employer. My new organization had more than enough time to be prepared, but their orientation and preparations, or rather lack of preparation, made me question almost immediately whether I belonged there.
My first real moment of doubt came when I was introduced to the top leaders and listened to their welcoming comments and vision for my role and the direction of the organization. Each one described a completely different vision for where the organization was going and my place in those visions.
Those were the first red flags, and it was just the first day.
More flags popped up when I did exactly what I had been hired to do, share my perspective, ask questions, and use the skills and expertise I was hired for. I spoke openly about what I had been hearing from frontline staff. Instead of discussion, I was met with silence and more than a few shocked looks.
It became clear very quickly: they didn’t want my perspective. They wanted agreement. Agreement consistent with how they already thought and how they did things.
I had been told I had been brought in for my experience, but instead of being integrated into the organization, I found myself being pulled between competing camps for power. As a new hire, I wasn’t part of the problem, but I was standing directly in the middle of it.
It was frustrating, confusing, isolating, and deeply disappointing, especially knowing I had left a job I genuinely loved to step into it.
Several weeks into my time there, we went on a leadership retreat.
I came prepared. I had taken the time to speak with the people I had been encouraged to learn from, frontline staff and key contributors, and I organized their feedback into clear themes and notes. I walked into that session expecting discussion. Maybe even disagreement. At the very least, engagement.
When I presented it, I got a wall of silence.
No questions. No pushback. No acknowledgement.
What made it worse was recognizing the faces in the room, the same people who had been the most candid with me in private were now saying nothing at all.
In that moment, something shifted for me.
It wasn’t just that the organization lacked alignment. It was that the truth existed, but no one was willing to stand behind it in the room.
I hadn’t misread the situation.
I had walked into something no one was willing to say out loud.
I had been in organizations like this before, places where everyone had an opinion privately, but no one was willing to say what they really thought when it mattered.
I had also come from organizations where not only was this encouraged, but it was also expected.
I knew, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, I wasn’t home anymore.
Experiences like this shape how you approach a new organization.
You learn quickly that what matters is not just what people say, but what they are willing to stand behind publicly. You begin to watch more closely, listen more carefully, and take fewer things at face value.
Learn about the politics and how things work in your workplace by watching, listening, and asking questions. Onboarding processes explain how things are supposed to work, but real understanding comes from observing how people actually behave.
Like poker, listening and watching are better than making hasty judgments. Over time, you will learn who to trust, who repeats confidences, who simply agrees, who is toxic, and who is genuinely trying to make things better.
There is always a gap between what leaders say and what staff experience. Strong organizations work to close that gap. Weak ones pretend it doesn’t exist.
Leaders must be especially careful about who influences new hires. Involving people who undermine the organization’s direction, intentionally or not, creates confusion, frustration, and division from the very beginning.
In organizations that are evolving or under pressure, unresolved politics and drama often show up as fear, inertia, intimidation, and toxicity. Left unaddressed, these conditions don’t just affect performance, they drive people away.
Leaders need to listen, anticipate, and act quickly to address these dynamics. Failure to do so will result in people leaving for more stable and transparent environments.
Hiring, training, and retaining people is not just a leadership responsibility, it belongs to everyone. The willingness of existing staff to support, mentor, and align with the organization’s direction is one of the most important factors in whether new hires succeed.
New employees should never feel like they are caught in the middle without support. Even the strongest individuals will struggle in that position. I know that I did, and I have been a senior leader, a consultant, and I know how to build successful organizations, and yet in the example, I provided, almost from day 1 I left like I didn’t belong.
People want to contribute. They want to make a difference. But they do not want to feel abandoned, or like an outsider within the group, I purposely don’t call these groups, teams; because teams implies shared goals and trust.
In the end, organizations don’t lose people because of change, pressure, or high expectations. They lose people when the truth isn’t safe to say out loud.
You can have the right strategy, the right people, and all the opportunity in the world, but if your culture forces honesty into the hallway instead of the room, people will disengage or leave.
When they do, it won’t be a surprise to the group of employes.
It will only be a surprise to leadership.
Paul