Working the System

On the outside people appear to be playing their part and working with the system for the benefit of the organisation. In reality they are working the system – everyone has their own idea how to get ahead as fast as possible and with as least grief as possible. What people have as their strategy to working the system is their strength and weakness. Find these out and use them against them. The best way to find their strategy is to look at their personal life and how it fits in with their work life. There will be talk of a work/life balance but in reality, when someone has a paltry waged income, it is their personal life that takes precedence and determines how they work the system, regardless of how much they boast that they may be the world’s number one workaholic. The job will serve their lifestyle and realistically – so what?

For the more motivated, working the system involves working everyone around them into the ground for their selfish purposes, and thus carving up a larger piece of the prize for their deep little pockets. As mentioned before, the secretive power play in un-official factions, groups of friends and ‘teams’ is fertile soil for someone to work the system. Who likes who, who hates you, who do you like, is it a personality or professional egotistical clash? Take advantage of these relationships, because although they are not documented as part of the schematics of the organisation, they are lubricants in the machine. Get people working off one another. Create rivalries that serve you. Look around, and identify where it has already happened, and who profits. And don’t be alarmed.

he system, like mankind tinkering with nature, cries out to be worked. To work the system, do not completely alter your behaviour to suit. By all means fit in to the system, but let the system absorb you. Then you can begin to implement actions that enable you to work it. It’s easier on the inside than out, and concentrate on the long term.

Do not be afraid to jump at advantageous offers, and as you satisfy your own needs, never pity the fruitless endeavours of the hapless opposition. Eradicate pity from your approach to the office unless you have to cry crocodile tears over some fool’s early departure. Few work the system without causing some degree of mayhem and discomfort so get used to it.