Political Dilemmas at Work: How to Maintain Your Integrity and Further Your Career

Chapter Sixteen

ROAD TO NOWHERE

The pressure is on to head up a special project, yet you strongly suspect that it will lead you into a career dead end.

 

 

 

 

Heading up an important project should be a fantastic, high-visibility career opportunity. Projects are unique arenas in the organization where a few talented folk get to demonstrate their abilities to the watching masses. The rewards and recognition for success not only improve immediate promotion prospects, but they also enhance resumes.

But not all projects are such great news. Some are just not that high profile, while a few even seem destined to fail at the outset, which could be more career threatening than career enhancing. If projects had theme tunes, then Mission Impossible would be an appropriate soundtrack for some. So what do we do when we are asked to lead a project that seems to have failure built into it? How do we resist when our boss insists that we run with it? What do we do when there is political pressure that seems to lead down the road to nowhere?

The Road to Nowhere Dilemma

It just feels wrong, and I am not sure why. Given everything that is going on at Xennic, why Bruce—my boss—wants a team to work on a new performance management process at this time is a mystery. We could be doing something useful; we could be doing something that will benefit the merger; but no, Bruce has declared that project Peak Performance should start now. The tough part is that he wants me to lead it.

Actually, ...