Dear Ron,
I’m a mid-level manager at a software company. Two of my colleagues are engaging in a pretty dramatic turf war but one that doesn’t directly involve me. Should I mind my own business and stay out of it, or somehow try to work things to my advantage?
As I see it, you’ve got three main options here. First, you can go the low-risk route and try to remain neutral, and perhaps there’s some upside if your colleagues end up weakening each other. Second, if you sense that one of your colleagues is clearly stronger than the other, you can ally with that person and thereby forge a closer relationship with him or her and have a favor you can call on later. Lastly, you can try to insert yourself into the dispute by helping to mediate it in a way that brings some additional advantage to you.
Here’s an example of what I mean: A few years ago I had a client in a pretty similar situation — two of his peers on a project were vying for control so openly that it was hurting the whole group’s ability to get things done, a fact that even senior management was becoming aware of. My client thus saw an opportunity to step in and offer himself as a more reasonable and level-headed choice to lead the project going forward. The senior managers agreed and installed him at the top; eventually, one of the combatants was transferred to another project, while the other wound up reporting to my client, uncomfortably at first, but eventually in a cooperative fashion. Since then, my client has advanced much further at his company, and he views that move as a major turning point in his career there.
This last option offers the most reward but is also the trickiest, since if you misplay it and your colleagues catch on to your maneuvering, you could have both of them going after you. But if the task is something that could add significantly to your standing or portfolio, and you feel as though you would have strong support from those above you, then it could well be worth making this play. Just make sure you’ve done a careful analysis of the situation and the relative strength of each player beforehand. In an environment like today’s where opportunities are limited and the political combat intense, you need to be 100 percent confident in your evaluations of where each player stands and the level of support they can call on above them.
