I just received feedback that I am doing a great job apart from the feedback from people who feel entirely threatened by me. I come in to work and do my job and focus on results. Overall, I have great relationships in the company.

However, my boss got feedback that I was political and it's really a reflection of some of the people I work with who feel threatened by me.

I am told that I need to improves these relationships -- what are some suggestions?

-- Debra G. (debragolden@usa.net), October 15, 2000

Answers

The key is to see that people aren't threatened by a person who keeps in touch with them, who offers help and who makes sure they get credit for stuff they've done as well as maybe getting a little credit from them for the help. Relationships improve like magic with these principles. What senior execs look for when promoting people most often is teamwork. Is the person able to encourage, help, share recognition with others, etc. Hope that helps.

-- Dave Crisp (dcrisp62@home.com), October 15, 2000.

Debra, if you try to "improve" relationships your going to be seen as political. Don't get caught in a catch-22 where you end up being the thing that you are trying to fix.

Its no good being told you need to improve these relationships, you need to know what to improve in order to improve them. If you have a clear understanding of specifics you need to identify, you should have enough clarity to either remedy the issue or seek training to remedy the issue. If its generalizations, I personally don't think that's good enough unless its just a case of just being more pleasant.

Politics is about power not something which is negative and establishing trust isn't an instant fix.

I get the feeling that you want to succeed professionally and there is nothing wrong with trying to succeed, especially as a competitive woman, but it all this means is that you have to slightly re-adjust your strategy and I just can't see how you do that without being political. Maybe you just have to take the sting out of their tails by listening more and helping them where they can succeed but by the mere fact that they feel threatened means that are probably being political too.

Debra, in short my first impression view is that you should try to be natural but stay smart.

-- Mark Zorro (zorromark@consultant.com), October 16, 2000.

Debra: I have been in similar situations. You likely are being kind by not identifying that the people who are threatened are women. I've found that by not playing politics is the best way to form real relationships. Find genuine reasons to interact with people (women and men) on a personal as well as professional level and you will likely see results. Regards, Terri.

-- Terri Sherrod (t-belle@mindspring.com), November 14, 2000.