7 tips for managing office politics in private practice 

7 tips for managing office politics in private practice:

1. Unavoidable. In any practice of more than two people, some office politics is inevitable. But it doesn’t have to be toxic.
2. Be transparent: Talk openly about the value of building connections during onboarding, induction, professional development, and supervision.
3. Reframe: Highlight the value of networking, negotiation and relationship-building as core competencies for speech pathologists. 
4. Prioritise the team: Set incentives to promote information sharing, communication, and teamwork. Don’t set KPIs that encourage information hoarding, or competition between team members. 
5. Access: Outside supervision, ensure everyone has access to management, and that everyone has the same access to clinical resources and informal support.
6. Check for biases: Be aware of the extra barriers that some team members face because of their background, gender, race or other factors, and insist on including everyone.
7. Share stories: Ask team members to share examples of times when they have been helped by others, or leveraged relationships and resources to be effective in their roles.

Source: Wyatt, M. and Doldor, E. (2022). Office Politics Don’t Have to Be Toxic. Harvard Business Review, May 2022.