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John Burton Franke James Marty Seldman Glueck Bezoza Rick Brandon Arnie Herz Timothy Johnson erika andersen

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Franke James is Editor/Founder of Office-Politics.com and Inventor of the Office-Politics® Game.

Peter R. Garber has worked as an HR professional for over 25 years and is the author of many business books including: Winning the Rat Race at Work and 100 Ways to Get on the Wrong Side of your Boss.

Dina Beach Lynch, is an Ombudsman, Author and former attorney. An award-winning mediator, Dina served as the Corporate Ombudsman for the 7th largest bank in the US helping over 48,000 employees to resolve workplace issues.

Dr. Rick Brandon is CEO of Brandon Partners. He has consulted and trained tens of thousands at corporations worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies across a variety of industries.

Dr. Marty Seldman is one of America's most experienced executive coaches. His 35-year career includes expertise in executive coaching, group dynamics, cross-cultural studies, clinical psychology, and training.

Arnie Herz, is a lawyer, mediator, speaker, author and consultant nationally recognized for his practical and inspired approach to conflict resolution and client counseling.

Dr. John Burton LL.B. M.B.A. M.Div. Ph.D. is an ethicist, mediator, lawyer and theologian. John is currently located in Prince Rupert, B.C., Canada, working with Canada's aboriginal communities.

I applied for an internal posting and now my whole department knows... Some of them are treating me as their enemy.

Betsy Raskin Gullickson, Co-author of On the High Wire: How to Survive Being Promoted, kindly answered the Office-Politics letter below. As a Certified Integral Coach, Betsey provides professional and personal coaching, through Prescient Leaders and in private practice.

July 2005

Dear Office-Politics,

I applied for an internal posting and my whole department came to know about it... Now, some of them are treating me as their enemy. My immediate supervisor stopped giving me new responsibilities. I was sidelined for courses and learning opportunities.

It is not officially stated in black and white that I would be going over to the other department, but there have been rumors going around. I am not able to verify that, as the boss of that department is currently on medical leave, but she has mentioned before that "it should not be a problem".
This thing has been going on for more than half a year. My relationship with fellow colleagues is getting more and more strained.

Should I find another job or wait and see if I could move to the other department?

Wish-I-Was-Anonymous


Dear Wish-I-Was-Anonymous,

Are you sure that you have only two choices -"find another job or wait and see"? That's what is called "two-way thinking." The more sure you are that there is no other option, the more stuck you're going to feel.

It's time to ask yourself some new questions. Can you be more proactive? Tell your immediate supervisor how you're feeling? Find ways you can show you are 100% committed, up to and until the moment when you move? Enlist the help of someone (HR, perhaps) in clarifying your situation?

And if you must return to your original two choices, consider the advice a newspaper columnist used to give to people considering divorce: "Are you better off in this situation, or out of it?" Thanks for writing to Office-Politics.

Betsy Raskin Gullickson
Co-author, On the High Wire: How To Survive Being Promoted
Consultant / Executive Coach


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