Peer Pressure

Peer Pressure

We usually think of peer pressure in connection with kids who feel they have to have the same brand of sneakers as their friends. But peer pressure is an equally important influence in organizational life. It almost ruined mine.

Every day I was going to lunch with the same co-workers and EVERY conversation amounted to constantly criticizing the boss, or the boss’s boss. “Did you get a load of Herb’s sox today?” it would start. “And that tie! Ugh!”

From there it would descend into criticism of the way our outfit operated, the incompetence of our supervisors, and various complaints about life in the bureaucracy. It became a group norm for us never to say anything good about anything or anyone in the agency. And when it came to work, you dared not invest too heartily in any assignment.

The effect was to prevent me from doing my best work, from being positive with my superiors and from having a good feeling about myself and my performance. Overtime I became very depressed and saw no way to escape from my peers.

Then one weekend I went camping with my son and his scout troop. I discovered that you can cook anything with boiling water. Aha! On Monday I walked in with my new electric teapot and a package of dried soup and announced to my colleagues that from now on I would be eating at my desk.

I felt great relief at being my own person again. This experience taught me the dangers of succumbing to the influence of disgruntled peers. So another rule for surviving, even succeeding, in the bureaucracy: find colleagues who feel their work is important and have good things to say about the organization and its people.

Of course, we need to vent to trusted friends when things go wrong, but be careful it does not become a habit.