Navigating departmental politics takes a type of clear eyed thinking that is not always available to us in the heat of a particular annoying meeting. So, when navigating departmental politics, please take advice it took my A LONG TIME to learn. Silence first.
Why silence first
In your first year in a new post you are already at capacity. You are prepping new classes from scratch, grading at a scale you’ve never seen, learning systems, figuring out where anything is, and attending every meeting because you don’t yet know which ones are dispensable. Adding politics to that load is a fast track to overwhelm. Protect your energy. Keep quiet, and listen.
What to watch
Your learning lab is the all-hands space, school-wide meetings, board of studies, any room where most academics are present and students are not. You’ll also pick up signals at seminars and informal gatherings, but the big rooms show you the whole chessboard: cliques, alliances, simmering rivalries, and who actually carries weight. Give yourself months. Some people map the terrain quickly; others take longer, and alas some never do. While you watch, do light homework:
Put names to faces and look up profiles on the intranet.
Note research areas and outputs.
Notice who speaks, who abstains, and who everyone watches when decisions land.
Common archetypes you’ll meet
These are rough sketches to help you spot patterns. They are not value judgements on whole people, and remember most colleagues are excellent.
Research stars: You may rarely see them at meetings. They model what is rewarded locally: time protected for outputs, sharp boundaries, focus. Study their operating system: where do they say no? How do they structure their weeks? What do they never attend?
Teaching martyrs: Deeply vocal about student issues, sometimes on teaching-only contracts, sometimes not publishing at all. If your goal is to write, avoid getting pulled into the gravity well of permanent crisis on behalf of “the children”. Care, yes. Become the department’s emergency line, no.
Greasy polers: Advancement at all costs. Will happily take your idea, your labour, and your credit. They do not wear badges. This is why you watch before you partner. Keep a paper trail. Share just enough.
Inventors of work: They manufacture new policies, pilots, and projects that look brilliant on a CV while others carry the execution. Treat new initiatives with healthy scrutiny: scope, ownership, resourcing, sunset date.
Brittle people: Often outwardly confident, inwardly fearful of being found out. Scheming and undermining are defence mechanisms. Keep distance, keep receipts, keep calm.
And then there is everyone else, the 95 percent who are generous, funny, collegial, and the reason going to work can be a joy. Build your circle of trust there. It takes time.
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