Optics vs. Operations: The Politics–Process Divide
Two Levels of Management Behaviour
In many organisations, people seem to operate at two distinct levels:
1. The Political Level – where the focus is on optics, perception, sound bites, and engagement.
2. The Process Level – where the focus is on understanding how things actually work, diagnosing problems, and implementing sustainable solutions.
Increasingly, it feels as if the balance is shifting towards politics over process. We are more concerned with appearances than with operational reality. This is reflected in managers who fight fires but never invest in fire prevention, because prevention is less visible and less glamorous than reacting to emergencies.
The Skills Gap in Management
One cause of this imbalance is that many managers are promoted based on interpersonal skills or tenure, rather than on an understanding of the systems, processes, and disciplines that keep organisations running.
Most managers have never been trained in the fundamentals of:
Policies and compliance
HR processes
Marketing
Operations and manufacturing
Continuous improvement
Instead, they are asked to manage people without a grasp of how to manage process. And without that knowledge, they inevitably become hostage to the politics of the workplace, focusing on relationships, alliances, and self-promotion rather than on long-term efficiency and productivity.
Why Process Matters
When process is neglected, problems are addressed only at the symptom level. Root causes go unresolved, and issues become chronic.
Process understanding is not theoretical — it is lived. You cannot learn to ride a bicycle by reading about it, and you cannot truly understand operational processes without having been involved in them. This is why leaders who live only in the “optics” world often talk theory without practical insight — like discussing how to play the violin without ever having picked one up.
The Resistance to Learning
In theory, this imbalance could be addressed through education, training, humility, and a genuine willingness to learn. But in practice, people often resist change until they are forced to confront failure.
We see this in many domains:
Recovery programmes – Alcoholics Anonymous speaks of hitting rock bottom before change begins.
Military training – Boot camp breaks down old habits before instilling new ones.
Medical diagnoses – Sometimes only a crisis prompts lifestyle changes.
As long as someone feels in control, they will defend the status quo — micromanaging, manipulating, or managing the optics to maintain authority. Only when that control is stripped away do they become open to transformation.
The Empty Cup
Confucius is often credited with the idea that “you must first have an empty cup before you can fill it.” If you are convinced you already know everything, you leave no room for new knowledge. The shift from optics to process often begins with that emptying — replacing ego with curiosity, defensiveness with openness, and political manoeuvring with genuine operational understanding.
Closing Thought
The politics–process divide is not the same as the leaders–managers divide. Both leaders and managers can fall into the optics trap, just as both can excel in operational improvement. The challenge — and the opportunity — lies in recognising the balance, valuing substance over style, and creating a culture where process competence is as celebrated as political skill.