My department has a central support role (systems and IT) in the organization. My supervisor wants to discredit another department head. That department head wants to discredit my boss. They both use my work as a tool to do this.
I feel my work ethic is in great danger as I now have to choose between doing my job or following political directives. How can I navigate this but still maintain my integrity and my job? It is not cut and dry, doing my job helps or hurts the other side in equal measures depending on the circumstance. But there is always an illusion that I am taking sides.
If my boss tells me not to do my job, what do I do? If me doing my job is used to discredit someone, especially when it is my boss, how do I navigate that? Is it even worth it to care which side I'm perceived to be on?
specific examples I don't think this is necessary and I don't want to reveal too much, but here is an idea of the climate.
- If an SSRS report (for any department) no longer pulls the required data because of a change in business process, said external director frames it as incompetence on my supervisor's part instead of just filing a request to change the parameters.
- If the one director asks for a new SSRS report, I am not instructed to build said report unless the SOW is completely filled out in detail and everything that was discussed in it is put into question several times (other directors get a pass usually)