Monday, April 4, 2016
Good morning,
Almost nobody likes dealing with office politics, and it’s the people who do enjoy it that you have to worry about.
And just like regular politics, office politics is an unavoidable element of human behavior—bring people together and the jockeying begins.
A lot of the advice about how to handle office politics boils down to “just don’t play,” as if avoiding the political system in your office will protect you and your career.
It won’t.
Saying you’re not affected by office politics is like saying you’re not affected by politics at large. It makes a difference, even if you close your eyes and hope it goes away.
The key to winning at office politics is to stop wishing it will go away and to start learning how to thrive in your workplace’s political environment. You don’t have to dive right into the seedy underbelly of office politics to win the game; you win by playing smart and knowing when and how it’s worth getting involved.
First, you need to learn the lay of the land. Whether you just started a new job or just realized that avoiding office politics is detrimental to your career, you have to begin by figuring out exactly what’s going on. Your office is full of allies and rivals, and, if you watch and listen closely, you can get a pretty good sense of who’s aligned with whom:
- Who has lunch together?
- Who gets invited to important meetings, and who doesn’t?
- Who always seems to be the first to know about coming changes, and who always seems to be last to know?
- What are the cultural hot buttons that get tempers boiling?
The answers to these questions define your political landscape. This doesn’t mean that you should choose a side—that would be counterproductive—but it’s smart to understand the rules and the players and their strategies before you jump into the fray. Otherwise, you could find yourself unintentionally caught up in a long, simmering rivalry.
Next, you should build broad alliances. One of the smartest things you can do is to build alliances throughout the company so that you’ll have a foot in as many of the political camps as possible. If you accomplish this and show people across the board that they can rely on you, you’ll stand a good chance of coming out ahead, no matter which political camp is currently “winning.” You also won’t be left out of the cold if a group of allies leaves the company.
Throughout the process, you need to keep your eyes on the goal. Remind yourself, as many times as it takes, that you’re not engaging in office politics for fun or to be one of “them;” you’re doing it for two reasons: career success and job fulfillment. When you get caught up emotionally, you run the risk of making decisions you’ll regret down the road. Gossiping, backstabbing, manipulating, and the rest are not needed to win at office politics. Keeping your eyes on the goal lets you develop and maintain a strategic approach for dealing with your workplace’s unique political atmosphere.
You should never pit rivals against one another. One situation that everybody dreads is getting caught between two warring parties. In a situation like that, it’s easy to tell each of them what they want to hear, even if that’s just nodding in agreement when they bad-mouth each other. But fake allegiances are always exposed in the long run, and then, neither of the people you were trying to impress will trust you again. Instead, steer your conversations back to the facts: What decisions need to be made? What are the next steps? What can I do to help improve this situation?
Finally, you must stick to your principles, without fail. Before taking any action that’s fueled by office politics, ask yourself why you’re doing it. If you’re motivated by fear, revenge, or jealousy, don’t do it. If it conflicts with your values and beliefs about fair behavior, it’s better not to get involved.
Make it a great day!