About the only way to avoid workplace politics is to move into a cave and grub for roots and berries. Even there the bears are probably trying to hide the best berries from you.
It doesn’t matter what type of organization you’re involved with: the community association, your job, the local amateur orchestra, or minor-sports league, there are going to be politics. The trick is to stop seeing office politics as a negative thing and learn how to make positive use of them.
K. Stone has posted a number of guidelines at Dumb Little Man, for turning office politics into a win-win situation for all parties. A couple of my favourites:
Always Be Positive About Others. When asked for feedback on coworkers, find only genuinely positive things to say. If your feedback is thin and soupy, people will be able to read between the lines. Leave that up to them. Stay positive.
If You Want People to Help You, Understand Their Needs First. If you want someone to scratch your back, you need to scratch theirs first. It’s pretty simple. First you need to know what is important to them. If you’re not sure, find out! Put your request in terms of how it will align with their goals. So, for instance, if you want the marketing department to highlight your team’s product, then you need to show the marketing department how doing that will help them with their number one goal. And, also, you should seek out the person who cares about this goal the most within that department.
This is not about compromising your integrity or stand on issues. It is about choosing those issues where you can achieve your goals by helping others achieve their goals.
It’s Not the Size of Your Office Politics Tool… – Dumb Little Man
How do you make positive use of office politics?
1 response so far ↓
K Stone // Jan 17, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Thank you for citing my article! I’m honored!
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