Office Politics: Playing the Game May be Crucial to Your Success

Office politics exists in every company and is a part of most peoples career whether they like it or not. Managing organizational power and influence can bring out the worst in people and few can escape the fallout.

Although many of us would prefer to not get caught up in office politics, playing the game can have a crucial role in your success. Removing yourself from office politics can make you appear invisible and literally take you out of the loop. Choosing to avoid office politics can cause your accomplishments to be overlooked and diminish your sphere of influence. Unfortunately, the gain for engaging in office politics may out weigh the consequences of not taking on a role in the games people play.

Office politics can become nasty when people are striving for their own personal gain. While self-striving individuals can often find success in organizations, this strategy is one that provides only a short term gain. On the other hand, those who are respectful, diligent and diplomatic can generally build the coalitions and resources needed for successful long term career growth.

Here are some tips to help you engage in office politics and still garner the respect of others:

Treat everyone with respect. It is how you would like to be treated and you never know when disrespectful behavior may come back to bite you.

1. Define how things get done in your organization. Uncover how things get done. How are decisions made? What are the company values and are they acted on? Is the current focus on short-term or long-term objectives? Find an organizational veteran who can help you find these answers.
2. Where is the power? Who are the power players in the organization? Observe and model how they communicate and make decisions. Who do they network with and what kind of initiatives do they support?
3. What is your company’s strategy? Identify what strategic initiatives your company is focusing on and make sure that your skill set is on par with these objectives.
4. Focus on results. Results translate in to recognition and opportunity. More than ever, companies are focused on the bottom line. Productivity trumps everything else.
5. Be humble in tooting your own horn. If you don’t keep others abreast of your progress, you are opting out of office politics. Others will be tooting their own horn and may even take credit for your work.
6. Be a masterful communicator. Being masterful means being adaptive in how you communicate. Learn to adjust your communication to the style of others. Be prepared to support your communication with facts and examples to add credibility.
7. Diversify your alignments. Align too closely with one group one day and you may be gone the next. Communicate with other factions and develop relationships with broad alliances.
8. Clarify that you are in the right place. If you find that your organization is not a good fit for you and the games being played are too rough, don’t be afraid to move on. Some companies promote paranoia, fear, and Machiavellian strategies. In many cases, these games may not be worth playing.