Office Politics

I know most of you think office politics is the worst thing and should be avoided. The reason being our politicians made politics a dirty word. However, it is not. Politics is a precious thing that needs high intellect and is not unethical. Unless one uses it to harm other. Here you can learn how to deal with office politics and how you can engage people doing positive politics which is important for your and organisation’s success, especially if you are in leadership role.

Can you believe, I got a high level of training in office politics and many global companies send their top executives/leaders for this kind of training?

A successful leader must be an expert of doing politics in office as otherwise it is not possible for him/her to execute the work and operate smoothly, and implement new rules, policies or strategies. To distinguish it from the negative feeling I say it is Positive Politics.

What is Positive Office Politics and why it is important?

Let me explain with some examples.

We live in a realistic world and not an ideal world. People around us have ego, jealousy, greed, power and their own challenges and personal responsibilities. Companies can train them to minimise the negative effect but can not change them. So, we need to work with this complex world and the different mindsets of people. So, what is the way? The way is one needs to do positive politics. A few examples can help to understand it better –

Example 1 (engage and give credit)

Suppose you are a Business Leader and want to implement some policy which you feel some senior team members may not like and can create problems. At the same time as per your maturity, it is important to implement that. Sometimes it may be the HR or Finance people who can create issues. So, identify who can oppose it. Talk to that person. Explain the benefit. It is not only the organization’s benefit but some positive impact he/she can also get. Take their suggestion. If require make little changes in the policy and say that. When you shall float it says that he/she also contributed to that policy. You may find instead of opposing the same person appreciates and helps you to implement it. Also, important to inform your counterparts senior people before you shoot the mail so that they do not feel insulted or shocked.

Office politics help to sell your idea, achieve targeted objectives, influence higher and lower subordinates and sometimes proper utilization of your power.

Example 2 (make Win-Win)

You know what is Win-Win-Win if you already read the Professional Negotiation article in this block. That is an overall win for the customer, organization and Individual. Here I want to say another win-win. That is when you are going to take any action, implement anything, asking for advice, giving suggestions, take care it should not be focused on your own benefit only, but the other person also feels it is beneficial for him/her.

Example 3 (be positive about your boss/ subordinates/colleagues)

Can you explain, what is success as an employee in one sentence? It is not achieving an objective, it is not getting a promotion, it is not to reach to a desired level. It is as long as you are not giving tension to your boss is the success.

Explaining more. You are appointed to do some set of work. You need to do it consistently. If you are a driver your boss is a passenger and do not give him a bumpy ride. He/she can suggest you, guide you, coach you but he/she expects work should be done successfully and on time. If so, the rest of the success definitions whatever you have in mind surely to come, say hitting objectives etc etc.

Never make your boss look bad. Appreciate your manager at every opportunity (it is not buttering. If you are a manager, you also do it for your junior). Occasionally stay extra time to give him/her peace that you are capable and sincere to complete the work on time and nothing can stop you. Never feel the manager is a fool, sometimes over intelligent people behave like less intelligent or fail to understand something purposefully or argue to test you.

Example 4 (I do not do politics)

Have you ever heard anyone telling that he is involved in (negative) office politics? No!  everyone says he/she is honest but others are political. And for every bad thing that happens to him/her rightly, he/she marks it as an outcome of office politics. Not really!

One hilarious example.

An accountant lost his job after working in an organization from his early 30 to late 43 years of age. He remarked, what a wastage of 13 years of time!

Negative Politics

It is mostly backbiting, involve in gossip and spreading rumors and/or suppress lack of talent.

Can you avoid or sit out of negative office politics?  No! However, you can avoid engaging yourself doing office politics. For that, concentrate more on your work ignoring office politics. The fundamental is, negative politics can not harm hard and efficient working people unless something exceptional. So, yes, virtually you can sit out of negative office politics.