On Office Politics

It exists and that it. It comes with the title of work or job. It is neither good or bad, it simply exists.

She said this, he said that, he got the promotion, she slept with….Office politics.

So many people see office politics as a negative and that is simply due to the fact that the association of the word “politics” is negative to almost everything around us.

I remember at my previous job, a highly competitive sales environment there was one guy by the name of Alex( pseudo name) who had understood office politics. His method however I was not so keen on.

He knew who to speak to, how to speak to them, what to speak about, however his drawback was that he had a tendency to speak negative about individuals and slowly once he gained your trust he would turn you against them. It was a clever strategy and he later told me that his belief is that “you do whatever it takes to get to the top” so that explains his method.

Karma in Politics

I agree, do whatever it takes, however stick to your principles and understand the basic rules of karma. Do not do to someone else what you do not what done to you, and if it is ok for you to talk about someone in a not so positive light then do not be amazed or surprised when words start flying around the office about you. If you have nothing good to say, shutup!

Remember, office politics exists. It is neither good or bad, it simply exists. You can see it however you want to see it, however my take is go out there and see office politics as something that will further your career.

The game of a “career” is just that. Something for you to aim for, and excel to higher positions. Without politics, your office world would not exist.

Yes, some people do it as they are bored at work, however these people fade out in the organisation very quickly, have no significance in the organisation and usually seen by senior management to simply make up the payroll and numbers.

Remember, office politics is your friend. When people start talking about their pay or other members of staff they are not fond of, what they are really doing is testing you to see if you break under the scrutiny and spill out your secrets.

Less is More

Do not avoid it as it will come after you, instead, acknowledge it, hear the person and move on. The best thing I find to say, is “I see, or I understand….”. You are not agreeing, you are merely a listener, and a listener merely feeds back to you what you just said. Speaking less here is in your favour.

Hold your Power

The less you say, the more you hold you power. If someone keeps talking to you about a certain person or situation in the office, if your response is demonstrating empathy with limited feedback from your end you are the one in control. You hold you position of power in the conversation.

If you look around your office you will see it is the people who do little talking that have the most respect within the organisation. They are a little mystical and at the same time when they speak you can see and feel the confidence in the voice.

These people also understand office politics jus like you. The listen, feed it back to you and move onto the task at hand.

Remember, office politics is your friend. It is not negative. Reframe it to be a positive. More on reframing later.

Be the best you can be,



Consigno