Ship30for30 Day 9 - How to win at office politics

Tue, Feb 23, 2021 2-minute read

How to win at office politics
I admit, I never tried to understand office politics nor tried to participate. I thought it was a process where dishonesty was used to fail someone upward in their career. Sometimes shmoozing and dishonesty are at the core of office politics; however, more often it is about building relationships with peers and coworkers and being helpful.

Often we see politics being used by a person to get themselves seen and promoted. Being seen, building influence, and advancing your career are very good reasons to participate. It can be about helping others be seen for their work, having fun, helping people build connections and relationships, and so on.

To participate, as yourself a couple of questions:

What do you want and why?

Who has what you want?

Who can help you get it?

What do you need to get it?

The answers will help find you why to participate; the how-to participate is up to you and the impact you want to have on others.

I would add two questions to the list to determine how you want to impact others while participating:
What effect will I have on others?

How do I want to be remembered?

Office politics is as much about helping yourself as it is about helping others. We can do more to help ourselves by being engaged and helping others.

Whether you are engaged or disengaged, you are participating in office politics.

Get in the conversation!
Help others and the boss succeed!
Be open and honest about your agenda!

Most importantly: Go for it!
Twitter