22 Best Lessons How to cope

with Office Politics

 Published on September 3, 2016
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Jagdish Prajapati (CEO)- People First recruiting SolutionsFollowJagdish Prajapati

(CEO)- People First recruiting Solutions
CONSULTANT RECRUITMENT & TRAINING

“The person who says “I’m not political” is in great danger, as only
the fittest will survive, and the fittest will be the ones who
understand their office’s politics”.

Politics in the workplace is a fact of life in most companies and, even if

you do not want to take part, it is important for your own survival and
success that you are aware that it exists, that you can recognise the
players, and that you understand how to navigate around it.

22 Best Lessons How to cope with Office Politics

1 A PERSON SHOULD NOT BE TOO HONEST. STRAIGHT
TREES ARE CUT FIRST AND HONEST PEOPLE ARE SCREWED
FIRST.

This is the reason people who follow the ‘yes boss’ route are smart.
Instead of being honest and axing on your own foot, try being
diplomatic. Only because true opinions are painful and people don’t
want to hear them. Being too honest and direct makes you come across
as a rude person who doesn’t value feelings. On the contrary, being
diplomatic doesn’t hurt anybody and you can easily get things done.

2. AVOID STEPPING INTO A GREAT MAN’S SHOES

Every organizations have their legends. Mr X who was incredible in

their work and even after they left, people cannot stop talking about him.
Avoid taking over a project started by this legend. Chances are you will
never be able to live up to the standards and fantasy of the image created
by this missing person.

Instead, take on a project which people have tried and failed in. If you
are successful, not only do you break the preconceived notion of the
“impossible project” but also become the new legend.

3. NEVER OUTSHINE YOUR BOSS

Turns out, this whole office dynamics exist on the single principle that
you have to make your immediate superior look good. Leaving aside
pride, somehow what your manager have to say about you has way more
credibility that what you have to say about yourself. The worst mistake
you can make is to try to do the opposite and outshine your immediate
boss.

With your future in their hands, he or she can completely destroy you.
You should try to stay out of the limelight and build your own network
in the company. However, until that is complete, you have to keep
making your manager look good.

4 BEFORE YOU START SOME WORK, ALWAYS ASK

YOURSELF THREE QUESTIONS – WHY AM I DOING IT, WHAT
THE RESULTS MIGHT BE AND WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. ONLY
WHEN YOU THINK DEEPLY AND FIND SATISFACTORY
ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS, GO AHEAD

Sounds like a foolproof plan to save your time from getting wasted,
right? A smart worker will only do things that will yield results. They
won’t do donkey’s work and, instead, will save their time by being
productive at what they do.

5 ONCE YOU START WORKING ON SOMETHING, DON’T

BE AFRAID OF FAILURE AND DON’T ABANDON IT. PEOPLE
WHO WORK SINCERELY ARE THE HAPPIEST.

The sleep that you get after a hard day’s work is the most peaceful
sleep. Hard work might or might not pay, but the satisfaction of
working hard is the best feeling to experience. Proving your worth by
sincere hard work makes you a valued employee who is important to the
organisation.
6 THE BIGGEST GURU-MANTRA IS : NEVER SHARE
YOUR SECRETS WITH ANYBODY. IT WILL DESTROY YOU.

Remember, it’s a workplace and not your college where you have
selfless friendship with your colleagues. Watch out for how much you
reveal about your personal life at work. Imagine what would happen if
your secrets get passed on and you get stabbed in the back by your work
BFF? Exactly. So avoid it and do what you need to to maintain a healthy
balance between work and personal life by keeping your secrets to
yourself.

7 THERE IS SOME SELF-INTEREST BEHIND EVERY

FRIENDSHIP. THERE IS NO FRIENDSHIP WITHOUT SELF-
INTERESTS. THIS IS A BITTER TRUTH.

This lesson not only applies to work life, but to life in general. We try to
be friends with someone because we ‘want’ to share our interests with
them, we ‘want’ to be in their group, we ‘want’ to make them like us.
There is always a motive behind friendship because we are needy.
Choose your company wisely.

8 YOUR BEST FRIEND AT WORK WILL TURN INTO YOUR

WORST ENEMY

Too many times we make the mistake of making friends at work.

Although we spend close to 50 hours a week in the office, we should

always remember that it is work and should not confuse it with the rest
of our lives. That guy or girl you hang out with at the pantry area, go for
lunch with and meet after work for gym may soon become your worst
enemy, given the right circumstances.

At some point, only one of you will get the attention of your manager
and get promoted and that is where the problem starts. The closer the
friends you are, the more of a betrayal it will feel like. You do not want
to cultivate enemies in your workplace. The solution? Be professional at
your workplace and treat people as your acquaintances, not friends.

9 CREATE AN AURA OF MYSTERY AND

EFFORTLESSNESS

There are those types in the company, who constantly look distressed
and in a mess. Keep your troubles and insecurities to yourself and guard
it well. Create an aura of mystery where you look like a super genius
who have to put minimum effort to get the work done.

Nobody needs to know that you spent the entire weekend on your laptop
on Google trying to find the solution for the problem or called your
friends in the US for the solution. Never brag about how much effort
you put, because in the last 100 years, we have moved from the sweat
shop mentality where hours were respected to a more result based
reward system.

10 THERE ARE THREE GEMS UPON THIS EARTH ; FOOD,

WATER, AND PLEASING WORDS – FOOLS CONSIDER PIECES
OF ROCKS AS GEMS.
Apart from bread, butter and house, ‘pleasing words’ are also a basic
necessity. At first, if you can’t solve a problem by a stern instruction, try
being soft. Chances are your work might get done easily. If not, you will
have to twist someone around that little finger.

1. IDENTIFY THE SOURCE OF POWER: BE CLOSE TO IT

In any organization, there are two types of people: some who get
promoted quickly and some who have to forever wait their turn.

The people who get promoted are not necessarily the more talented ones
or the one bringing in the most profits. Deep inside the framework of the
organization, there is a constant power struggle in place and your job is
to understand the power dynamics. You have to identify the people who
yield the real power and create a personal network with them. You need
these “Godfathers” for the future, your visibility to them will determine
all the progress in the company.

Even if your manager absolutely loves you, if he yields no power, you

and him will be stuck there forever.

12 AS SOON AS THE FEAR APPROACHES NEAR, ATTACK

AND DESTROY IT.

Do you get scared and nervous while giving a presentation in front of a

tough audience? Or do you fumble while pitching your ideas to your
boss and your team? Well, if that’s the case then this point is for you.
Fear is your fierce enemy. It’s standing in between of you and the goal
you’ve been dreaming of. If you muster up some courage, give it your
best and go the ‘que sera sera’ route, then you will overcome fear and
show it the exit door.

13 THERE IS BUT ONE RULE: HUNT OR BE HUNTED

Call it “Survival of the Fittest” or anything else, it is a war out there.

Once you leave the protective umbrella of home, you must know that
nobody really cares for you. Every time you get a pay raise or a bonus, it
is not because someone likes you, but rather it seems profitable
according to someone’s cost-benefit analysis. Remember while
negotiating, it is pointless to appeal to someone’s sentiments but useful
to illustrate to them what benefit you can bring.

14 BE INDISPENSABLE

We are in a world where you and me are dispensable and easily

replaceable. To survive, we have to crawl out of the crowd of
dispensable and easily replaceable office drones.

“Be So Good That They Cannot Ignore You”. Keeping this mantra in
mind, be amazing, always do work that probably justifies twice or at
least one and a half times the salary you earn. People should be so
dependant on you that the whole system should almost collapse once
you are on vacation or you resign. For your survival, do not volunteer all
the information you know but withhold some. Armed with the complete
information, your manager might think you are replaceable.

15 TILL THE TIME YOU DON’T DECIDE TO RUN, YOU ARE

NOT IN THE COMPETITION.
A no-brainer here. If the competition is tough, then you’ve got to be
tougher. You’ve got to be one step ahead of your competition. That’s
how it is when it comes to winning the corporate race and climbing the
corporate ladder.

16 EVEN IF A SNAKE IS NOT POISONOUS, IT SHOULD

PRETEND TO BE VENOMOUS.

Otherwise society will take undue advantage of you. Being intimidating

helps because people won’t run over you. If you come across as an over-
friendly, people pleaser, then you’re sending out a wrong message.

17 DISCOVER EVERY MAN’S WEAKNESS

In the quest for self survival, be an astute observer of human nature.

Identify those tell-tale signs which demonstrate personality flaws in your

coworkers and superiors. If your manager cannot complete a sentence
without throwing in a jargon like some MBA textbook, he or she might
be trying to hide perhaps their lack of solid domain knowledge.

To the manager who is using jargon to cover up, be a crutch to them

with your knowledge and become indispensable. Once you know
everybody’s weaknesses, they are like play dough in your hands, ready
to be molded into anything you want.

18 YOU WANT TO CAST A SPELL ON AN INTELLIGENT

PERSON THEN TELL HIM THE TRUTH.
They are going to find out the truth anyway, so you better not fool
around in front of a bright person. For instance, if you’re at an interview
and a highly qualified person is asking you questions, avoid bluffing.
Chances are that you might get caught and make a fool of yourself.

19 LEARN FROM THE MISTAKES OF OTHERS…. YOU

CAN’T LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO MAKE THEM ALL
YOURSELVES !!

The most important of them all – learn from the mistakes of others. It’s a
great opportunity to learn from someone else’s failure. You have to see
to it that it’s someone else is making a mistake and not you. Learning
from someone else's mistakes will help you climb up a step of the
progress ladder to reach the top.

20 WORDS MAKE A POOR STATEMENT, CHOOSE ACTION

INSTEAD

If you occasionally have to defend your position in the company, do not

choose words but actions instead.

Instead of arguing that you are doing the job to your best abilities,
results you have already achieved will speak volumes. Too many times
we get over emotional and make the mistake of arguing our point of
view. However, if we temporarily retreat and use our work to
demonstrate, this will hold way more credibility.

21 WHEN IT COMES TIME TO DEFEAT YOUR OPPONENT,

CRUSH HIM COMPLETELY
This is perhaps the last option left to you. Your superior and coworker
had probably made your life a living hell, you cannot leave the company
due to some reasons and you really need a job. For survival, you have to
take them out. You have slowly gathered evidence against them, an
email trail which probably shows off their incapability and lack of
professionalism.

When you need to eliminate them, perhaps in front of the higher

management, you need to defeat them completely. You should perhaps
attack them from more than one direction and perhaps during a time
when they are busy or on vacation, when they cannot defend themselves
easily. A completely defeat is necessary because if your opponent is
allowed to recover, you will end up leaving the company.

22 DISILLUSIONED WITH LIFE ?

After reading this, if you feel that the whole human existence has no
meaning like I felt then, working in an office laced with politics may not
be the best for you. As I always say, if you cannot change things, setup
your company and run it with the child-like idealism you had.

The harsh reality is that organizations are hierarchies, and the social
science bears out uncomfortable truths about politics and interpersonal
relationships: We make initial snap judgments of people, often based on
appearance, that can carry on over time;we favor those who are similar to
us; we get promoted or gain valuable information by making our boss feel
good and building relationships with influential people; we form
perceptions based on a speaker’s appearance, body language, and
voice more than the content of the argument; and we are more likely to be
perceived as competent if we are judiciously critical or show
anger (at least,men are). There is strong evidence that our work ratings,
bonuses, and promotions areweakly correlated to actual performance —
in fact, performance may even matter less to our success than our political
skills and how we are perceived by those who make the decisions.

So why wasn’t Jill spending more time managing up, especially if it was
in her own self-interest?