Henry Lee - Office Politics: A Beginners Overview and Guide : How to Survive and Thrive in the World of Office Politics

A workplace thriving with backstabbers, gossipers, bullying cliques, suck-ups (basically the people you hate in the office!) can put unwarranted stress to people who just want to go about their career clean. This may or may not be news for you, but the game of office politics is a game played in EVERY office. The difference lies in whether the game is played for the benefit of the company or for the benefit of the chosen few.

Naturally, different people react differently when confronted by this reality. Some are born to the dance of politics and thrive. Others try to play the game only to be swallowed by the bigger, more ruthless fish. Some shy away from all the stress of politics and focus on high performance only to see later on that their less competent but influential colleague stole the promotion that is rightfully theirs. There are others who are just plain disgusted with the game and actively avoid getting caught in the murky world of office politics.

For most people who do not like or fail to thrive in the presence of office politics, pursuing their careers in a different office environment is always a looming option only to be confronted by the sad reality that dirty politics still haunt the greener side of the lawn. While everyone acknowledges the presence of office politics in every cubicle of every office, there is much disagreement on whether to advocate active participation or to avoid it completely. However, most find the safest place to be in the middle ground knowing how to play the game and navigate so you can protect yourself while not really actively participating.

While adopting this anonymous-but-ready stance is tempting, it is easy to get caught up when confrontation arises. This means that if you really want to survive and thrive, you need to participate and pick a side. The political landscape in every office is unique and you cannot trust anybody so whose side should you play with? Yourself of course! Politics flourish when individuals with different interests engage in power struggles.

If you do not define your interests, you will eventually and inevitably be reduced to a mere pawn for the most cunning of players or even worse, a stepping stone. When you finally realized that your talents have been used and abused by other people for their own ends, you will feel cheated and disillusioned which may lead to less enthusiasm in doing your job which can impair your performance and destroy future opportunities to further your career.

This DOES NOT, in any way, mean that you have the license to be self-serving. When a player only has the desire to further his/her own ends, he/she will gain many faceless enemies that would want to expose the players self-serving nature. Self-serving players are also a bane in the companys growth as they would commonly use the companys valuable resources for their benefits alone and spread hate and dissent among the companys ranks .

So how do you avoid this fall to the dark side? Align your interests with your companys vision, mission and interests. This way, no one will question your integrity and intentions. Remember, as your company grows, your chance for career growth also increases. If you improve your craft, your company will certainly profit from it as well. Also, the prevalence of dirty politics in the office does not mean that traits like honesty, sincerity and integrity are not valued.

On the contrary, the presence of these values is an important ingredient in the recipe for success of truly successful people. Besides, contrary to what is always portrayed in fiction, pretending to be someone who has good intentions is more difficult to pull off in the long run. People are NOT ALWAYS stupid and eventually, they will see through the ruse. So in essence, instead of hiding behind a lie that you want to bring your company (and your team) to success with you, live the lie until it becomes your truth!

The presence of office politics, especially if competent company assets (whose career is built upon the companys core values and best interest) are involved can be beneficial for the company. This means that if an influential player deems the participation in a key project important to further his/her own career, he/she can bring other employees (not only those who are under his/her sphere of influence but rivals as well) to participate in the project, increasing the chance that the key project will be executed with high quality. In the end, if the project is executed well, this can grant promotion to the employee/s involved, bring more money to the company and make customers satisfied. Everybody happy!

This everybody happy approach is what the book is trying to make the reader understand and emulate in advocating participation in office politics. Humans are social animals. Admit it or not, we have our weaknesses and we mask these weaknesses by working with other people who happen to be good at what we hate to do. Good and lasting working relationships are formed when you resist the urge to always take from a professional relationship, that is, when you adopt a compromise where you, your partner (or teammates) and the company will all benefit.

A common mistake of cunning players is to always maximize the benefits from a venture by hoarding all the glory and credit for themselves. In the end, these players end up to be the most hated person in the office, his/her more cunning enemies patiently waiting (or worse, planning) for his/her downfall.

Office politics is a reality that each employee (from the bottom dwellers to the top dogs) must face every day. The greatest pain that dirty politics brings to people are the feelings of being manipulated and coerced to do something for the benefit of other people making the other side win at the expense of your loss. Truly successful players seek to make everybody with competing interests win without being a pleaser, that is, if you want to survive and thrive, learn to always find common ground where everybody will be satisfied.