Guidance For Dealing With Workplace Politics
Whenever you put two or more people together in a room, one way or another, you will get politics. Within the context of the workplace, politics usually refers to individuals doing things with a view to advance their career and attain more power. Workplace politics is often viewed in a negative context, however, this doesn’t have to be the case. Whilst you don’t need to play dirty games/politics to get ahead, there is no harm in realising the political landscape in your organisation. By doing this, you may keep away from getting burnt unnecessarily and in addition use it to your benefit once in a while. Here are just a few points which will assist:
Know where power lies: It’s always good to know which people/groups are in powerful positions, at totally different points in time. People can have power both within the form of formal designations, or in a more informal nature, which will be because of high performance and/or general popularity.
Try not to mess with individuals who have power: As far as attainable, try not to get in the way of someone who’s in a powerful position. There are exceptions to this of course, such as when the particular person is doing one thing that may cease you from doing all your job(s) correctly, or directly harm you in some way. One strategy to take care of such cases is to gain favour/support from somebody who’s even more powerful.
Be careful of taking sides: There’ll usually be multiple power centre in your organisation and it’s good to not take sides as a result of that group might not be powerful in the future.
Use powerful people in positive methods: For instance, you can volunteer to assist a powerful individual with a venture or other assignment. By performing the task very nicely, you not only showcase your abilities but in addition earn some brownie points, which can be utilised to get favours in the future.
Know which co-employees to trust: There are lots of individuals who will seem very good, however, the second you let your guard down they will use it to hurt you. So keep good relations with your peers and develop friendships at work but be very careful of what you say or do, round those who have a reputation for playing dirty.
Amit Puri has over 10 years of career advisory & business management experience. He heads Sandbox Advisors a career, job search, recruitment & HR consulting firm in Singapore.Visit their site (Career & Job Search Insights for Singapore), for research, pointers and videos, on cover letter samples, job interview questions and answers, job openings, career choice & more.