101: Office Politics
“Playing the game,” as it's called, can be unpleasant for many in the workplace. But office politics exist, and navigating the various personalities, work habits and alliances in your workplace — even as a manager — will likely benefit your work and career.
Rather than plowing full steam ahead with your ideas and ways of doing things, it may be beneficial to build alliances by taking a step back first and observing where more informal power and influence lay. Here are three things you can do to get in tune with office politics at your workplace:
Understand social circles. Who gets along with whom? Are there cliques, and who is in them? Another question worth considering, according to an article at MindTools.com: “What is the basis for the interrelationship? Friendship? Respect? Manipulation?”
Don't play favorites. As a manager, don't align too strongly with one group, advises a Marshall Loeb article at the Wall Street Journal website. “Bridging across factions may be a more effective strategy for long-term success,” he writes. Alliances can and do break down and reform with different players.
Use politics to mutual advantage. That's different from “playing politics,” points out a Harvard Business Review blog entry by Linda Hill and Kent Lineback. They advise, among other things, to remember to build productive relationships with everyone you need and everyone who needs you, not just people you like; to not let disagreements become personal; and to remember that “when important decisions are made in your organization, you need to reach out and actively build ties with others.”n
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