One of my clients, a senior leader working in an IT company, told me that he has given up any hope of getting any promotion in this organization due to office politics.
When I probed further, he told me his line manager is biased with him as his peers keep feeding negative things about him. Also, he is not expecting any good rating or extra bonus this year. His manager gives all significant projects to that particular peer. He gets the least visible projects which require more time and have fewer returns.?
Does it sound familiar? In case you too are experiencing the same, here are five ways to address this in a way that helps you best navigate through such situations.
- The first step is Acceptance: Accept that the nature of the human mind is to dominate. That's the birthplace of office politics. We cannot address a situation if we are in denial about the situation.
- Catch yourself Judging:?If you can catch yourself judging, it's good. It's the beginning of the end of judgment. Becoming aware of our judging state reduces its intensity. Further, if you name the associated negative emotion, it begins to lose its power. (Name it to tame it)
- Victim?Mindset:?Stop seeing yourself as a victim. The more you see yourself as a victim, the deeper you get into the office politics mess. See this situation as an opportunity to build your ability to navigate through tough situations. Also, stop discussing this with peers as the more we discuss, our victim mindsets get hardwired.?
- Choose your Focus: Don’t close doors for a possible patch-up with the peer/manager. As the internal judgment stops, you will begin to see other good qualities in people. Whatever we focus on expands. If we focus on the positive qualities, we see more of them. We end up attracting more positivity from others. The opposite is true as well.
- Expand your Network:?Invest in building relationships with other important people in the organization. Networking is an art that has long-term dividends.
?With the above five strategies, you can handle office politics instead of getting sucked in it.?
Chair Transform Housing & Support | Team & Executive Coach | Often in Finance
3 年You can't ignore politics in business but I think this is a super, concise summary of some useful tools to help work in spite of them. I recognise a number of these from my own experience when I managed the politics brillliantly and.......badly!
Business Coach I Mentor I Executive Coach I Leadership Facilitator I Speaker I Wellness Practitioner I Amateur Musician
3 年Well captured Kshitij Sharma . Stopping playing victim and cultivating cross relationships across stake holders who realise your true value can neutralise the impact to a large extent. I survived 3 decades in Corporate without sucking up to anyone or playing politics.
? Neuroleadership ? Resilience ? Mental Health ? Leadership Development ? Emotional Intelligence ? Strategy Consultant ? Author
3 年Some awesome information you’ve got here Kshitij, thanks for sharing!