How to Handle Office Politics

A few days ago, I had a conversation with one of the readers on my page who expressed me about her struggle with office politics and how she felt like everybody at her office was playing against her. I do believe some of you reading this may be facing the same way. Well, before going to the Dos and Don’ts, let me first explain what exactly is ‘Office Politics.’ Office politics are actions or behaviors of people in an organization or at office, that take the form of using power or a position to get the advantage of one’s self at the expense of the co-worker and eventually hurting that person’s relations with others at work. So, obviously for the above reason, you need to know how office politics is seriously affecting your career life and the way you enjoy and succeed at work.

Here are some valuable tips covering Dos and Don’ts for handling office politics.

1.    Ask questions to know your organization’s culture

If you are new at work, you must find out the organizational culture at your office. You should observe with the questions like “How do employees perform in the entire organization? How are the decisions made? Are there groups within the organization and how are they working separately?”

2.    Develop your image as a good listener

When someone is talking, don’t interrupt but listen carefully. Avoid thinking what to talk against in an argument when the other person hasn’t done speaking. If you listen carefully, you’ll understand their emotions, feelings and perspectives, and you’ll be able to forge yourself as a good-listener and build good relations with your colleagues.

3.    Share responsibilities and success with colleagues

Don’t be a maverick. Take participation in projects. This will definitely improve your relationship with your co-workers. Even if you see a person you don’t like is successful at work, don’t fail to congratulate the person and share your joy for the news.

4.    Listen to criticisms

Nobody likes to be criticized. When being criticized, most people give back negative reactions which literally hurts their relations with colleagues. If you’re criticized by your colleagues, don’t take it personally. Listen to them and make changes to yourself if necessary.

5.    Stay away from power struggles

Office politics is usually a result of power struggles. Some people have the tendency to win an argument by using their power and position. So, you better refrain from having arguments with such people and instead, talk and negotiate nicely.

6.    Keep good relationship with your colleagues

Some employees have their own faction or team at work. As you may be one of them, you should avoid competing with other teams and talking bad things about them. Otherwise, you might have fueled office politics and this will affect you negatively in the long run. So, it’s definitely important to keep good relations with every colleague at work.

7.    Ask questions if there’s a difference in opinion

Differences in opinion are very common during office meetings such as in discussions over new projects. When different voices are raised against your proposal, don’t convince that they’re intentionally criticizing you. You should try to find out their perspectives by asking questions, “Why do they disagree? What can you do to get better opinions over the project?”

8.    Turn your enemies into associates

Sometimes, there are people who are jealous of you or dislike you for no reason. These people may stab in your back and spark problems to you. If you have such adversaries at work, what you should do is to know who they are, show your positive attitudes, smile when you meet them and build good relationship. As time passes, they’ll become your trusted associates.

9.    Try to get trust from colleagues and be known as a supportive person

You can also avoid office politics by sharing what you know to your colleagues and being ready to help others every time they need you. Your supportive attitudes make you a unique person and help you build trust with your colleagues.

10. Don’t let office politics affect your personal life

If you’ve ever felt stressed because of office politics, don’t bring your stress and anger to home because your emotions can make you do things that hurt your relationship with your family. So, leave your career-cares at work and enjoy your family life. Spending time with your family can also reduce your stress level.

In a nutshell, office politics are common in every organizations and what you should do is to develop good relationship with your co-workers, avoid arguments, seek resolutions when you face differences in opinions and try to be well-known as a helpful person at work.

Laura Cho

www.laurachointernational.com

Laura Cho is a founder of Laura Cho Intl. developing millennial talents to build a successful career by unleashing their full potential with her HR expertise. She is a public speaker sharing HR topics at various stages in Hong Kong and Myanmar and career knowledge at Universities, Colleges, Radio shows, online platforms such as LinkedIn and Laura Cho Facebook page, journals and public seminars. She is keen on investing her time to share and develop talents volunteering to mentor young people.