Navigating Office Politics

I remember my first job after graduating from university. I was so excited to have landed the position in the company. As a woman working in the tech industry, I quickly realized that navigating office politics was going to be a challenge, especially since it is a male-dominated environment.

There were certain individuals within the company who seemed to have more influence than others, and it was hard to get noticed or to have my ideas heard. They were confident, yes, but there is a fine line between confidence and domineering. While confidence can help us to effectively convey our ideas, being domineering create an unwelcoming environment and hinder collaborative efforts. I felt like an outsider and didn't know how to fit in in the beginning.

One day, we were working on a project with my colleagues, and we were brainstorming ideas. My colleagues suggested something that I thought was a bad idea, but I didn't want to disagree and risk upsetting them and offered a suggestion. I also added reasons of course to back up my suggestion. It did not go as planned and they reacted in rather non-convectional way from one of them but the other colleague supported me. It gave me confidence to support my point as it was fully reasonable. With confidence, I rephrased my suggestion to be my point mentioning that it should be considered in the discussion and it was. There and then, I realized that I needed to be more confident in expressing my opinions.

I started speaking up more in meetings and contributing my ideas. I also made an effort to network with different people in the company and to build relationships with those outside my immediate team.

As I became more confident and assertive, I started to notice a shift in how my colleagues perceived me. They began to respect me more and to seek my opinion on various issues. I realized that being confident and assertive was key to navigating office politics.

In the end, my hard work and determination paid off to be better in my field. My experience taught me the importance of being assertive, building relationships, and having confidence in my abilities. I realized that with the right attitude and approach, I could succeed in navigating office politics.