Unless You’re in Charge, Avoid Office Politics

Whoosh out the door goes another executive, manager, salaried or
hourly worker. No one is exempt or excluded from the negative
repercussions associated with office politics. Unless you are at
the top of the company, you have no business being involved in
any aspect of the office politics that play out everyday.

Why should you avoid the game; because there is always someone
more devious, tactful and unscrupulous than you think? You are
going to loose, it is just a matter of time. Our natural
curiosity and human instinct draws us to office politics because
we are curious about the information, insight and perceived
influences that can be derived from being in the game, as I
refer it. There are no-long term benefits for you, just
distractions and a dead end. If you find yourself drawn into
the game, stop and ask yourself these two questions:
*What are the benefits you will gain through your involvement
in this situation?
*How is getting involved going to help you do your job better?
I hope your answers leads you back to being focused
on your job task a hand and not allow yourself to be diverted to
a negative situation. Implement these three behavior modes to
avoid office politics.
Ears – You can not help but hear conversations that are controversial
and fit into the office politics category. Don’t repeat or propagate
what you have heard to others, most of the time the information is
without merit.
Eyes – If you see or read controversial subject matter, do not
pass any of it on to someone else; do not bring the issue up as a
power play against someone involved. In the end if you do, you
will look like the fool and often the one person not to be
trusted.
Mouth - Keep Your Mouth Shut.

Ok, what are some signs that there may be some degree of office
politicking that you need to recognize. I am paraphrasing from an
article found on the Conway Management web site (a) on Patrick
Lencioni author of, Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive:
Four Disciplines of Making Any Organization World Class. In his
book he targets the company’s top leaders in addressing the
subject of office politics.

*Leadership or executive team unification – observe if the
executives are unified in their goals, thought process and there
is no distrust during rough cycles.
*Are the processes and actions consistent and closely controlled
at all times?
*Is the top down communications about the organizational goals;
frequent, clear and understandable?
*Reinforce Organizational Clarity to the point everyone in the
company can recite the organizations goals and company priorities.

If you are an executive and want to truly get an understanding of
the office politics in you business, think about purchasing the
Office Politics Game. refer to web site:
http://www.officepolitics.com/op_game.html
(a)http://www.conwaymgmt.com/pdf/Obsessions_Of_An_Executive.pdf

My final words on this subject are; stay out of the office
politics.