Mastering Office Politics
Somethings are unavoidable. No matter how much we bellyache we don’t like people politics whether it’s at home, with friends, organization or the office, as long as there are people, politics will arise. Politics simple is people’s divergent views and methods to carry out their goals. At times it clashes. Since it’s unavoidable, better to understand and perhaps master it positively.
Tsem Rinpoche
Only Idiots Don’t Play Office Politics — Here’s How to Master The Game
Dan Waldschmidt | March 11, 2015, 12:59 PM
The idea of playing politics gets a bad rap.
Often you’ll hear people say, “Oh, you’re just playing politics with that decision” in a context that usually means, “You don’t really believe what you’re doing, but you’re doing it in order to avoid doing the right thing.”
The truth about success in business, sports, or any other venture is that it requires you to be an expert at navigating the people part of getting what you want — in other words, playing politics.
You can’t avoid playing politics
Especially if you care about being successful.
If you’re not good at playing politics, you’ll find yourself frustrated and angry because of how ineffective you are. Your good ideas don’t get listened to. Your good plans don’t get taken seriously. Your good intentions and hard work ethic never seem to get the attention they deserve.
Maybe it’s time for you to figure out how to play better politics. Here are a few helpful ideas to get you started:
- It’s OK to point the finger as long as you’re honest when it comes to pointing the finger back at yourself when appropriate.
- Someone else acting inappropriately isn’t a valid argument for why you shouldn’t get in trouble when you do the same.
- If those around you don’t know what you’re doing, their natural assumption is that you’re not doing anything at all.
- A little bit of respect and humility goes a long way in your relationships with other people.
- It’s no one else’s fault that you’re not as successful as you want to be, so stop taking your frustration out on them.
- Small details left unresolved always become the huge obstacles that eventually bring about your demise.
- Don’t answer questions if you don’t know why they are being asked.
- If you’re not sure what your value is, don’t expect to be satisfied by the compensation other people give you.
- Fewer meetings and more short, personal conversations are the secret to getting people to see it your way.
- How you say what you need to say is more important than what you actually say.
You need to master the game
The truth about playing politics is that you don’t hate the game itself. You just don’t like it when the game is played poorly.
You don’t like being lied to. You don’t like being talked down to. You don’t like not knowing where you stand.
So don’t be that guy who does that to others around you. Get better at playing the game.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-play-office-politics-2015-3?IR=T&utm_content=bufferfe82b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer?r=US&IR=T
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In life, politics is inevitable, let it be in office or among friends and even in family. Office politics are the worst and the strategies that people play to gain advantage, personally or for a cause they support. I can said that it was a difficult and painful lesson to learn, but a critical one for anyone with ambition. Office politics is real and something we just have to deal with in the working world. When we avoid office politics it can sabotage our career. At times we just have to follow the flow as long we do not hurt someone and bare in mind our conscience is clear. In a complex competitive workplace it takes both great performance and political savvy to get ahead. I do believe in giving more than we take , be proactive and take on projects that ensure visibility and are important for the organization. Through my experience knowing that office politics hurts at times but once I just ignore, letting it go ,think positively and get the work done ,That’s it, both are happy at the end of the day.
It is an interesting topic. Often time we hear people say “where there is people, there is politics” – which is true. But the core of the matter is, people allow it; it is a choice. And by allowing it and participating in it, it is a form of encouragement, whether the game is being played poorly or not. Does it even matter whether it is being played poorly or not? Because at the end of the day, someone will get hurt in EVERY step of the game. As a Buddhist, the Refuge Vows are the fundamental counters to office politics. When we can refrain ourselves from creating harmful actions, and always check our thoughts with mindfulness, perhaps there is no need to play the game of office politics.
I used to really, really hate it when the office is full of these office politics. I always end up leaving the company for another which leads to my moving around every 3 years until I stopped working. Guess I was too plain speaking and direct then.
These tips would have really helped me navigate the minefields of the office.
Thank you for this teachings but if only I had known of this when I was working.
I remember that Chinese have a saying, for us to overcome evil people, you need to be more cunning and evil as the person you are trying to overcome.
In the 21st century, we have all sorts of politics revolving around us wherever we go, sometimes it’s just not up to us to avoid it.
One of the points that stood out to me is how we always follow the crowd and end up doing everything wrong. Then when we are at fault, we point fingers and complain that why others who did the same thing are not wrong. I believe that this does not happen only in offices, it’s very common in our daily lives.
I always tell myself that what others do, it doesn’t mean you have to the same thing, I have a choice to choose to not follow. So when obstacle or issue arises, no one can blame anyone but only themselves. This is a very educational article, it tells a lot about human psychology.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this short but informative article.
We cant help it, as the saying goes “Where there is human, there is politics.” And just like what the writer have written, it’s not that we dislike politics, we just dislike bad politics that’s played on us lol!
Just like what Jesvin mentioned, I too have always felt that way, feeling discouraged. But lately I thought, well… if what I’m feeling now, another person’s bad politics played on me, was done to someone else… would I feel as bad as I do now? Yes, I would feel bad, but not to the degree of disappointment that I wish to bulldoze everyone in the way lol!
And just as Rinpoche have taught us on the importance of abandoning the 8 worldly Dharmas, we should practice that now if we ever want to taste the fruit of permanent happiness. Because it is after all the 8 worldly Dharmas that give rise to all these unhappiness.
But getting rid of the 8 worldly Dharmas is not something that we can achieve over night. Our attachments in this world is truly strong and it is said that not until we reach the 8th Bhumi Bodhisattva do we truly void ourselves of all attachments and concentrate only on Dharma… 8th Bhumi, it’s a long way for most of us!!!
So what do we do while we cultivate ourselves to reach the level of no attachment? How do we survive and at the same time live a pleasant life that is not too overwhelmed by disappointments due to our projections? I know it is so easy for us to fall into the mental state of thinking “Oh I’m so negative… oh the world and everyone around me is so negative” and then we dwell on this, paralysed by our fear of interacting with others and ourselves.
I suppose, one of the ways for us to get through these is like what Rinpoche have mentioned above, that since these is unavoidable, we should master the art of politics in a positive manner.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article. I agree with Rinponche, we should master the game positively and I also agree with what Dan Waldscmidt said, we shouldn’t hate the game itself as we couldn’t avoid ourselves from politics, we should get ourselves to play better each time we fall at the game.
When I was young, I had a friend who likes to play politics around just because she wanted to get supporters and attentions. This friend made me feel disgusted and eventually I avoided myself from her and her circles.
When I got older and older, I found that playing politics is a part of life, I could see the selfishness and greediness of people around me when they wanted things to go according to their way although those things were wrong. At that point in time, I was so sad and depress because I couldn’t accept these kind of people.
As time goes by, I became matured and my mind became steady, I started realize that it was a waste if I continue to get angry on these kind of people. Since then, I accepted the fact that these people is a part of life and we should not be affected by them.
Now, together with spiritual practices, I understand why they behaved in such way and I changed my mind set when dealing with them. My goal is simple; get the job done and spare my time to do dharma work to benefit others.
With hand folded,
NgJesvin
It’s rare to be with a group of people where there is no politics. Everyone has an agenda and it is more apparent in an organization. In my opinion, politics is driven by many factors mainly:
1) feeling inadequate and diverting the attention to others.
2) not wanting to put in the effort and covering up.
3) fear of others performing better than oneself.
4) overcoming other’s politics to get the job done.
As this article suggests, since there is no way out, then we might as well be aware of it and play the game. If our conscience is clear and we don’t hurt anyone, I believe it’s fine if we want to get the job done.
I used to shun it when I was younger because I thought it was a waste of time and it demeaned my character. But I later realized that there is no way out of it as long as we are with others.