Unless You’re in Charge, Avoid Office Politics
Kent Jacobson, a.k.a. "Mr. Success"

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 will 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, http://www.officepolitics.com/op_game.html

(a) http://www.conwaymgmt.com/pdf/Obsessions_Of_An_Executive.pdfhttp://www.conwaymgmt.com/pdf/Obsessions_Of_An_Executive.pdf