Your workplace may feel like an episode of The Office, but chances are, it’s more like House of Cards. Why? Because behind the free cupcakes and team events is a dark political underbelly, where strategic alliances are born, backs are stabbed, and even the most unassuming are clawing their way to the top. 

But is it actually that bad? 

Do you really have to ‘play the game’ like everyone says? 

Well, that’s exactly what today’s email is all about. In the next 5 minutes, we’ll show you how to go from newbie councilman to head of the Oval Office. Welcome to the Shite House.

Time For Some Myth Busting

Office politics are often misunderstood, and usually thought of as the bloodbath we described in the intro. Consequently, loads of myths exist which only help to fuel people’s misperceptions. However, they aren’t exactly what you think, so lets clear them up.

Myth 1- You can escape office politics:

You can’t. 

It’s not a case of whether organizations will have politics, but rather what kind of politics they’ll have. 

You’re a human being, I’m a human being. We’re both social creatures and as long as that fact stands, there will always be people looking to leverage relationships, informal influence, and power, for better or worse. 

Myth 2 - You can be a good person, or you can play office politics:

Take a moment and think of three words to describe office politics. What comes to mind?

“Toxic?”

“Frustrating?”

“Draining?”

You’re not wrong. 

This is how most of us perceive it. 

We also tend to perceive ourselves as good people, the antithesis of everything we associate with office politics. So why would we want to engage in it? 

It helps to reframe what it means to us. 

Let’s pretend that Mark has a big meeting where stakeholders at his company decide which projects to invest in — including his. If he’s savvy at politics, he knows that to get his project approved, he first needs to understand the priorities and perspectives of those stakeholders. He needs to engage with them beforehand and learn what they are looking for so that he can more persuasively present his idea. 

Is Mark a bad person for this? 

Of course not. 

Office politics are simply a range of informal, unofficial, and sometimes behind-the-scenes efforts in all organisations as people position themselves, their interests, their teams, and their priorities to get things done.

In other words, it’s strategic relationship building. 

Myth 3 - Politics don’t affect your career:

“I don’t do politics, my work should speak for itself.” Your work can’t speak…

It’s not Night at the Museum. Your PDF doesn’t crack open a beer and chat to the PowerPoint on the screen next to it when you’re gone.

Very rarely will your work alone be enough. People speak, and we need them to speak about our work. Why? 

Because visibility is what’s rewarded. 

However, this doesn't mean reciting a laundry list of things we do. 

It’s about framing what we are doing in terms of the impact it’s having on the organisation and why it matters.

Increasing Political Intelligence

So you’ve accepted that to some degree, you’ll have to engage in office politics. What are some things we can do to increase your political intelligence and climb your way up The Shite House?

Evaluate yourself against your organisation’s political environment:

Rather than spending your time and energy resenting your workplace (which is inherently political), why not focus your time and energy on understanding the kind of political environment you’re in? 

A good way to figure this out is to understand what kind of political player you are. And yes, you are one, whether you like it or not. There are 4 types of political players:

1. The Purist: You dislike all thoughts of politics and simply want to get on with the job at hand. 

2. The Street Fighter: You believe the best way to get ahead is through the use of rough tactics, even at the expense of others. 

3. The Team Player: You believe in getting ahead by working well with others and participating in the politics that advance group goals. 

4. The Maneuverer: You believe in getting ahead by playing the games of politics skillfully and unobtrusively.

Don’t stop with yourself. Think about what kind of player key individuals in the office are and use that to your advantage.

Strengthen your relationship currency:

Who you know determines what you get to do, and what you get to do will determine what you get to know. 

As we said in Myth 3, your work doesn’t speak. 

Build relationships so people with influence speak about your work, not just you.

Increasing political Intelligence is also about limiting adversaries. The more of these you have, the more your political capital is limited. This ties into understanding the type of political player your colleagues are. Leverage this to build relationships with them. 

How do you do this? 

Think about where and how these relationships are being built and get involved. Is it the morning coffee run? Perhaps it’s virtual, maybe a WhatsApp group? 

Remember, all you’re doing is building operational, strategic, and developmental networks that circumvent the bullshit and push you one step further to Shite House head honcho.

And that’s about it. Cya