how to win at office politics

One common theory on social power is to simply be as anonymous as possible. The King's Court metaphor is a good one, mentioned in the book, "The 48 Laws of Power" by Robert Greene. Think of it this way: if you are the one to eloquently speak up in the King's court, the King may appreciate you, but the rest of the court will be envious and begin plotting your downfall. If you are the one to nonsensically speak up in the King's court, the King won't take you seriously, yet the rest of the court will find you mildly entertaining and without threat. So, the best thing is to simply say nothing, wait for everyone else to mess up, then be left by default as the only one who hasn't done anything. Clearly, this may not work in every scenario, particularly at the office where opinion counts. Check out the tips below on office politics, inspired from the article here.

• Whatever you say, assume it will be heard by everyone in the office. Thus, choose words wisely at all times! If you say something about someone, pretend he/she is standing right behind you so you're sure not to offend.
• Never reveal your entire strategy to anyone. Don't tell your favorite chum that you're plotting to take over so-and-so's desk/office.
  
• Keep your image as spotless as possible. Sure, that night you spent in jail in college for streaking is a funny story. But it can come back to haunt your image at a later time.
• Keep it business, not personal. No one at the office needs to know details about how your date went the other night. A simple, "Yeah, I had a good weekend, thanks. How was yours?" will suffice nicely.
  
• Stay out of gossip rings as much as you can. It'll take some willpower, and you run the risk of being gossiped about yourself, but the best way to respond when someone's trying to play you against someone else is to simply remain neutral, act mildly surprised at anything negative said, and get back to work.
• Fess up when you screw up. If all of your skeletons are out of the closet, strewn about for all to see, no one has anything to really talk about. Again, as long as you take responsibility for your actions, they can't come back and haunt you at a later time.

Technorati tags: office politics, career, professional etiquette

Photo credit: Keetsa