1. MONITOR ARTICLE
Practical Office Politics
By Chelse Benham
“Man is by nature a political animal.” – Aristotle in his treatise, Politics and
Poetics.
Office politics. How do those two words make you feel? If you cringed or turn up
your nose, with an air of moral impunity, thinking, “I refrain from gossip and office
politics,” think again. Office politics is all around us and everywhere according to
Rick Brenner, consultant at Chaco Canyon Consulting. It is, however, possible to
participate comfortably in office politics if you adopt some principles that help
manage risk. Brenner points to some factors to understanding the nature of
workplace politics:
• In politics the rules change and they’re open to interpretation. Appealing to
precedent or to others’ sense of fairness doesn’t always work.
• Participants do whatever makes sense to them. Try to achieve your goals
by staying within your own ethics.
• Politics is all the time. Avoid being consumed by gossip.
• In workplace politics, there might be alliances, but they are changeable
and you can’t always tell who’s on which team. Some people play for
multiple teams. Even people you trust can be more loyal to themselves
than to you.
Reinhold Niebuhr, 20th century American theologian, said, “The whole art of
politics consists in directing rationally, the irrationalities of men.” People do or do
not implement good ideas, forge alliances or wage feuds on a whole host of
reasons, many of them personal and emotional. Donna Scheeder, coordinator of
Congressional Information Services at the Library of Congress, said, “Process is
as important as content and office politics is a process.” Scheeder lists six tips to
practice good politics and to help weather bad office interactions.
1. Build relationships. Do this first. Politics is based on trust and trust is
based on relationships. The opposite is also true. The breaking of trust
can destroy relationships.
• Get to know people you work with.
• Learn to exchange pleasantries. Small talk can help you
maneuver through tough situations.
• Remember, people will tell you about themselves. Listen
more than you talk.
• Give sincere compliments, recognize people’s good points.
• This is one of the most important points: never be in the
position of asking for support from someone before first
developing a relationship with them.

2. • Go out of your way to welcome new people to the
company. You will be building alliances from the start.
2. Build your favor bank. Offer assistance and go out of your way to help
people without having to be asked. Helping others from the goodness of
your heart befriends them and breaks through barriers.
3. Map your organization. Know who are the decision makers and opinion
leaders in your organization. Know who allies with whom and who won’t
ally with someone until “hell freezes over.”
4. Build alliances and partnerships by identifying common interests. Don’t
just talk “shop” discover personal interests.
5. Be a team player.
6. Give more credit to others than you give to yourself. Never take credit
that’s not yours.
Gary S. Topchik, author of “Managing Workplace Negativity” identified 14
workplace personalities that can be difficult to handle. These personalities are
listed at iVillage.com. Topchik gives corresponding characteristics of each and
discusses strategies to help deal with them. Some include:
• The Locomotive
• The Perfectionist
• The Not-My-Job-er
• The Rumormonger
• The Self-Castigator
• The Eggshell
“We recommend to students when they get their first professional job to
remember that it is a learning process. They need to learn all about their
company and get to know their co-workers. However, we remind them to always
remember to be professional,” advices Susie Chapa, coordinator of Cooperative
Education at the University of Texas-Pan American Career Placements services
Office. “Watch how you behave and how you present yourself. Enjoy your work
environment, but never forget to be a professional. If you remember that you can
avoid negative work place politics.”
Nancy Evans, editor-in-chief of iVallge.com provides real solutions to dealing with
difficult people. To avoid being the subject of gossip she offers some important
advice. First and foremost keep people in the loop. If there is any question as to
what you are doing gossip can emerge especially from others less involved,
unsatisfied, disgruntled or simply with too much time on their hands. “Gossipers
just want to stir up trouble and they need attention and fuel to keep the
conversation going. If you don’t respond they move on,” Evans said.
Evans offers five specific ways of developing relationships with co-workers and
maintaining a happy workplace.

3. 1. Be friendly without getting too close. You don’t have to be bosom
buddies with everyone at work. It is important to have a friendly
relationship with your co-workers, but look for real emotional fulfillment in
you “real life” away from work.
2. Cultivate small talk to maintain friendly relationships. Ask people
about themselves and discover what they like. Discussing these things will
help to disarm them and help them to feel comfortable with you. Evans
cautions not become the office “social butterfly” to the extent that you
aren’t getting your work done.
3. Keep your temper. Evans recommends, “Here’s a trick – don’t raise your
voice. As a matter of fact, when you get into a tough spot, keep your voice
at normal volume and then try to lower it. Not only does it keep the
emotional level even, it also actually forces the person to listen to you.”
4. Dish out the compliments. You’ve seen this one before earlier in this
article. Focus on the good points about a person. If you can’t find
something you like do as your mother suggested, “When you can’t say
anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”
5. Stay open-minded. When someone criticizes you regardless of how you
feel about them take the opportunity to be responsive and consider how
you could improve.
Remember office politics are real and they are here to stay. Ignoring that they
exist or that you have a role in them can have negative repercussions. Listed
above are some firm coping strategies for dealing with difficult workplace
environments, however the best advice maybe to follow the Golden Rule “To
treat others as you would like to be treated.”
“The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency,” - Teddy Roosevelt