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How to handle Office Politics

Alex Malley had sone a lot of work in understanding people.  This ariticle will show you his experience of handling politics at office - In my view, one of life’s greatest ambitions is to remain authentic. Never underestimate the many circumstances, however, that will challenge your ability to be yourself – particularly early in your career.

Navigating office politics is one of these challenges. It is a high-ranking test of one’s character and belief.

The view of politics from the CEO’s helicopter seat is predictable and vivid. It is much easier to see personal agendas, competition, ‘backstabbing’ (a word I loathe), and false relationships at play amongst those eager to succeed. But for the less seasoned professional, workplace politics can be a costly and demoralising distraction.

So, the earlier you learn how to navigate your surrounds, the quicker the career you deserve begins. It took me longer than it should've to work this out. I incorrectly focused on the moments of politics, not the long term game to benefit my career. I was guilty of being distracted by futile, ‘in the moment’ politics. Don’t let that happen to you.

Be better than me – try these tips:

1) Learn how to influence

Influencing is an invaluable asset of leadership, but it is also complex to attain and wield. At the core of effective influencing is the art of building authentic relationships in your work environment. This involves the simple principle of being genuinely curious about people – for instance, their interests, motivations and ambitions. This curiosity should extend beyond just those that you may directly work with. My effectiveness as an influencer came from building broad and honest relationships across the business. While we didn’t always agree on issues, there was a genuine respect for each other. Legitimately getting to know people will more often than not smoke out disingenuous political agendas.

2) Don’t resent others success

This is a sleeping giant. A really important habit to get into is to play your long game – focus on your career, not that of others. In almost every work environment I have been in, the least gracious people are the most unsuccessful. You must learn to appreciate and acknowledge other’s success. I know that can be tough for highly competitive people, but be generous – people will notice. There is nothing more appealing than the genuine support of colleagues. These moments can change the nature of relationships for the better. It also sends a signal that you are above any petty jealousies.

3) Toughen up

As you know in life and business, things are not always fair and reasonable. As a CEO, I always observe people’s reactions to difficult scenarios, such as missing out on a promotion, dealing with confrontation or personality clashes. This is important because if someone exhibits calm, respectful objectivity in such circumstances, it tells me they are building the maturity for greater success into the future. They are developing objectivity. They are toughening up.

4) Ignore the pack

From the moment you walked into the schoolyard, the challenge to be yourself began. To this day, your perception of yourself is, to some extent, shaped by your experiences with people. In almost every work environment, whether it’s a result of a poor work culture, or the convenience of jumping on the bandwagon of popular opinion, pack mentality exists. The most successful people are able to manage and build relationships with many and varied individuals, without ever being pressured, coerced or influenced to join a destructive pack. Always seek to remain a collaborative individual, rather than a compliant groupie.

5) The long game

Don’t let office politics distract you from the long game. Ultimately, the goal of your long game should revolve around three things. Firstly, take every opportunity to build and maintain relationships across the business. Secondly, expose yourself to a variety of environments both within and outside your place of work (through volunteering, for instance). This will provide you with a greater capacity to work alongside people who face different issues and challenges in their respective roles. Last of all, make it your business to position yourself as the person who will help conclude a difficult project, step in to assist when disagreements arise, or provide a positive perspective when others are no longer capable of doing so. By focusing on these three long game objectives, your context and judgement will continue to improve, and you will further insulate yourself from the petty politician(s).

What do POWER LEADERS have in Common:

What do POWER LEADERS have in Common:

The term “Thought Leader” connotes a level of publicity attained by those people who are willing to go against the industry grain, assume calculated risk and thrive in their newfound success. Being a thought leader isn’t easy as it requires a strong openness to new ideas, the courage to say “go” when others say “no,” and the perseverance to create something from nothing.

While the daily tactics of running an organization may be clearly defined, such as running a profit center or managing profit and loss, the one area of an enterprise that doesn’t "speak" those neatly defined ones and zeroes is leadership.  So if you want to be a Thought Leader here are few pocket tips to be followed:

1. Listen and Communicate. If you look at thought  leaders throughout history, one common denominator you’ll find is skillful oration. Leaders may speak to the masses but they have to listen and communicate with individuals.

Don’t give only speeches, which makes people what to think and how to feel, better is to listen and communicate which helps to create meaning through self-discovery. If you want to sustain your value as a thought  leader, you must be able to Listen and communicate -- and instill -- value.

2. Act like one : Physical appearance isn’t just what you wear -- it’s how you carry yourself, and people will judge you the moment you enter a room.  Confidence and body language and your personality counts.  Research have shown that physically fit people attract more attention than their non-fit counterparts. If you want to be someone , that exudes charisma and therefore builds opportunities through relationships, it pays to stay in shape.

3. Converse Little. There is an art to making conversation, so if you’re not a talker, don’t fret, because the social butterfly inside you can -- and should -- be developed. As a leader, people expect you to be prepared all the time, to offer guidance, words of wisdom or a story to share. Having a few one-liners anecdotes or opening lines handy as icebreakers ensures that you’ll be the one to save the social setting from an ill-fated “weirdness.”

4. Knowledgeable leadership.

Knowing is half the battle, and when you're armed with information about a potential challenge, you're also armed with the awareness to fix it. The better prepared you are for those encounters that often arise out of nowhere, the longer your leadership brand will sustain its value.

Thought leaders create value in peoples’ lives with a steady stream of eureka! moments, and the benefits of being considered a thought leader abound as you and your company are positioned as the “go-to” providers in your market.

-         Thanks to all the thought leadership writers and authors to help me do this reference blog

POWERFUL LEADERS ALWAYS RESPOND

The cockroach theory for self development - Sundar
    
At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and  sat on a lady. 

She started screaming out of fear. 

With a panic stricken face and trembling voice,she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.

Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.

The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but ...it landed on another lady in the group.

Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama.

The waiter rushed forward to their rescue.

In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter.

The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt.

When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.

Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach 
responsible for their histrionic behavior?

If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed?

He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos.

It is not the cockroach, but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies.

I realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it's my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.

It's not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.

More than the problem, it's my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life.

Lessons learnt from the story:

I understood, I should not react in life.

I should always respond.

The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.

POWERFUL LEADERS ALWAYS RESPOND

Power Leaders

Power Leaders are the real professionals who can really make strong and right decisions for them and their followers.  Power Leaders lead their way.