Surviving Office Politics

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am surrounded at work by staunch neo-cons who never miss an opportunity to plead their case. For several years this bothered me a great deal until I realized that my attitude was thwarting my success and having no effect on them. As these people are the ones holding the purse strings, I changed my attitude and the way I reacted to them. I agree with all your tips and can say it has definitely worked for me. In a year that saw few profits, I was one of the few employees to get a raise this year and my superiors praised me by saying I'd had my "best year ever". Perception is sometimes more effective than truth!

These are very useful tips and I thank you for suggestions that are easily implemented. I'm wondering how you feel about workplace friendships. I find myself developing close, personal relationships with people I am on some level supervising. In previous jobs I have had to let such "friends" go and it made me determine never to let working relationships go past a certain point. Should I keep these women at arms length knowing I might have to play the "you work for me" card someday?

Oliva,

I found it extremely difficult to supervise close, personal friends at work. It was hard for me to stay objective and businesslike with them. The fact is, I was being paid to make the best possible decisions for the company, not for me and my friends.

Gordon

Of course, I agree. It seems my boss adheres to this philosophy with almost everyone in the office and as a result she is not well liked at all. She takes it to the extreme I think. She is quite standoffish and sometimes rather mean to those below her. But as you said, her goal is not to be well liked. She is under tremendous pressure to produce.

I agree. Some bosses take it to an extreme. I think there is a balance that works for most people involved.

Gordon--I wish I'd had access to this resource a long time ago. My experience as a corporate person has been mixed. I have always been in some kind of sales, and I have been consistently recognized as a leader and producer.

The problem I've had is that, since I'm not particularly political and tend to focus on doing my job, I've been blindsided from time to time by people who may have been envious. I didn't really know their motivations.

One of the issues with being a woman in a corporate situation is that I'm not in a position to go out and "hit a few balls" with so-and-so.

I've always been in the field making calls, away from the "buzz" that I hate, but might have been able to protect myself against had I known.

Any thoughts from your experience?

vwomack,

Are you still in the sales role? How much are you out of the office?

Gordon