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I wish more people stayed there long enough to take full advantage of this amazing opportunity—and then moved on to other jobs. I feel that, contrary to the industry folklore, playing politics is becoming a lost art. Too many people are missing this valuable skill as it is, and the more gooey-eyed and millennial we get as a society, the less hope we have of perfecting our game. The reason I say this is all the snags I hit when selling intranet software to large and medium-sized businesses.
Do you know the number one question I get from those folks? Buyer, just before I board the plane to fly across the country to give you a one-hour presentation. How the hell should I know the answer? I say none of that out loud. Instead, I tell you that your boss is welcome to call me anytime, as many times as it takes. In the meantime, you could make your job and mine a lot easier by learning to navigate your office politics.
Nevertheless, since you put me on the spot, let me do my small part to remedy the situation. Here are some thoughts that may or may not help you convince your boss now or in the future.
Your company has a written and unwritten code of behavior. The existing code has the burden of social proof on its side, and people will follow it, whether or not they agree with it. Now, I am not saying you can never change or bend the rules.
Then learn the rules for changing the rules, if you are so inclined. Every business decision—from serving healthy food in the cafeteria to a major acquisition—has its winners and losers. The winners may or may not champion your cause, but the losers will resist it with all their might. Know who they are and work ahead of time to break their resistance. Note that elsewhere in life, it is wise to ignore the naysayers and focus on the people who support your idea. However, in business, as in politics, things are usually done by consensus.
Therefore, an experienced office politician knows whose turf he is treading on and has a strategy to neutralize and destroy the opposition. Putting your boss on the losing end could be a career-killer, so be sure you understand his or her stake in the matter. I learned this from a friend who went to work for a large corporation fresh out of business school. She was hired into the corporate marketing department to help them decide how they could best support regional subsidiaries. My friend interviewed the staff at the regional companies and concluded that corporate marketing was useless and the companies were better off marketing themselves.
In the meantime, the company went with her recommendation and canned corporate marketing. The funny part is that my friend was let go after the next performance cycle, and her former boss stayed with the company under a different title. My friend realized she did need significant improvement… in office politics. You will need a lot of help from other people to be good—and to look good—at your job.
Maybe you are convinced, but you are feeling at a loss to get started. Our friends at Code. The Farmer Melissa Penelope. So get to know yourself. Kahoot Played around the world. And not judging them.
Or you could proactively make yourself useful and have a leg up on the competition when the time comes to call in favors. I hear this is the way they play the game in real politics. If enough people owe you a favor, your legislation gets passed. If not, it gets killed or bogged down in meaningless details. Ass-kissing is a crude form of making yourself useful.
So, unless sucking up is a particular talent of yours, I would stick with less treacherous tactics. This is a must for any serious office politician. You want to be the first to get the news, so you can strategically share it with the right people. Like a seasoned journalist, cultivate and protect your sources. Befriend someone from budget planning to know when big changes are in the making. Talk to sales to get the latest on the competition. Playing office politics is an ancient and complicated art. You can take it as far as you like. Focus on what you like about your job, and enjoy an occasional game of office politics.
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