Surviving Office Politics

It's your first month in a new position and it's rougher going than you'd anticipated. You feel like an outsider and you're miserable.

Pondering how this happened, you nostalgically recall how comfortable and well-liked you felt in your last job.

Not only do you possess the requisite skills to do well in your new position, you've also built a solid reputation in this field. Yet, you are floundering. Badly.

It's not the actual work that is driving you crazy; you like the work. Even the long hours are not the problem.

It's the emotional undercurrents, gossiping and backstabbing thickening the air that you find exhausting.

You can't seem to find your feet and get traction in your new environment. And people have started to notice and are making comments.

What the heck is going on here?

Welcome to the world of office politics.

Here are tips to help you survive and thrive:

• Find a mentor - either inside or outside the company. A mentor can offer advice, counsel and act as a sounding board. Getting objective, professional support is crucial.

• Take notice of who performs well in your company. Observe their use of language, tone of voice, confidence level, and preparedness. Learn from their behavior and emulate it.

• Don't complain, gossip or join in backstabbing conversations. Kvetching will get you nowhere.

• Learn to read the company's culture. How do people dress and speak? What is the company's mission statement? How is it reflected in the workplace and in the treatment of employees? For example, if you work for an environmentally-friendly company, don't brag about your SUV.

• Form Strategic Alliances. Make yourself valuable to those with power, knowledge or tenure. Go out of your way to offer assistance. When you need help, you'll have established a network of supporters.

• Think before you speak or act. One impulsive, off the cuff statement or act can significantly damage your career. Silence is golden, especially when you are angry, tired or at a company-sponsored social event.

• Proof your e-mails for typos and politically incorrect language. Every message you send is being judged. Make sure you don't "bury the lead" in your e-mails. Get to the point quickly and end with a call to action.

• Request second-party endorsements. If you've performed well in an assignment or project, asking the manager whom you've helped to pass along words of praise to your boss is a smart thing to do. If they are willing to put it in writing, better yet.

• Hone your sense of humor. This can be your ace in the hole! It will get you through trying times and people will seek out your company.

Learning to effectively survive office politics is a skill that you perfect with trial and error. Anytime there are more than 2 people working together, you can experience tension and conflicting desires. You'll need a tool kit of survival techniques. Start practicing now!

Dale Kurow, M.S., is an author and a career and executive coach in NYC. Dale works with clients across the U.S. and internationally, helping them to become better managers, figure out their next career moves and thrive despite office politics. Visit Dale's web site at http://www.dalekurow.com/newsletter

to sign-up for her free monthly ezine "Career Essentials," chocked full of useful career tips and strategies you can use immediately.


More Resources

How To REALLY Look For A Job
Are you looking for a job -- really looking? Or are you simply waiting for employment to fall into your lap?If you're like about 75% of the job seekers I've met over the past nine years, you're probably doing too much waiting and not enough searching.Stop.
Job Search 101
The whole job search effort is completely exhausting and at times just plain pathetic. It is what it is and if you are unemployed know that the job search experience is one familiar to everyone at some point and time, so don't feel alone.
So You Want A Promotion - What Do You Need To Do To Get the Champagne Corks Popping?
The champagne corks have been popping to celebrate your promotion.You have a well paid job you love - its really interesting.
Salary Negotiation: How To Earn More Money and Respect From Your Employer
Despite how important fair pay is to most of us, effective salary negotiation is an often misunderstood and avoided topic. Current research indicates the average duration of a position today is 3.
Finding Employees For Insurance Industry Jobs
Finding the right employee for any job opening can be a challenge to say the least, and this is no truer than in the insurance industry. With considerations ranging from experience and education to their personal skills, the decisions faced by recruiters and employers can be of critical importance.
Common Résumé Mistakes
Using a general résumé.DON'T DO IT! You cannot successfully use the same résumé to apply to several different jobs.
50 Things To Do To Your Boss That Are Fun For You, But Not For Them
1. You're eavesdropping and you hear your boss has reservations at his favorite restaurant.
How to Work Effectively With Recruiters
"R-E-S-P-E-C-T / find out what it means to me" is a line made famous by Aretha Franklin, and one that recruiters have adopted as their mantra. This is probably because there is a love-hate relationship between candidates and recruiters.
The 4 Job Search Facts You Need To Know!
Are you harboring bitterness or anger towards your current or past employer?Do you find it difficult to be upbeat when interviewing or networking because of past job experiences?Have you spent sleepless nights worrying about how to explain your choppy resume?If you are currently in the job market, you need to dump this baggage fast!Here are 4 key job search facts you need to know:Fact #1:Your past employer is not investing hours in a personal vendetta against you.Fact #2:Employers know that the demise of dot.
Acceptance is the Answer to All Our Problems
Many people today have lost jobs after decades of service; many others suffer within jobs they can see no way out of. In order to survive a painful job loss - indeed, any type of painful loss - we must come to some acceptance.
Job Interviews: Plan Your Appearance to Make a Great First Impression
Your personal appearance is a critical component of that all-important first impression when you walk into the room for your interview.So plan ahead!Some people don't think about what they're going to wear until the morning of the interview.
The 7 Tough Job Interview Questions That Can Make or Break You - and How to Answer Them
Some interview questions are asked so frequently that they've become classics. Practically every interview you go on you'll be answering one or more of these seven interview questions.
In Control - Inside Tips on Interview Success
No, you can't control how the interview will be conducted, nor can you control the outcome. But you can influence it greatly by the way you present your personality and your skills.
Top 10 Skills for New World of Work
There are many changes coming in the world of work, such as increased competition, the need for more education and certifications, and the trend to change careers 5-7 times in a lifetime. No matter what job or career path you decide to take, there are some basic skills that all employers look for.
Job Interviews: Ill File a Grievance!
I recently went to a retirement party with my husband for one of his co-workers. I worked at this same place six years ago (that's where I met my husband, but that's another story), so I knew most of the people at the party.
Can You Actually Fail A Personality Quiz?
Q. I didn't get a job that I interviewed for.
Job Interviews: Six Steps to Acing a Telephone Interview
Telephone interviews are becoming more popular these days. Whether that's good or bad depends on how you handle them!Sometimes telephone interviews are used as a pre-screening technique for all candidates.
Career Success: Get Ahead of the Crowd
Regardless of where you open your briefcase or palm pilot each day - at a large corporation, a small business or the end of your dining room table - the key to staying employable the rest of your life is your own creative action. The person who is going to be successful is not going to succeed just because of good work.
Personal Grooming: 8 Top Reasons Why You Can't Take It For Granted In Your Career
Most people when they landed "the dream job" after an interview or even got "the deal" of the lifetime in their businesses, sadly to say tend to slack on their grooming habits and it even goes to the point that they are wearing their pajamas going to the office. It seems that's very extreme but it happens.
Multiple Skills for the 21st Century
(excerpted from The Weekend Seminar - Skills for the 21st Century 1999 Version)I find it's important to not walk into the 21st Century without multiple skills. But what I also find is that if you are already in sales, network marketing or have an entrepreneurial business (or plan to in the future), you can gain the needed skills for the future while you create your income now.

More Careers & Employment Information:

Related Articles

Interviewing Over Lunch: Are You at Risk?
Sometimes a hiring process will include having lunch with the hiring manager. Despite anything said to the contrary (like "It'll just be an informal lunch so we can get to know each other.
Does Your Career Change Itch or Burn?
Two weeks ago, I received a newsy email from a former client. Dan gave me the scoop on his life and new love, and ended by saying that while work had improved, he was feeling the itch again to go after career change.
Job Trap; Relationships with Co-workers
Most of us interact with our co-workers on a daily basis, its what helps us get through the day. Most employers go to great lengths to promote the "team", some thousands of dollars on retreats and seminars and the like.
Petite Modeling: is There a Career for You?
PEtite modeling is a tough industry to break into. Especially since most modeling agencies won't represent models unless they're 5 feet and 9 inches tall or taller.
Fear of Being Outsourced? Fight Back
Me, outsourced? Impossible. How could they replace a business-humor columnist? But my brother-in-law, the radiologist, told me his hospital was threatening to cut his position because they had found a medical group out of India that would read MRIs at half the cost.
Resumes That Rock (16 Expert Tips)
It's never too early to update your resume, even if you're not searching for a new job. Why? Updating your resume is a valuable reminder to yourself of your practical value to employers.
The Case For Internships
America may be the Land of Opportunity, but this is also the land of the Big Trade-Off. Sure, you can have that nice house, but you're going to have to become a mortgage slave to keep it.
Career Moves: Take Charge of Your Life
Every day millions of people let their inner fears stop them from creating the life of their dreams. No one will deny that it is scary to step out of your comfort zone, but once you challenge your fear and take action, you can attain great things.
Workplace Melodrama--A Flair For The Dramatic
A flair for the dramatic is a theatrical term used to describe an actress or actor who has a talent for melodrama, characterized by intensely enacted interpersonal conflict and exaggerated emotions. The central figure in a melodrama is the hero, who spins his tale or portrays the justice of his cause in a positive light.
Job Interviews and The Secret of Selling Yourself
A very effective and persuasive tactic when selling something is to promote its benefits as well as its features.Very simply, features are what something has; benefits are what those features do for you.
Working On A Farm In Kent
Being a student, a person needs to look for summer jobs, to keep up with the expenses for school and fun activities. This task is not always easy, especially when you are studying at an American branch university and you have to pay tuition as well.
Discover What You Really Want To Do
Are you doing what you really want to do or did you just fall or wander into the job you now have. As a friend of ours once said,' I am one of twenty two doctors in our family.
Self-Knowledge: The Key To Finding The Right Career Direction
Your career, like any journey, has a beginning, an end and a direction. For many people, the present direction of the career is probably not a result of entirely their own choices.
How To Conduct A Successful Job Search Campaign
1.Define your objective: Know what kind of work you most enjoy and perform the best.
Use Job Search Hacks to Get Hired Faster
Job searching alone is like hitchhiking a scary ride with an unknown stranger on a 180-mile long deserted, no-exit road with hopes you'll make your destination. When you lack time or expertise to plan career moves carefully, sometimes the loss of ground is not apparent until years later.
Does Your Resume Have What It Takes To Survive The First Cut?
Qualifications" or "Personal Profile") uses bullets and succinct wording to highlight what is likely to most intrigue the employer. Before writing this section, make a list of the 5 to 10 criteria that are most likely to guide the employer's choice - then summarize your qualifications in a way that speaks directly to the employer's interests.
Top 5 Tips for College Grads Entering the Working World
1) Build a Relationship With Your Boss:Like it or not, no single individual has a greater impact on your career future than your direct supervisor. So, how do you get on their good side from the start? Managers want to feel that you truly care, and that you are "in it with them" as a team.
Free Resume Template: Beware!
Downloading a free resume template can be so alluring. No work to do! You just download it, fill in the blanks, and get the job of your dreams!If you buy that, I've got lots of other things I'd like to sell you.
Where Will Your IT Staff Come From NOW?
The labor recession is over. During the course of the recession, almost 500,000 IT positions were lost according to publicly collected data and anecdotal information suggests even more.
Master Responding to Selection Criteria and Win Your Next Job!
As a human resources specialist for many years, I've seen it all when it comes to job applications. Most disheartening were those applications in which applicants had not addressed the specified selection criteria .