Why You Are Afraid To Engage In Office Politics. Why You Shouldn’t Be

Often considered a dirty and dishonourable game, politics continues to reign supreme as a valid means of getting power and authority all over the world, even in a monarchy!  So one would wonder why there are many people who want to have influence yet shy away from politics.

It is a well-known truth that no society exists without politics, no matter how small; even the family. When you do not tell your father about your fiancée first and tell your mother because you know you can convince her and she can in turn convince your father?  Well you have a political ally in your mother. Yet, people feel dirty mentioning politics in the same sentence as their names? Why then?

 In order to get ahead at work, you should not be afraid to take the plunge. Here are some reasons why you are afraid to play;

1. It will take away from the work you do in the sight of your colleagues. This is only true if you engage in politics to make up for your inadequacies. Becoming influential at work is not a reason to reduce your efficiency, if anything politics should increase your productivity and become the bed rock of your influence.

2. It will make you look like a “bad” person. You just want to do your work and go home. While doing your job and going home does not sound like a bad plan, it does not sound like a long term plan. Performance and skill are usually required to rise to a manger position.  To rise above a manager, other requirements like likeability, people skills, marketing abilities, networking and other skills come in handy. Therefore you might have to create some space for networking in that five year career plan.

3. You do not want to make allies and consequently oppositions. This seems like a very valid reason to stay away from politics because no matter how fair you play, in the presence of allies there is always an opposition. However, there is no big formula on how to navigate through politics or even life without opposition. The important point is managing opposition. Create opportunities to align with opposition constructively once in a while. Treat them as an intellectual opposition and not fraternity enemies, and above all, always be civil.

4. You do not like the word “politics”. Don’t do politics then, do networking. Create a comfortable and reliable people network of influence around you through which you can access a wider circle of influence. Do that and do not call it politics (even though it is).

5. You think it is for Gossips. No, gossip is idle talk about busy people. In this case, those who are engaged in the politics are the busy persons being talked about. Back-biting and gossiping for the purpose of getting ahead is different from organisational politics and usually proves ineffective in the long term.