Have you picked up on some bad office politics at your new job and you're
wondering how to navigate through the landmines? My name is Adriana Girdler
I'm president of CornerStone Dynamics and a productivity expert. Office
politics can be tricky to navigate whether you're new to an organization or
let alone, new to the working world and this video I'm going to give you five
tips on how to survive those tricky office politics.
Tip number one: don't pick sides. Whatever you do I want you to remain neutral.
Think of yourself as Switzerland so when there's two departments that are pinning
themselves against each other or let alone two individuals, you want to remain
professional and friendly to both sides. Stay in that working environment and
tasks that you have to do at hand and if a conversation does go to where it's the
personal, like someone says, "I can't stand sales, they don't do their job" or "they
don't know anything," ignore it and what you can reply back
with is, well what is it that we can do in order to give training on what they need
to be successful? You really have to play it safe here and be neutral. Tip number
two: I want you to document. Okay it's only when office politics gets
really bad that i really suggest this but you may want to document who is at
meetings, what was agreed to, what time and date that all of that happened and
just keep it in a separate file because the worst thing is down the road when
someone actually says to you, but we didn't agree to this, blah blah blah, and
then the office politics start to come into play, you at least have some
documentation that indicates from a professional standpoint the agreements
that everyone came to. It can really defuse a very ignited situation and
ultimately will help you to be neutral. Tip number three: don't get personal. Now
office politics at times can get pretty nasty and people can get angry, they can
say things that can be really hurtful. Do not sink to their level, they are
emotionally charged at this point. You don't have to be. Remember, be neutral as
possible. Now don't sink to the level and also realize this: when someone's really
angry it's not about you, it's about them, it's their issue so take a deep breath.
There's some great mindfulness techniques I have in another video that
can help you through this so check it out, but take your deep breaths, don't
take it personal and realize it is not about you, it's this other person and
ultimately they should be apologizing to you anyway for the yelling because that
is very unprofessional. Tip number four: stay
away from gossip. Now this may seem like a no-brainer and I know you're probably
saying, of course I wouldn't do it, but hey, stop. I'm gonna tell you, a lot of
times we can get caught in that trap, particularly when we're new of trying to
find our new work friends and therefore hang out with people that perhaps are
gossiping and that we shouldn't be hanging around with but because we don't
know anybody we are. Perpetual gossipers, people know them in the organization and
people call them out for it so you really don't want to be associated with
individuals of that nature. Find people who you can hang around with
who will be your mentors and stay away from the gossip, it is not worth the
energy and effort, no matter how good it may sound it is not, so stay away. Tip
number five: choose positivity. Here's the beauty of life: you have choice. You have
choice in everything you do and when it comes to office politics, choose
positivity. Sometimes office politics, if there's a lot of it going around, it
could bring us down and the negativity can start to come and play and then we
spin into that negative cycle. Don't do it, choose positivity, you have a choice.
Look at things in a different perspective
everyone ultimately is good no one wakes up on purpose to blame somebody for
something but yet that can happen so look at things from a positive
standpoint, have some compassion, give people the benefit of the doubt but be
positive yourself because the way you exude yourself comes back to you tenfold
so choose positivity and I promise you positivity will come back to you as well
I hope these tips help you really deal with any office politics you may be
coming across. If you like these tips please write in the comments below,
"survive and thrive," because that's what it's all about in the working world.
Thank you so much, until the next video please subscribe to my channel, give it a
thumbs up, pass it off to your friends, family and colleagues and I will talk to
you next time. See ya!