Navigate Office Politics Without The Drama: The Professional's Way

Have you ever thought that navigating organizational politics is kind of like playing a high stakes game of chess? You know, where you're trying to out-maneuver your opponents, trying to understand what their next moves are, and you're trying to, and you know that whatever move you make is gonna have consequences and it kind of feels like I need to out move, maneuver them and predict what they're doing. Well, if that's you, a little while back I watched a video, I watched a movie called The Quee

n's Gambit, and this was a fictional character, Beth Harmon. And he, she was rising the ranks and becoming a chess champion and was very, very inspiring to see how she developed her own strategy. She remained her authenticity as well, and she became a chess champion. Well, I wanna share with you that when it comes to navigating organizational politics, you can still develop your own strategy while remaining authentic. So in this episode, one I wanna share with you are five key principles on how

you can create this winning strategy. Principle number one, evaluate the bigger picture. Now, have you ever thought to yourself, politics is so dirty or maybe thought that said in the same sentence, dirty politics, messy politics. Oh, I wanna red get away from that red tape. Now, politics is often associated with drama. It's associated with finger pointing and blaming. And that's really quite unfortunate because at the essence of it, politics is not about that. If you really look back into the h

istory of politics, the word politics has an etymology that takes back to the early 15 hundreds. The core of politics is all about governance. It is about how do we need to be responsible to distribute power and authority so that we can maintain effective governance? That's what politics really is. The only reason why it feels dirty is because individuals do bring drama to it. There is an emotional charge sometimes, and the disagreements and how we manage them also can bring on a lot of hard fee

lings, and that's the only reason why it feels dirty. But it's important to be able to understand the essence of what politics is and what it isn't. And that way you can begin to change your relationship with politics. And when you're, once your relationship with politics changes, you can start to build your effective strategy, right? So for this first step, the first principle is on evaluating the bigger picture, the bigger picture of your organization, the bigger picture of how it fits in the

industry. Because when you work for a company, no matter what size of the company, right, you can have startups, you can have mid-size, you can have matrix organizations with footprints and departments around the world. So no matter how big or small the organization is, every company comes with an org chart, right? The org chart is the formal document that's passed around all individuals coming into it. They can see the org chart, and the org chart shows who reports to whom. When you read it fro

m top down an org chart, it's like who reports to whom? Who is going to be their, who is boss, who is going be whose manager, and so on. And you can see also within departments who reports to whom and intra departmentally, you can see who reports to whom. Now, the org chart is the formal document. However, we all understand having been in the corporate world, having worked for a company or two, we all understand that sometimes the org chart is not how work really gets done, right? There is a hid

den org chart, and that's how the work really gets done, which means people form alliances with each other. There are friends that aren't even direct reports with each other. There is a little bit of personal involvement there, friends and history that goes back and different alliances and cliques that get formed. And then you have the hidden org chart. So then what is this? Why is this important? Because the bigger picture isn't just about the formal org chart. It is actually more important tha

n understanding how power is really distributed in accordance to the hidden org chart. So when you begin to map it out in your organization, you begin to see the bigger picture and you begin to see the influence networks that are at play. And that is how the work really gets done. So that is the first principle, is to really evaluate the bigger picture. Principle number two, engage in relationships. We all know that relationships are important and we understand that it is important to expand you

r network networking. Your net worth is your net. And we all all hear about these things, but what does it truly mean to build a network? What does it truly mean to engage in networking? And what does it truly mean to invest in your relationships? One of the most important things, and the key principles that I'm gonna share with you here is that when it comes to engaging in your relationships, is to understand the motivations behind their actions. Because oftentimes you come in with it, and even

if after you have uncovered the influence network, the hidden org chart I talked about earlier, it is still, you're gonna come across individuals who do hold power and authority within your organization, but they're gonna be motivated by very different things compared to you. They're gonna make decisions that you may not agree with. They're gonna have methodologies, they're gonna have perspectives and opinions that might shock you. So all of these things are a reality, but it's important to und

erstand, well, why do people do what they do? Why do they react that way? Why did they make such a decision and why didn't they do something else? Why didn't they agree with this? So this is understanding why do people do what they do, the motivations behind their perspectives, their actions, and their behaviors. And this is why. And this is truly what it means to engage in relationships. And going back to our friend Beth Harmon in the Queen's gambit, if you remember, if you've ever watched that

movie, she spent a lot of time before she became a chess champion, she spent a lot of time understanding her opponents understanding why they made certain moves, understanding their thought patterns, their mindset behind their actions. And you too in the organizational workplace, is for you to understand what drives people, what are their priorities? In other words, what are their hierarchy values? And when you understand these things, that's one of the most influential things you can do for yo

urself and for other people. But remember, in order for you to under identify what other another person's top priorities are in order for you to identify what somebody else's values hierarchy is, it will be important for you to understand that for yourself once you've gone through the personal development journey yourself. Now you can be truly present among someone else, someone who is an authority or in a power position that you want to develop meaningful relationships with, and you can be able

to do the same thing with them and truly engage in that relationship. And you will know that you are engaging relationships effectively when you and your relationship partner truly have a meaningful and equitable relationship, which means that no matter what their positional authority is, no matter if they are to a degrees higher than you in rank, that's what I meant by positional authority, that no matter what their positional authority is, that you can sit across and look across from the tabl

e to them, eye to eye, and that they are your equals. And that's how you know that you have built and maintain effective, meaningful, and equitable relationships. Now we're on to principle number three. And principle number three is to exude diplomacy. Diplomacy. So let's talk about what do I mean by diplomacy? Diplomacy is nothing more than to be able to exude prudence when you are dealing with people and communicating with people who are different from you. So let's talk about what do I mean b

y people who are different? I mean that people who have different opinions from you, different perspectives on how they see situations and circumstances, different upbringings and different cultural backgrounds depending on where they grew up and where they spent the most time, and what part of the geographic part of the world, differences in terms of educational background differences in terms of their expertise that they bring to the table, differences in terms of their methodology and how the

y would approach problem solving and how they would approach relationships and how they do approach building trust among people and how they approach their methodology and how they approach answering to authority and directions from above. So all of these things are differences, and you would've guessed by now that everybody's gonna be different from you. No two people are going to be the same exact same on these differences that I have just listed. So it would be of utmost importance if you wan

t to navigate politics successfully in your organization. The winning strategy does involve prudence on how to navigate these differences. So if you're listening to this and you realize that not only do you work in a multicultural organization, but an organization where people truly are diverse and they're not just diverse on their appearances, but they're diverse in so many different dynamics within each individual, and you're realizing that you do want to rise up the ranks, you do want to lead

effectively, and you do wanna make your most meaningful contribution, but the politics are standing in the way, the differences are standing in the way, and you are serious about learning how to navigate that. If that is you, then I invite you to work with me. Below in the description, there is a link to book a call and to have a conversation with myself or a member of my team to really talk about how specifically are we gonna help you in your situation? And regardless of what your challenges a

re so far, the drama, the challenges, the conflicts, the negotiation, no matter what your challenges are, I've seen it and I've helped others overcome it. So if you're serious about learning how to communicate better, learning how to develop that diplomacy, learning how to develop that prudence as well and create win-win scenarios while navigating politics effectively, then book a call with me and I look forward to working with you on the inside. Principle number four on navigating organizationa

l politics is to encourage win-win situations. So win-win situation, we hear this all the time, we know what win-win situation is, and for to be clarity here, to establish some clarity here, win-win sales situation is how do we create a win for other people and a win for myself so that there is a sustainable fair exchange. So instead of focusing predominantly on my own victories, what would be success for me? How do I wanna see this going? What would make me happy is about, okay, I do want those

things, but how do I also create that in return for someone else? What does success look like for them? And what would make them happy? What is a satisfactory outcome for them is seeking that understanding and creating that win-win scenario. Because when it comes to navigating organizational politics, I mentioned earlier that no two people are going to have the same differences. They're not gonna have the same methodologies, upbringings, educational backgrounds, expertise and so on. They're not

gonna have the same thing, but more importantly, they're not gonna have the same priorities, they're not gonna have the same perspectives when they look at situations and events and circumstances, and they're definitely not gonna have the same degree and same emphasis on what is considered important. So because of these variations in values and hierarchies of values, you're gonna have two people coming together and saying, well, that's not the top priority, top priority right now. I have my pri

orities straight, this is what we need to focus on, this is what we should be doing, which would be very different from your perspective and how you would prioritize the situation and so on. So this is very important to understand that there's no requirement for agreement. A lot of times when you have, when you have people navigating organization politics, they come in and they say something like, let's just agree, or they say something like, let's find a compromise. Or they say something like,

let's create some alignment here. Now, can you see how everything that I have shared with you today in this episode is when you hear these things, when someone, a listener hears these things, agreement, alignment, compromise, the first thing that it does is it creates internal objections. Like, I can't compromise on this, this is really important to me, or that that's as unacceptable. How can we align here when these things are non-negotiables and everybody's thinking the same thing? And then it

might seem to you as you're listening to this, you might be thinking, well then how could we ever navigate organizational politics? Well, it's not about changing somebody, it's not about coming to agreement because wouldn't you agree that certain situations, like every situation, actually there's no agreement that's going to be a hundred percent unanimous. And this is even more emphasized in the industries like healthcare and healthcare for example, and finances, financial industries. There's n

o consensus, there's no such a thing as, uh, complete around the room all across the board that everyone unanimously agrees with what we're gonna do moving forward. We can't have consensus like this. So understand that every individual is dedicated to the fulfillment of what they feel is most important. So creating a win-win situation would be a way to engage in relationships, which is a principle I shared with you earlier, to create that sustainable fair exchange and to more importantly, to hel

p your listeners and to help your team members to feel appreciated and understood from for their perspectives as well, right? So this is key. How do you encourage these win-win relationships? Principle number five to navigating organizational politics is to evaluate the landscape. The landscape is continuously changing. And I mean the political landscape in your organization, no matter how big or how small your organization is, the political landscape does not stay the same, and it did not stay

the same in the history of your organization as well. So when it comes to navigating and understanding how the political landscape changes, there are key events that cause a shift in political landscape. Now, political landscapes are changing. Whenever you see that there is a reorganization, a restructuring, a change in the way leadership is carried out, those things will necessarily create a shift in the political landscape. But I wanna share with you some key things that happen along a busines

s journey that causes those things to be required, right? That what does it, what happens in a company, in a business, in a company, in order for the requirement to have restructuring and to have reorganization and therefore a change in politics, right? So the first thing that could happen is that there is an introduction of a new business or a new sister business or a new product within the business that needs to gain traction that can cause restructuring and therefore a change in political lan

dscape. Another thing is if there is a imminent problem, a new issue or a problem that's coming down the pipeline, and this problem can have a serious effect on the fiscal growth of the of the business, that creates a change in landscape. Another thing is that if the business or a particular arm or a product line in the business is in danger of imminent failure, that can change, that will change the political landscape. Another thing is also if there is rapid business growth, a lot of business g

rowth that demands a certain type of leadership, that will change the political landscape as well. So all of these scenarios that I just outlined with you necessarily does change the political landscape and therefore, at each of those situations and circumstances within business or product line within the business will demand a different type of leadership. So what can you do? It will be important, it would be wise for you to understand and stay updated and afloat and observing when these situat

ions are arising, having a pulse on the movement of the business towards growth or problems or imminent failure to be have a pulse on those things and to be able to know what's going on, and therefore to be able to identify what stage of political landscape shifting are we in? And in that case, and that's from that sense of awareness of your circumstances, awareness of your surroundings, you can be prepared to create that win-win scenario to engage in relationships, to understand the big picture

and everything that I shared with you before. Now, just as though you were playing a very high stakes game of chess, be able to navigate organizational politics does require a keen observation. It requires strategic thinking. It requires being able to see the big picture, those skill sets and adaptability just as with chess and organiz and navigating organizational politics. But by applying these five key principles that I shared with you today and the steps involved in applying those principle

s right down to practicality and implementation, you can create that winning strategy and you can position yourself as a leader in your industry and within your company and the business function that you represent. So now, a while ago, a while back, I created a different episode, and in that episode I talked about diplomatic communications, right? Because one of the principles that I shared here was in being able to engage in relationships, being able to have diplomatic conversations with people

who are different from you in multiple different ways, that they're different from you. So if you are serious about developing this skillset because you can see and you've experienced the importance of being able to navigate politics, then the video that I talk about, that episode about communicating diplomatically, that episode is coming right up next. I'll see you there.