How To Deal With Office Politics

Office politics can be found in many offices. Some work places have a higher degree of office politics than others. There are some tricks you can learn to help you deal with office politics if it’s part of your work environment.

Office politics is a fancy name for employees not getting along. It’s more common than you might think. After all when you put such a variety of personalities and work ethics together there’s bound to be some conflict.

A little bit of conflict can be healthy and keep people on their toes but too much office politics leads to stress, poor job performance, and dissatisfaction with the work environment which then leads to high turn over rates.

A great deal of office politics can be resolved through communication. By improving your employee’s communication skills through courses you can create a more cohesive work environment.

There are generally four types of personalities that can be found in the work place. The type that takes control and are strong willed and impatient. The type that outgoing expressive and need recognition. The type that are stable, predictable, hard working and good listeners. And lastly the type that are analytical, quality orientated, good planners, and systematic about what they do.

You can quickly see why some of these work place personalities might clash and result in office politics. Office politics are undesirable in any office. Here are some suggestions to help you work through some situations that commonly occur.

Don’t be knocking the boss. Even if you don’t really mean what you are saying and are just blowing off steam, nothing can create problems faster. Complaining to co-workers doesn’t do anything but stir things up in the office and get you in big trouble. If the issues serious then talk directly to your boss. If it’s not then keep your mouth shut and carry on.

If you work with someone that really rubs you the wrong way perhaps its time to put your ego on the back burner and take the high ground with this other person. No matter how tough it is, if you must interact with the individual always stay civil. You can curse and carry on in the privacy of your home. But at the same time do not let the other person bully or intimidate you. Always hold your ground.

If you are in a situation where a co-worker is taking your ideas and turning them into her own then taking the credit for them then perhaps it’s time to not so easily provide the information. You can still share them but never when it’s on a one to one. Always make sure there is someone else around that hears you pass on that great idea.

If you have a boss that’s hard to get along with because they are either rude or arrogant but you enjoy the place you work then don’t let your boss know it bothers you. If someone knows something gets your goat they are more likely to do it. The more confident you get the less it should bother you and don’t let the boss see it intimidates you. This ones a bit tricky but don’t let on it bothers you and certainly don’t share that information with your co-workers.

If you have slackers in your office then live with it unless it’s your job to whip them into shape. Do your job and let your manager worry about your co-workers. That said it doesn’t mean you have to pick up the slack on their jobs. If it’s really a problem then talk to your manager but you best be comfortable that it will be a confidential conversation. Don’t become the cause of the office politics. You’ll be odd one out.

Office politics are something that you need to try to avoid. It will only lead to stress and uncomfortable situations. Don’t get caught in it! Stay out of disputes that don’t concern you and handle issues that do concern you on a one to one not through the office grapevine or gossip chains.

Office politics aren’t that difficult to deal with if you use common sense and don’t let others intimidate you!

Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory. This means that as a publisher you may reprint the articles that are included in our site, as long as the article is unedited and the author box is included with it's live hyperlinks.