Office Politics

Killing Flies with Honey- How to Turn a Frustrating Colleague into an Asset

May 1, 2012

 A guest post by Chris Wallace It’s a tough lesson to grasp when you’re 8-years-old, but sometime during the road to adulthood I finally understood my grandmother’s favorite maxim — “You kill more flies with honey than with vinegar.” This wise saying couldn’t be more true than in an office environment. Even if you’re a generally rosy [...]

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The 3 Myths of Office Politics

July 12, 2011

Whenever I facilitate a presentation or workshop on navigating office politics, I start off with the question, “When you hear the phrase ‘office politics’, what comes to mind?” Typical responses include: Back-stabbing People who are in it for themselves “Run for the hills” Slimy self-promotion Favoritism Does this line up with your thoughts about office [...]

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Office Politics Resources for GRAPE

March 17, 2011

 Today I gave a presentation to the Grand Rapids Area Professionals for Excellence on “Office Politics: How to Deal with Bad Actors in a Good Way”. Throughout the presentation, I made reference to books and blog articles that contained great information about navigating office politics while maintaining one’s integrity.    Here’s that list of resources: [...]

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Office Politics CAN Be Positive

March 14, 2011

Later this week I’ll be speaking with the Grand Rapids Area Professionals for Excellence on the topic of Office Politics. It’s sure to be a lively event, as nearly everyone I encounter with has a story about colleagues maneuvering in some Machiavellian way to gain power, recognition or some form of “currency”. We love to [...]

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What’s Your Office Politics Pet Peeve?

February 24, 2011

My blog post Networking Inside the Company Walls, which was part of a blog series onPositive Office Politics, has been on of the most popular posts on The People Equation. As the name of the blog series implies, the focus was on the positive aspects of office politics. (Yes, there are positive aspects. Check out [...]

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Surviving a Corporate Changing of the Guard

December 2, 2010

Imagine for a moment that there is a sudden change in leadership in your organization.  You now have a new Vice President overseeing your area and you’re unsure where you stand in this person’s esteem. This is exactly the situation my colleague Sally is currently facing. Recently Sally confided in me that she was feeling [...]

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Office Politics: It’s Personal

February 9, 2010

Our 5-part series on positive office politics, (The P Quotient) is drawing to a close.  In this final installment, Jane Perdue looks at personal influence, one of four key behaviors needed for a person to be considered politically savvy in a productive way.   Just tuning in to this fascinating topic?  Start here for the [...]

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Do You Trust Your Agenda?

February 4, 2010

As part of an ongoing blog series on Positive Office Politics  (follow #OPQ on Twitter), Susan Mazza asks “What’s Your Agenda?” In this blog post, she explores personal motivations and how they show up in the workplace.  She says: We ALL have agendas. You could say our ambitions, no matter how altruistic or noble they may [...]

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