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 person, there’s likely something or someone that bothers you at work. Maybe it’s the graphic designer whose headphones aren’t exactly ‘noise cancelling,’ or a partner on a project who spends more time complaining than contributing productively.

Anger and frustration are natural responses in situations that slow down our workflow or distract our train of thought. When they continue unabated or grow into persistent habits, it’s easy to let ourselves boil over. But however silently we stew, the negative energy we build in response will only serve to exacerbate the situation.

Consider these potential situations at work:

Your Coworker in the Adjoining Cubicle is Unbearably Loud on the Phone

If you’re like me, productivity requires peace and quiet. I struggle to work with constant distractions, so when a new employee with the voice of a play-by-play football announcer moved in next door, it forced me to wear headphones, cranking up the classical music in feeble attempts to drown him out.

After two weeks of gritting my teeth and complaining to my wife, she reminded me to ‘be nice’ and solve the problem. After work, I invited my new coworker out for happy hour. We broke the ice and I learned that he’s a great guy with lots of shared interests. With the situation relaxed, it was easy to bring up my gripe. He was immediately apologetic (I honestly believe he hadn’t even realized) and ever since, I’ve ditched the headphones and we’re fast friends.

A Colleague is Arrogant and Demeaning

There’s almost nothing harder to deal with than stubborn self-assurance, especially in a coworker who belittles people around them. It’s a character trait that feeds off of reactions. When someone talks down to a coworker performing a task for them, they expect subservience.

Don’t egg this tendency on. Even if someone is your superior at work, you’re still there with a common goal in mind. It’s tough, but treat these people with respect and kindness. Be a mirror of positivity, and your good attitude will reflect back onto the person trying to bring you down.

Defusing the Micromanager

Here’s where I’m guilty of being the annoying one — I’m a do-it-yourself kind of guy, and I tend to oversee projects to the point of frustrating people working with me on them. Over the years, I’ve learned that trusting people works far better than staring over their shoulder. If you assign a task, rely on employees to do it well. If you are that employee, your job is to really knock it out of the park. After the project is complete and you’ve proven yourself, don’t hesitate to point out to your colleague that their constant checking up on you wasn’t really necessary. They’ll recognize the good work you’ve just done and establish new trust in you, in part because you were willing to speak up.

The frustrating situations that can arise with coworkers in an office environment are endless (if they weren’t, we’d have far less content for TV sitcoms). Whatever the case may be, address it with a smile. Being positive is not always easy, but it’s contagious when it catches on. And wouldn’t we all rather be happy at work?

Christopher Wallace is Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Amsterdam Printing, a leading provider of personalized pens and other promotional products such as imprinted apparel, mugs and customized calendars. He regularly contributes to Promo & Marketing Wall blog.

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 politics? You’re certainly not alone. This line of thinking is representative of the majority of respondents.

In the workplace, the term “office politics” is often associated with negative behaviors. The website commercedictionary.com defines office politics as “the ways in which the people in a workplace relate to and behave towards each other, especially the ways in which people use the power and status they have.”

There’s nothing inherently wrong with people who use power and status, but it’s the way in which they use it that gives office politics its bad name. It’s those “people behaving badly” when playing office politics that conjures up images of favoritism, greediness or selfishness. Can there possibly be an upside to being politically savvy? Indeed, there is. But first, you need to disabuse yourself of the following three myths.

1. Office politics are the domain of toxic workplaces. True, but they’re also present in every organization, even those places with a great vibe. Face it— even the best places to work have an unspoken set of norms. People who quickly assess and learn to operate within those norms are the ones who get things done with the least amount of stress.
2. All office “politicking” is inherently evil. Not necessarily. In fact, according to Gerald Ferris, a Professor at the University of Florida, and co-author of the book Political Skill at Work: “truly skillful execution of the behaviors associated with politics is usually perceived as genuine, authentic, straightforward and effective.”  The upshot: if you play office politics well, you won’t be called “political,” you’ll be called “good with people”.
3. To be politically savvy, I’ll have to lower my ethical standards. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. According to research by the Political Skill at Work authors, the four competencies that demonstrate organizational political skill are: sincerity, networking, interpersonal influence and social astuteness.  These are all highly ethical and respectable behaviors, not the underhanded or unsavory ones often associated with office politics.

By releasing yourself of the mindset that all office politics is unsavory (and therefore to be avoided at all cost), you can free yourself up to focus on the ethical aspect of levering your influence in a positive way.  For people who take the high road and use their influence and communication skills to create value for their companies—and not just themselves— office politics can be a useful tool to have in one’s interpersonal toolbox.

 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:

Navigating Office Politics (video) – via Leila’s House of Corrections

Gust: The “Tale” Wind of Office Politics – by Tim Johnson

Importance of Cultivating Your Influence – while not specifically about office politics, leadership coach Art Petty shares sage advice for leaders: “Be aware of politics, and instead of denying it, use ethical finesse in coping with and managing it.” 

Office Politics Blog Series, curated by Jane Perdue.

officepolitics.com – created by author Franke James, this is an online forum for people seeking advice on how to deal with “bad” office politics. Franke’s book “Dear Office Politics: The Game Everyone Plays” was a 2010 winner of the Axiom Awards.

Political Skill at Work – by Gerald Ferris, Sherry Davidson and Pamela Perrewe.

I also drew upon information provided to me by fellow leadership consultant Angie Chaplin. She sent me a two-part series from the Forbes.com site on navigating office politics. Read it here and here. Thanks, Angie!

What other resources do you use to help you navigate office politics in a positive way?

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 hate office politics.

But is it all bad? Is there anything positive about behaving “politically” at the office? A year ago, Jane Perdue, founder of The Braithwaite Innovation Group, invited me to participate in a month-long blog series on Positive Office Politics. Like me,  Jane thinks that people can be politically astute at the office and still keep their ethics intact. In fact, she’s uncovered research that highlights four key “political” competencies that, when employed effectively, actually create improved relationships.

Jane’s revisiting the series this week at her blog Get Your Leadership BIG On, which features four different bloggers commenting on the political competencies. Jane has created a brand-new kick-off post, which you can read here. 

The series will run all week on Get Your Leadership BIG On.  Today, it’s my post on Networking within the Company Walls.  Tuesday’s post is from Susan Mazza with What’s Your Agenda? Wednesday features Mike Henry with Sincerity and Office Politics.

I hope you’ll enjoy this unique take on politics and be inspired by what each of these “political advisors” has to say about playing nice at the office.

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 the post if you’re skeptical.)

A far more commonly held view of office politics, however, is a negative one, In fact, “politics” in general gets a bad rap, as evidenced by the photo at left. It’s sad but true: many people behave badly at work in an effort to get what they want, shirk responsibility or malign someone’s good name. No doubt, we’ve all seen those “politicians” out there maneuvering in the workplace.

I’m giving a presentation in a few weeks on the topic of Office Politics. Because it’s always great to have fresh information, I’d love it if you’d offer up your opinions in the comments section below to the follow question:

What’s your biggest office politics pet peeve? What are the negative behaviors you see acted out at the office that give “office politics” its bad name?

I look forward to hearing from you!

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 a growing sense of unease: am I on the “in” or “out” list of this person?  Nothing specific has been said; but Sally is very astute and she was noticing some subtle changes. A project that Sally was leading suddenly needed to be reviewed for budget issues. There was an influx of vendors being considered for projects previously handled in-house.

Sally had an excellent track record with her previous boss. Unfortunately, he left the company. She now finds herself in a game of catch-up: how to promote her skills to the new regime without seeming like she’s overtly lobbying for job security? It’s a Catch-22 many professionals experience: if I’m too self-promotional, I’ll come across as self-serving, but if I don’t self-promote, I’ll be unseen and most likely  undervalued.

There are ways to accomplish this task and do so with professionalism. A key part of making one’s self known is through networking, which I’ve blogged about here and here and in this post featured on Forbes Woman Views.

Another way to safeguard against this is to make your aspirations known to leaders outside of your immediate area of responsibility. One especially savvy professional named Denise made it a practice to seek out key leaders in areas outside of her area of expertise—to say in effect, “I’m a quick study and willing to work hard. Please keep me in mind for future opportunities in your division that would fit my skill set.” This paid dividends when there were organizational shifts and a leader did indeed tap Denise for a new project.

So is Sally totally out of luck? I don’t think so. But this experience has taught her an invaluable career lesson: the best defense is a good offense.

If there was a sudden “changing of the guard” in your organization, would your situation more closely resemble Sally’s or Denise’s?

 photo credit: istockphoto.com © Arthur Kwiatkowski

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 first installment, Politics are Necessary, but Not Necessarily Evil by Jane Perdue at her blog Life, Love, Leadership.

Then, it’s my turn with Networking Inside the Company Walls.

Next up is Mike Henry at the Lead Change Group with Sincerity and Office Politics.

Installment 4 was Susan Mazza on What’s Your Agenda? at her Random Acts of Leadership blog.

Which brings us to the final installment of the series, Influence and Intentions by Jane Perdue. Jane suggests her readers consider their level of personal influence with this question:

Is my word and/or my involvement sufficient to make something happen?

Now that’s a question to stop you in your tracks.  Is the fact that you’re involved in a project enough to get others to join in?  In reflecting on that question, I offer the some follow-up questions:

• Does your track record shine with not only successes, but with recovery from tough setbacks?
• Do people know that when you give your word, you’ll come through?
• If for some rare reason you can’t deliver, will people hear about it as soon as possible?
• Will people listen to your “crazy” ideas because they know that you’ll find a way to make them happen?
• Do you know how to gracefully cut your losses and move on, rather than gripping tightly to an idea so that you can be “right”?
• Do people know that if they follow your lead, they’ll be heard?

If you can honestly answer “yes” to several of these questions, then you are a person of influence. And that, my friends, is what office “politics” should be about.

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 be, are an agenda.  We also have many underlying personal viewpoints and biases.  Some we are aware of and some we are not.  And they inform everything we think, say and do. 

So true!

As I read this post, I found myself wondering to what degree the label “hidden agenda” or “playing politics” is driven by the trust level between the players involved. For example, let’s say that Pete has a poor track record with Bob when it comes to being forthright. Therefore Bob doesn’t trust Pete to “tell it like it is” and is leery when Bob describes something in vague terms.  Does it then follow that Pete attributes a “hidden agenda” to Bob? Pete may think to himself, “Why doesn’t Bob just come out and say what he has in mind for this project? What’s all the cloak-and-dagger stuff about anyway?”

But has Pete considered Bob’s viewpoint?  Does Bob have a legitimate reason for not being forthcoming? Maybe Bob has a “hidden” agenda, maybe not.  One thing’s for sure—Pete can’t crawl inside Bob’s head and see his motivation.  So, maybe a better optionfor Pete is to pay attention to his own motivations and worry less about Bob’s intentions.  Better yet, Pete could put it on the table and talk about it. “Bob, I’m not sure I’m clear about what you’re plan is.  Would you be willing to give me more detail?”

To Susan’s point, human beings can’t avoid having motivations and ambitions.  We can, however be willing to examine our own motivations and ensure that they are focused on a mutually beneficial outcome. When we make sure our own intentions and motivations are well-placed, we know we can trust our agenda.