Emotional intelligence means knowing how to get along and it can move your career ahead. How do you handle office politics? For some it’s the reason to be there, while others consider it an interference with their work. If you’re going to be savvy about politics, here’s the scoop. Studies show that playing too hard at work is just as bad as refusing to play at all. Office politics is here to stay and how you play can influence your success, satisfaction, and performance at work. So read on.
According to management professors Bob Kreitner and Angelo Kinicki, two of the most common tactics used in office politics are attacking or blaming others, and withholding (information, resources, supplies). The next most popular politial tactic is impression management. Impression management means dressing or grooming for success, and also drawing attention to your own success and influence, and taking credit for others’ accomplishments. Over half the managers asked to name political tactics mention these three things.
How people play the political game depends upon need, style, personal values, ethics, and temperament, but there’s one thing to keep in mind, say Kreitner and Kinicki. People like people who aren’t too different from everyone else, i.e., people they can understand. It’s the folks at either end of the spectrum — too extreme one way or the other — who have trouble in offices. People who are either strictly non-political or people who are highly political generally find there’s a price to pay for “aberrant” behavior.
Use your EQ on the job and get ahead!
Susan Dunn, MA, Marketing Coach,
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