..so you finally graduated, what a relief. You are free to manage your time as you wish. You don’t have to think about your term paper topic for hours. You believe that all the difficulties are already behind. And it is…but it isn’t. You finally got that sweet job you’ve been waiting to get and you are going to save up and buy that Ferrari, travel to Greece in your time off and roll around in your money like a pig in his northwestern wallow. You and your coworkers are going to live in a hippy commune like bliss, have happy hours, and be like a giant family. Now all of that may be true but I have some bad news: even in the best of companies there are going to be office politics. Welcome to the real world.

-You are having a great first week in the office when you hear some of your co-workers talking about going for happy hour. You chime in “hey, that sounds great” and they all look at you like the white guy in the Godfather when he asks to be part of the family business.

-There is that one man/woman who just plain hates you and you can’t figure out why. They are rude to you and just downright impossible to deal with.

-You find a group of people gossiping about someone you have been getting along with

-You work your butt off and give them to a peer who promptly shows them to a superior while claiming it as their own

These are all common things that I have seen happen or heard about happening from various friends. Its not unique to any one company and you can bet you will find it going on in places from large companies to small companies to offices to churches (ladies rotary brawl anyone?).

The good news is that you are probably somewhat prepared for this having gone through middle school and high school. The bad news is that now it directly affects your money making ability.

When you get into your job you might be thinking “ah yeah, Ive got it made, I have all the essential qualities down PAT.” Your train of thinking may go something like this:

Drive - energy and your desire to work. Ive got it, I am the man (woman).

Team-commitment - Ive got this down too. In college I took my turns being the one to pump the keg.

Communication skills - I am good at talking to people and getting things across.

Those are great and all, but there is one extra little quality that can be very helpful:

Savviness - this the the unspoken one that happens to be one of the most important. There are various forms of savvy, and you want to pick the honorable one. You will need to use your wit to overcome poor political situations. There are the people that that walk on others, and people that get walked on. Then there is the third kind of people that hold their ground while not throwing others under the bus. This is the area you want to be in.

There is always the ability to just “not play” the politics game but there is a good chance of losing favor and your perceived job performance can suffer. It doesn’t matter how well you are doing if Bob is taking all the credit for what you are doing.

So play the game. Dive into the politics but don’t sell your soul. Thats that middle ground I am talking about. Heres is your approach:

-Dont compromise your integrity or sell yourself short

-Stay away from gossiping.

-Stand up for yourself, always. Let people in a respectful way that you will NOT be intimidated. When you deal with people directly it cuts right to their core and and stabs a sword in their BS.

-Don’t be afraid of ANYONE. The most politically powerful people in the organization are not to be feared or to be sucked up to. They are to be dealt with honestly and respectfully but also directly and openly.

-Form relationships with coworkers. It makes a huge difference, don’t be the hermit.

-When things get nasty in a meeting and the words start flying, don’t get into it. If it goes on, get up and leave. If asked later why you left, be completely honest and say that you felt the conversation was unprofessional. Its as simple as that. There is a difference between a heated but respectful debate, and an insultfest.

-Be positive. Without optimism, work will not be fun.

-Be confident in your abilities and view yourself as an important contributor. You need to develop a good self image. It will not go unnoticed. Stand up for your own opinions.

-Don’t get emotional. Logic destroys emotion in the work environment. The cool calm person holds 100X more power and words fall 10X as heavy as the ranting screamer.

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