Office Politics

Office politics can rear its ugly head in many ways.

Sometimes, less skilled employees seem to move up the ladder quicker than more competent ones because of who they know and who they are friends with.

Maybe you're on the outside looking in, not part of this "clique." Be sure to also check out my page on favoritism in the workplace.

Sometimes it can be more obvious and blatant such as the case of where someone in the company who doesn't like you tries to get you into trouble or make you look bad in front of others to undermine you.

Maybe it involves a problem that has arisen and another person in the company is pointing the finger at you when in fact the fault lies with them, and they're just trying to pin the blame on you.

Here are some tips for dealing with office politics if you feel it's something you're facing at work:

1. Document your work and correspondence with others in the company.

2. Make sure others in the company know your accomplishments. We have to toot our own horn from time to time because if we don't, who else will? If others in the company see that you consistently produce good work, they're more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt over others in the company who might be trying to cause you trouble if they're less accomplished than you.

3. Get your boss behind you. Hopefully you have a good relationship with your boss. In my experience, I can think of instances where my boss defended me in cases where other groups in the company were causing me some grief, often because they were trying to cover their own butt.

4. Get a mentor. A mentor is someone who is usually more experienced than you – perhaps a more senior person in your company or industry – who shares their knowledge with you and helps to mentor or teach you using their experience. Perhaps they've faced the same thing you have and can offer advice regarding how to deal with it. If they work in the same company as you, they might be more likely to defend you against others if the need arises.

5. Defend yourself. You might have to stand up for yourself and defend yourself so be prepared to do so, armed with facts. You don't want to go on the offensive and look like the bad guy. You simply want to be prepared to defend yourself if the time comes to do so.