Wise people not only heed these advices, they have been practicing them for years. You read on for more. I will try to expound on office politics.
Not before pointing out an omission: failure to deliver, the top career killer. You have a job, that job has a purpose and goals. If you screw up, nothing can help you.
So exactly is office politics? It is the understanding of how things really work and what really drive people. Modern corporations, those that survived fierce competition, do not adhere to the managerial hierarchy and budgetary discretion. They function in a much more subtle and complicated way: faster in decision making, product development, and market successes. Look beyond the structure of the organization and observe how things are done: whose opinions matter, who control the critical processes, how resources are allocated.
After that, learn what motivate those key individuals. Most of the time, the motivators are not complicated and simple to observe: sense of accomplishment, sense of right or wrong, recognition, the need to control. Look at the higher part of Maslow’s pyramid, instead of focusing on job security, pay, and career ladder. There is no better way than interacting with these people in earnest. Sometime, keen observation works equally well.
Avoiding office politics could be a career killer. Misunderstanding what it is would be a career suicide.
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