Office politics is not optional. It exists everywhere, right from the bottom of a government babu unit to the top of an MNC. Read on to learn how to protect yourself.

Observe How Things Get Done
Look around and have a clear idea of how things are done in your organisation. You must know what the chain of command is like and who in office reports to whom. Know the companys culture by keeping a track of what actions are encouraged and the ones that are not seen in good light. Ask some basic questions like "How are decisions made?", "How much risk is tolerated?" and "Who makes the key decisions during crisis situations?". If you know the answers, it will be far easier for you to protect yourself from any possible propaganda.

Stay Away from Groupism
If your office is sporadically divided into different camps, there’s bound to be pressure to join one of them. However, as much as possible, try not to focus your loyalty towards any one group. If your office colleagues think of you as someone who’s constantly sitting on the fence, be it. One alliance may have more hold and power in the office decisions at one point of time. However, that does not mean that it will stay on like that. Organizations are constantly under change. New leadership and new people joining the organization change and mould the environment in their own way. Who knows, after a few months another alliance might have a stronger hold.
If you align with any particular group, you often end up burning bridges with other groups. If you are planning for a long-term career with the company, stay out of alliances.

Blow Your Own Trumpet
Everyone is looking for that top spot and if no one knows of your achievements, chances are that you may lose out. Doing good work is important. Making sure that your bosses and key people in the company know about it is all the more important. Let others know what you have achieved. However, the tricky point here is not to go on a self-bragging parade. The idea is to let them know, and not drill it into their heads. The benefit of doing this is that you are more than one of those nameless faces working in the company. It is well-known that you are around and the company is benefiting from your presence.

Network Before You Need To
You must have a strong rapport with your colleagues and other office staff to escape office politics. Hence, it’s important to start networking from day one itself. Many of us start looking at others only when we are in trouble and need their help. However, it’s very tough to get help from someone who you haven’t even spoken to ever since you joined the company. The wiser thing to do would be winning their confidence before hand so that you have a support system to fall back on.

Have An Imagebuilding Exercise
Whoever said image-building is only for Bollywood starlets had no clue how important it can get in your office environment. Cultivate a positive image for yourself and work on it. Don’t discuss personal problems in office. Be very selective of what you want your office colleagues to know about you. Be assertive when need be but make sure you aren’t overtly aggressive. Stay clear of negative attitudes like cribbing about office and life in general.
The image building exercise becomes all the more important when it comes to your superiors. Make sure your seniors think of you as someone who’s reliable and capable. A word of caution when trying to impress your senior is never to intimidate him/her. You may have learned fancy marketing jargons of late but do not rattle them off in front of your senior. They may think of you as a show-off and it may backfire in the long run.

What Goes Around, Comes Around
You may not like a particular person in office but make sure you never let this fact convey from your actions. Do not play nasty or bad mouth the other person. You never know when you may need his/her help. Remember that surviving office politics is far more important than your personal preferences.

Courtesy: The Times Of India