Organisations are full of people who are attempting to play politics at work as they try to influence each other. Some are seeking to help people, while others are driven by self-interest. Although the tactics are often the same, the level of honesty and integrity will make the difference between a healthy organisation and one rife with harmful office politics. Whatever your experience or position, it helps to become aware of what is going on around you so you can make clear decisions to improve things and protect your integrity and success.
To help you understand more about this topic, take a look at a summary of influencing tactics (or dirty tricks/office politics) which our research has identified as being common in many large organisations, and then complete the exercise below.
- Using the tactics as a guide, what tactics are common in your organisation?
- Why are they used by the individuals concerned?
- To what extent are these positive or negative?
- What ‘ways forward’ or ‘ways out’ can you offer when dealing with these tactics?
- What WIN-WIN ideas can you put forward?
- What is your bottom line when dealing with them?
- What do you need to do in order to ensure that you can keep calm during the negotiation?
- In the unlikely event of them reacting badly to your approach, what is your contingency plan?
- What specific words or phrases should you rehearse to ensure that you perform well in the moment?
- What is the big picture that you can highlight to keep things in perspective?