!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> Streamline Training & Documentation: 21st Century Journalism XXX: The Savvy View of Office Politics

Saturday, November 22, 2008

21st Century Journalism XXX: The Savvy View of Office Politics

Kudos to Phyllis Korkki, writing in the New York Times on November 16 about "The Win-Win Way to Play Office Politics." In FAQ format, Korkki does a good job of concisely explaining the ethical way in which savvy people handle the political dimension of their work lives.

Korkki reports input from four experts/gurus (all female BTW):

Marie McIntyre, author of Secrets to Winning at Office Politics: How to Achieve Your Goals and Increase Your Influence at Work. McIntyre provides a practical definition of "office politics" — being smart about how you manage the relationships at work — which Korkki paraphrases and elaborates:
understanding who has power and how decisions are made; being aware of how your managers and co-workers prefer to operate; adapting to the culture of your organization; and behaving and speaking in a way that helps you advance — and not hurt — your goals and those of your company.
Peggy Klaus, an executive coach and author of The Hard Truth About Soft Skills: Workplace Lessons Smart People Wish They'd Learned Sooner. A key point: We must know how "to talk about ourselves and our accomplishments and our team's accomplishments in appropriate situations."

Marilyn Puder-York, a psychologist and author of The Office Survival Guide. Key points: When you've engaged well in office politics, "you've enhanced your reputation with the right people." Effective involvement in office politics also means being able "to diffuse the conflicts that inevitably emerge in a group of people with different temperaments, needs, backgrounds, agendas and goals."

Franke James, editor of officepolitics.com and creator of a game called Office Politics. A key point: Pay attention to the interpersonal dynamics in your organization so that you "develop an awareness of the interrelationships and levels of influence that exist in your office and how those could affect your job and the work that you do."

For an earlier post on office politics, see here.

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