I am rubbish at politics!

[malificent7]

I cant advance at work as i always fall foul of office politics. I am open, friendly and hard working but i just cant get ahead or even along tetm contract. My dad rekons i need to suck up but thats just not me.

Advice please. I am totally disingenious!!

I never got the hang of it at school either ( might be slightly aspergers? )

My friend thinks im not aloof enough

I have aspergers.

What do you mean by office politics? Do you mean people you dont get on with people?

There are four behaviours or skills you need to develop to get on with office politics

1. Networking, and that's with people with power, not just gossiping with mates (although that can be valuable). Ideally you need a sponsor who can advocate for you.

1. Influencing skills - learning how to influence and which situations to use which influence technique is crucial

1. Being aware of what's going on socially with groups and individuals. A bit like emotional intelligence - can you 'read the room'?

1. Appearing genuine and sincere - key here is 'appearing'. Skilled workplace politicians can come across really genuine but hide ulterior motives. Perhaps you're being too open with people though?

Yeah.... im too genuine. Tbh my ulterior motives include getting paid and doing a good job.

I'm not sure how politics specifically is stopping you getting paid and doing a good job.

Politics has and will always exist when people are involved. Politics can sometimes be a force for good, when power / influence is used appropriately to become a better more efficiently run company.

You can still be "genuine" and keep your job

I think you need to be more specific about which aspects of politics are causing you difficulty If you want specific advice.

Ah but the key is whether anyone knows you're doing a good job. You can slave away for years doing long hours, meeting every target, but until someone notices you do that and spreads the word then it won't matter. Meanwhile joe bloggs down the row of desks has networked well and has a sponsor who is telling everyone how great he is, so guess who gets the promotion when you both go for it? Politics isn't 'dirty' it's just about making sure people are aware of who you are and what you're doing.

What do you mean by too genuine?

Its really difficult to give advice without knowing details.

What you call too genuine, someone else may call over sharing, abrasive, being honest to the point of rudeness or uncomfortableness for others.

I am not saying thats what you are doing. Just difficult to judge.

I get what you mean as I too am rubbish at office politics.

Where I work, "fun" at work is on the Team Leader's terms only i.e. compulsory decorating of the team pod at celebratory times and the best pod wins a prize. We have compulsory work related word search competitions/work related quizzes/work related treasure hunts around the office. No time is given to do this so we do it in our breaks/lunch break, and at our own expense. If you don't fully embrace the "fun" you are "not a team player". The prize is awarded by top management to .............. the TL (surprise, surprise!!) of the winning pod and is usually a bottle of wine so no sharing among the team! I despair!! I am dying inside as I have to put on my "fun game face" as it all seems so shallow. If we even look like we are having a giggle as a team without the TL and not in designated company "fun" time we are told sharply to get back to work.

We have new "Team Initiatives" almost weekly. This week's was to publish stats on team lateness, sickness, each person's calls per occupied hour, leakage etc etc on the intranet. This is supposed to "incentivise" us and make us "strive for better" - more chuffing management speak. Actually, I think it is based on an assumption that we are all lazy git workers who need to be publicly shamed to work harder. Again, on goes my "happy work game face" and when asked what we think of the latest initiative dreamed up by the TL think tank we all exclaim "oh what a great idea" in chorus. I am dying inside. I am thinking Emperor's New Clothes. This was the initiative from last year, dropped as rubbish and not workable and reinstated under a new title. Same old, same old. But an amazing new initiative by TL X (more wine).

Our monthly one to one's are half an hour of having stats thrown at you followed by a talk on what you could do better. Every month. Same thing. I have to smile and come up with new ideas of how I can be a better worker. Every month. At this rate by 2019 I will be so bl**dy perfect I will be Pope!!

That is my observation of office politics. OP's may be different but it struck a chord with me fwiw. I feel better for the rant x Happy game face on and off to work.

Yuckduck-that sounds like my idea of hell! I would inwardly laugh however.
I guess I always misread who the office gossips are. I have been back stabbed for things that I didn't do. For example a teacher (friend of mine) told my line manager that I wasn't reading the exam questions to the students who needed it. In reality I paused to allow them to catch up. She prompted me to read on and so I did.
I have no idea why she said I wasn't reading the exam questions when I was. I simply paused for 2 minutes to allow them to catch up.

What I have learned is to never, never fight back, question or disagree. Only give an opinion if asked, and even then make it upbeat. You can always spot those who want promotion as they would stab you in the back as soon as look at you if it makes them look big and you look small!! If that is the sort of managers a firm wants then they deserve eachother.