TheJobBored

There’s a great post up at Dumb Little Man giving you a rundown of office-politics survival-strategies. It’s an unusually well thought-out post, as these sort of posts go, and it reads a bit like Sun Tzu mixed with Machiavelli. Some of my favorite techniques:

Before Engaging in Political Battle, Know How Much Power You Have. This is a somewhat subjective thing, but think of it like this: If you go to the mat on a particular issue, who is going to back you up and how? Call on them ahead of time to be sure about this. If you are new, still building your power base (allies), or rebuilding your base after a setback, then wait before waging any dramatic battles. Otherwise you’ll lose and look like a fool. (…)

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Play Dumb and Busy to Keep Out of Toxic Conversations. Find ways to neutrally bow out of gossip conversations.

Grow Your Power Base Strategically Over Time.

There’s much, much more in the post. Good stuff:
It’s Not the Size of Your Office Politics Tool… (Dumb Little Man)