Life Lessons in Office Politics: How to Play & Win

I already know what you’re thinking, “Ashley, I am not stooping to the level of playing office politics.” But, let me explain before you stop reading. 🛑

I am talking about being strategic at work. And, no, that doesn’t mean being inauthentic. It doesn't mean being someone that you're not. It doesn't mean that you have to let go of who you are and what you value to advance to the highest levels of leadership. But it does mean that you need to be strategic about how you approach work. 

You need to be strategic about what it means to position yourself as an expert to advance to the highest levels of leadership. And one of the things that you ultimately need to do is know what office politics are and learn how to play office politics to win. 🏆

And this doesn't mean manipulation. This doesn't mean gaslighting; it doesn't mean playing games at work, kissing up, or sucking up. 

But it does mean being strategic about how you approach the world of work, how you position yourself as an expert, who you engage with, how you engage with them, and doing it in a way that benefits you as the expert.👩🏾‍💻

So I'm going to talk to you specifically about how to play office politics and win in today's world.

Let’s start with what office politics are exactly. Office politics are essentially the unknown or unspoken rules of work, and politics exist in every industry. It's just a thing that exists in the world. You can't get around them; you can't avoid them. 🤫

We’ve been told repeatedly that you just put your head down and do the work. You will get the results. But is that what our supervisors and managers want to see? Not from my experience. 

Six and a half years ago, my boss pulled me into her office and was like, “What’s the deal?” Her statement was very confusing but was also very offensive to me. I didn’t understand. I came to work every day, put my head down, and completed my work. 💻

But my boss told me, “Ashley, just doing the work isn't what we expected of you. We expect a higher level of leadership from you. We expect a higher level of engagement from you.” At the time, I was a mid-level manager. So, just putting my head down and doing the work wasn’t what they wanted or, quite frankly, expected from someone in my position. 

They expected me to be savvy, wise, know the players and other stakeholders, know who's in the room, and know how to work the room. 👋🏾

When we don’t live up to those expectations, we miss out on the values of office politics. We end up missing out on the opportunities that position our expertise in a way that helps our organization see the value of the great work that we do and pay us well for our expertise.

We have to pull away from this idea that office politics are beneath us and that we aren’t playing no games with these people. Politics is a game and the game must be played, and nobody plays the game better than Black women, honey. 💁🏾‍♀️

Right? Nobody plays the game better than us. So let's play the game. Let's not let the game play us. Let's be strategic. Let's be intentional. Let's never be inauthentic. Let's never be fake or lessen our values.

But let's be intentional about our current development so that we don't miss out on the opportunity and the good side of office politics and how we can benefit from it. 🙌🏾

And, trust me, I know there are bad sides to office politics. It's the sucking up. It's the kissing up. It's the manipulation, the gossiping, and all of that stuff. There is a really bad side to office politics. But I also want you to know that that's not the only side. 

I just think we don’t know enough about the good side. The good side is what I wanted to share with you in this post. 📨

Do you feel stuck? Unappreciated? Unnoticed? Do you know that you have the goods, the smarts, the expertise to get that next-level position? Maybe office politics can get you to that next level. 

My job as a mentor is to teach you the good side and how to use the good side to get what you want because the good side teaches you how to position yourself. The good side teaches you how to leverage. The good side teaches you how to differentiate yourself in the marketplace. The good side helps you stand out from the crowd without sucking up or kissing up. 🚫

So, come work with me and allow me to mentor you about how to use office politics to your advantage while maintaining your authenticity. We can navigate this together, and, I promise, you won’t have to stoop to any level. Learn more today at mentor-me.org or schedule a Mentor Moment today.