Navigating office politics

Many promising careers have been badly damaged due to an inability of a good employee to navigate the waters of office politics.

I don't care where you work, there are politics. I'm a huge fan of NBC's "The Office" because I feel that it more than adequately depicts every office personality imaginable in every work place. Every office has The Slacker, The Crazy Overachiever, The Perky One and The Jerk.

Since taking my first job at the tender age of 19, I've learned many things about how to stay successful at work and here are the top 10 things I'd like to share from my various work experiences.

1. As much as you hate to, you will have to choose sides. If you think that you're keeping to yourself and sidelining, you're wrong. Even if you don't join in the office gossip around the water cooler, you're making a choice. The choice? Not joining in the gossip around the water cooler.

You can be noncommittal and at the same time give the impression that you're being empathic when co-workers grumble about the boss. I try to just ask questions. For instance, when your co-worker begins to complain about what an idiot the boss is because he always makes everyone work overtime, while he slips out early to play golf with his cronies, ask, "How long has he been here?" It causes the other person to shift and change direction. Even if you respond to their accusations with "Wow" or "Are you serious?" you're almost fueling the fires because it "sounds" like you're almost agreeing that this person has a right to gripe to you.

2. Watch and observe. There will be people who will take you to the side and give you the low-down. These people are often looking for an excuse to give the lay of the land, because he just can't help himself. Be careful not to add to any of what you learn. Try to focus instead on the individual. Ask them questions about what they do at the company. How long they've been there. How they came to work at the company. Again, this throws them off their game a little bit, but at the same time, people who love to talk about other people love to talk about themselves even more!

3. Be friendly and approachable when it comes to your fellow co-workers. A big mistake that people make when joining a company is to repeatedly turn down offers. Its true that people are often promoted based on their likability. If no one likes you, your boss isn't likely to promote you. Unless you work as a prison guard, seriously think about fraternizing with your co-workers.

Go to lunch with your team every once in awhile.

4. Don't be a whiner. Ever come into the office the next morning and find Betty Sue telling her boss how she stayed until 8 p.m. the night before? Do you feel jealous because you shot out of the door at 4:59 p.m. because you had to catch two buses across town to pick up your kid at daycare? Marcie is actually hurting herself. People who constantly stay late may be viewed as someone who can't properly manage their time. And they'll be regarded as someone who can't handle more responsibility because they obviously haven't mastered their current position. In addition to time management and possible job knowledge, if this person is spending so much time at the office they should be coming up with innovative ideas.

5. Don't believe everything you hear. I have found that people who have been tagged by impossible to work with have turned out to be individuals whom I've had the best relationships with. Give everyone an equal chance.

6. Make wise use of your time. Since most of my jobs have provided me access to the internet, it wasn't unusual for my boss to come into my office and find me online. With the rise of online media sites and technologies, it's not unusual to find workers with IM blocks, their Facebook or Twitter pages up at various times of the day. I think its still a good idea to have the courtesy to hide these when the boss walks by. Sure, you could easily be chatting with Phil in IT about helping you find a file on your desktop through that IM message, but bosses want to know that they're getting a good 8 hours of work out of their employees.

7. Choose what you're going to share with your coworkers, it may come back to haunt you. I'm very apprehensive about sharing facts about my personal life with co-workers. I've seen it used against employees more times than I can count. For instance, on Monday you tell your boss that your daughter has a huge soccer game out of town and you'd like to leave early Friday afternoon. Your boss says she really needs you to be in the office on Friday for a meeting with a client. Thursday afternoon you start to feel sick and by Friday morning you have a fever of 102 and call in sick Friday morning. When your boss makes the announcement that you've called in, don't be too surprised if she just "happens" to mention your early week dilemma with your daughter's soccer game and shares on suspicions about your illness.

Now, this isn't to say that you can't or form a great relationship with your boss. Some boss and their underlings do form bonds. However, revealing too much about your personal life can hurt you.

I'm always amazed about how co-workers have shared information about infidelity, domestic violence and other inappropriate information about themselves or their family members.

8. Take credit and give credit. If your boss recognizes you for an outstanding idea, be gracious. Women reportedly are less likely to take credit for their work than men. But it is important to take credit for your ideas, hard work and successes! How else are you going to get noticed? The flip side of that is to make sure that you spread the love. If you're the marketing director and the boss notices that your team generated outstanding revenues through a successful campaign, you have to give credit to all members of your team as well. If the opportunity arises make sure that your boss knows exactly which part each member of your team played in its phenomenal success.

9. Play by the rules. Though everyone appreciates a person who gets things done, no one appreciates someone who lies, cheats or deceives to make things happen. You will be respected more if you're respectful to other people.

As a customer service manager for Wal-Mart, I had a saying that I always used when assigning tasks to my cashiers. "I may not always remember to say please, but I never forget to say thank you!"

10. Attend office events. Of course you can't go to the birthday celebration every month, but it's important to attend at least one a quarter. Again, just like the hanging out with your office mates rule, you should be viewed as a team player if you want to advance your career.

Years ago, people kept their heads down, worked hard and that got them noticed. But the world is a different place. Companies want individuals who are well-rounded and viewed as someone the masses will respect and follow.