I am not fresher, I have worked before. But this time I joined new job where female staff is more and they are very cunning and manipulative. Its just too much and this new job is giving me too much stress. Office environment is female dominated and thats the main reason for too much of snitching and bitching and manipulation. Salary is very good and growth is there but too much work politics. How to handle when some of your co workers always try to put you down, misguide you in work, won't cooperate you, hide your files, snitch and lie to senior/boss to get you in trouble and all this out of jealousy and their insecurity about me that maybe I may surpass them. I am sure it is just not happening with only me but with also other co workers too but maybe I am not as smart and diplomatic as them. People are too cunning and diplomatic that they easily handle all this but I am not as much cunning and diplomatic and my straigtforward nature sometimes bring me in trouble. My earlier jobs didn't gave me much stress but positions were lower but this time higher positions with higher salary but too much politics and I sometimes I fail to understand why some of this co-workers are so irrational and are behind me for irrelevant reasons. I talked to one of my friend and he says that u are very sensitive and this will happen everywhere. You should know how to handle all this... But sometimes I get too much stressed, also in personal life there is no less problems, (like being divorcee, worry about future and family probs etc.) and this is addition. And I don't understand how to be cunning and very diplomatic and put this female co-workers in their place.
Office politics will be there everywhere.. How we handle it matters.. Its better to ignore and not to take any sides.. not to talkback behind anyone ever.. If there is a process in that office understand that and do ur job aligned to it.. Juz do ur job and leave quietly... Not involve in anyother topic other than work... if someone misguide you ask them to send a mail or u mail them cc ur manger that as per our discussion i m doing this... so that things are transperant and clear.. If u bore them then these gossipers and trouble makers wont come near to u.. but dont show any emotion to them.. they shouldnt get a feel like u dont feel u r not happy or uncomfortable with them.. juz try to be normal but lill cautious...
Your friend is right about politics being everywhere. It is how we handle them which matters. There are 2 ways to go. You can ignore them and go about your work. But there are few people who just wont leave you alone. You just need to keep any eye out for any underhand things they do and be alert at all times. You can hang out with others who are not part of this group. Keep your manager updated about your work by sending daily status reports. All the communication with these people, make sure you document it thru email. Other way would be to join them. Break the ice, be more friendly and go out with them for coffee or lunch. This will reduce their insecurity and hopefully their politics.
Rissy, As you get bigger position and bigger paycheck, you will be surrounded by more insecure people, and people who will be jealous of you. You will have to learn to deal with them. You can try to break the ice, however in my experience I have seen that does not matter, when people are insecure they will try to bring you down. You will have to be friendly and at the same time have your gaurds up all the time. You will have to learn what ticks each one most and try to avoid being in that situation with each of them. You also do not want to show any reaction to the stuff they do to you. Try to make a very good working relationship with your boss, so that he will trust you and your ethics. Initially it will be very painful to deal with all this, but in the long run it will help you deal with all kinds of people effectively. Sometimes talking to these people and making them feel less threatened by you also helps, but in the end you will have to decide between dealing with workplace politics and job growth.
In an ideal world, talent and hard work are all that’s needed to rapidly ascend the career ladder. In the real world, like it or not, moving up means aligning yourself with the organizational power brokers. The trick is to intuitively make smart political decisions so that you’re moving up and making friends in all the right places at the same time. That’s never easy to pull off. Politics is the Tool of Cooperation . If you expect to get ahead, you must understand and respect the power of organizational politics. There is no escaping it. Fiercely competitive industries, such as IT, are rife with politics. Refusing to play organizational politics can be career suicide. ( No place for wht our parents taught us do good,be good and see good).Politics -- the business of high-stake schmoozing and winning people over – aren’t for everyone. But, the measure of success -- how far you go on the career scale -- is directly correlated to your stomach for politics.There is no such thing as a nonpolitical career.Politics are a part of life.At their worst, organizational politics means favoritism, secrecy, resentment and deceit. At their best, they’re a game with their own special rules – very much like chess – requiring tact, diplomacy, intelligence, street smarts and cunning. The healthiest way to deal with corporate politics is to first acknowledge that they exist, and second, learn to cope with them in an ethical and professional manner. The tough part is finding a way to use politics to enhance your career so no one gets hurt in the process. Never take peoples maneuvers personally.You merely try to defend or advance yourself.Instead of struggling against the inevitable ,instead of arguing and whining and feeling guilty,it is far better to excel at power or politics.In fact the better you are at dealing with power or politics,the better friend,lover,husband,wife & person you become
