Office Politics 101 is a course that I am teaching each of my kids now so that they will be prepared when they enter the office jungle. Office politics is the utilization of one’s power within the workplace for the purpose of obtaining advantages above one’s assigned authority. Simply put office politics is how power gets worked out day to day in the office.  

You see office politics in the way co-workers treat each other. There are some places where a friend is the co-worker who stabs you in the chest instead of the back. The core of office politics is the use of manipulation to achieve one’s goal at the expense of co-workers. 

RULE#1: Never say anything bad about your boss! Don’t even think anything bad about your boss! Always be loyal to your boss in your thoughts, speech and deeds. 

RULE#2: Don’t trust anyone! A friend in the office who loves you today can become your worst enemy tomorrow.  Don’t share anything with anyone that you don’t want repeated. 

RULE#3: BEWARE OF THE DIVIDE AND CONQUER GAME! This is where the supervisor set his employees against each other so that none of them will threaten his base of power. 

RULE#4: BEWARE OF THE BUDGET GAME!  This game is played well when only one person in the organization knows what the true finances are. Money is only available for what that individual endorses. 

RULE#5: DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR A RAISE! You have to manage your own career. Don’t get angry because your supervisor does not break his or her neck to give you a raise. Many times you have not because you ask not. Don’t be afraid of rejection. Ask! 

RULE#6: Beware of the busy body that co-opts as many colleagues as possible into his plans, strengthening his own position in the organization by ensuring that he will be the last to be accused of manipulation. The busy body is the co-worker that allys himself with many coworkers, changing his sides to suit his own personal, hidden agenda. 

Last Rule: STAY CLEAR OF OFFICE GOSSIP! A dog that brings a bone will carry a bone. 

“Now this is the Law of the Office -- as old and as true as the sky; And the Employee that shall keep it may prosper, but the Employee that shall break it must go! As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back – BE LOYAL TO YOUR BOSS!

 In the words of my dad, “You must honor the chair whether it is sitting, walking or lying down.”