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The Game Nobody Talks About: Why Office Politics Will Make or Break Your Career
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Here's something I'll bet you $50 on: walk into any workplace in Australia and within 15 minutes, you'll witness at least three political manoeuvres happening right under your nose.
After 18 years bouncing between corporate giants and scrappy startups from Melbourne to Perth, I've seen enough office politics to write a bloody novel. And here's the kicker - the people who pretend it doesn't exist are usually the ones getting steamrolled by it.
The Uncomfortable Truth About Workplace Politics
Let me get this straight: office politics isn't some dirty game that only backstabbing sociopaths play. It's literally how humans organise themselves when they're thrown together for 40+ hours a week with competing interests, limited resources, and different ideas about how things should run.
You know what's really fascinating? The same people who'll spend hours strategising their fantasy football trades will turn around and act shocked - shocked! - that Sally from accounts is building alliances to get the corner office. It's human nature, mate.
I remember working at a medium-sized consultancy in Brisbane where the CEO kept insisting we were "one big family" and that politics had no place in our culture. Meanwhile, the head of sales was systematically undermining the marketing director in every meeting, the finance manager was withholding budget information to control project timelines, and three different department heads were vying to be the CEO's successor. One big family? More like Game of Thrones with better coffee.
The companies that handle this best - and I'm thinking particularly of how Microsoft restructured their performance review system to reduce internal competition - are the ones that acknowledge politics exists and create frameworks to channel it productively.
The Three Types of Political Players You'll Meet
The Ostrich Brigade These folks stick their heads in the sand and pretend workplace dynamics don't exist. They focus purely on their tasks, avoid conflict at all costs, and wonder why their brilliant ideas never see the light of day. Newsflash: being apolitical is still a political choice, and it's usually not a winning one.
The Machiavellian Masterminds On the flip side, you've got people who treat every interaction like a chess move. They're always three steps ahead, building coalitions, trading favours, and positioning themselves strategically. Some are genuinely effective leaders; others are just manipulative arseholes who eventually burn themselves out when people catch on.
The Strategic Navigators This is where you want to be. These people understand that politics is simply influence and relationships in action. They build genuine connections, communicate transparently, and yes, they think strategically about how to get things done. But they do it with integrity.
The Melbourne Incident That Changed Everything
Back in 2019, I was working with a client whose entire leadership team was in chaos. The operations manager and the sales director couldn't agree on anything, staff were choosing sides, and productivity was tanking.
During one particularly heated meeting, I watched these two professionals - both smart, both well-intentioned - basically destroy six months of strategic planning because neither wanted to be seen backing down. Classic zero-sum thinking.
Here's what I learned: most office politics stems from a scarcity mindset. People fight over recognition, resources, and influence because they believe there's not enough to go around. But here's the thing - in most organisations, there's actually plenty of success to share if you're smart about it.
The breakthrough came when we reframed their conflict as a partnership opportunity. Instead of competing for the CEO's attention, they started presenting joint solutions. Strategic relationship management became their competitive advantage, not their weakness.
Your Political Survival Toolkit
Map the Influence Network Every organisation has formal hierarchies and informal power structures. The receptionist who's been there 15 years might have more influence than the new department head. The accountant who plays golf with the CEO every Saturday? Yeah, probably worth staying on their good side.
Build Bridges, Not Walls I used to think you could just do good work and let it speak for itself. What a naive dickhead I was. Good work needs advocates, champions, and strategic communication. You don't have to be slimy about it - just thoughtful.
Master the Art of Strategic Visibility This doesn't mean being a spotlight-hogging show-off. It means making sure the right people know about your contributions at the right times. Send those update emails. Speak up in meetings. Take credit where credit's due.
Choose Your Battles Wisely Not every hill is worth dying on. I've seen people torpedo their careers over parking spot assignments and coffee machine protocols. Save your political capital for things that actually matter.
The Communication Game-Changer
Here's something 67% of managers get wrong: they think being right is enough. In the political arena, being right is just your entry ticket. How you communicate that rightness - and to whom - determines whether anything actually happens.
The best political operators I know are also the best communicators. They understand that different people respond to different types of influence. Some people need data and logic. Others respond to emotional appeals. Some need to feel like it was their idea all along.
When Politics Goes Toxic
Look, not all workplace politics is benign strategic thinking. Sometimes you're dealing with genuinely toxic environments where managing difficult conversations becomes a daily survival skill.
Red flags include: information hoarding, deliberate exclusion from key meetings, credit theft, undermining behaviour, and creating false urgencies to manipulate decisions. If you're seeing this stuff regularly, it might be time to start planning your exit strategy.
But before you jump ship, make sure you're not contributing to the problem. I've seen people complain about toxic politics while simultaneously gossiping, withholding information, and playing favourites. Clean up your own act first.
The Remote Work Revolution
COVID changed everything about office politics. You can't build relationships over water cooler chats when there's no water cooler. Virtual politics is all about strategic communication, deliberate relationship building, and understanding that your camera-off meetings might be more politically significant than your camera-on ones.
The companies adapting best to this new reality are the ones investing in structured communication protocols and intentional culture-building. Random Slack channels and virtual coffee chats aren't enough - you need systematic approaches to information sharing and relationship building.
Playing the Long Game
Here's my controversial opinion: embrace office politics. Not the backstabbing, credit-stealing variety, but the strategic relationship building and influence mapping that actually gets things done.
The most successful people I know - and I'm talking C-suite executives, successful entrepreneurs, respected industry leaders - are all skilled political operators. They just do it with integrity and focus on creating win-win outcomes.
They understand that in complex organisations, technical competence is table stakes. The real differentiator is your ability to navigate human dynamics, build coalitions, and influence outcomes.
Think about it: every major decision in your organisation involves multiple stakeholders with different priorities. How do you think things actually get done? Through politics. Through influence. Through relationships.
The Bottom Line
Office politics isn't going anywhere. You can choose to be a victim of it, or you can choose to master it. But you can't choose to ignore it - that's just politics by other means.
The smartest career move you can make is to stop seeing politics as beneath you and start seeing it as a core business skill. Because whether you're fighting for resources, advocating for your team, or trying to implement innovative solutions, you're already playing the game.
The only question is whether you're playing to win.
And if you're still not convinced, just remember: the people making decisions about your career progression? They're playing politics too. The only difference is they're probably better at it than you are.
For now.
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