How to Deal With Office Politics

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

O Great Lights and Divine Spirits,

Today I learned three things on how to deal with office politics.

You see, I had a meeting at work where we were trying to make a case for something that would benefit the organization. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to clearly present our case to the powers that be and we didn’t get what we wanted. I can only blame myself. And part of me can’t help but feel upset.

So for future reference, I am writing you today so that I will remember the basic points about getting what you want in important meetings. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1) Know what you want to get out of the meeting. Begin with the end in mind.

2) Choose the best approach as to how to get what you want. There are many strategies to choose from. Two examples are:

• socratic - feed burning questions during the meeting and direct people in their thinking. This is best used when you’ve had prior contact and discussions with the people in the meeting.
• direct - clearly state what you want and tell them why it’s important (and sometimes urgent)

3) If all else fails, stop kicking the donkey. Remember the story of Balaam as found in Numbers 22 in the Good Book. Balaam was on an important mission but his donkey was not following his orders to stay on course. Because of its disobedience, he beat his donkey only to find out that it had saved him from grave danger. In short, you always gotta have faith and trust that the Lord works in mysterious ways.

Hallelujah! Amen.