Stop Avoiding Office Politics

"I won't do it," he said. "I don't care who they are; I won't buddy up to people I don't like and respect just because I want something from them."

This came from a senior manager at a Fortune 500 company. It was a theme we hear over and over from managers at all levels. They're reluctant to take part in what they call "political games." They consider organizational conflict and competition mostly ego-driven, adolescent games. They want disputes settled through data, analysis, and logic, by what's "right" — not by who knows whom, who owes whom, or who plays golf with whom. To build relationships simply because they want something from other people is, to them, blatant manipulation.

So they withdraw from much organizational give-and-take....click here to READ MORE