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What rules are sacred? What does it take to get ahead in your company, in your department? What type of behavior is rewarded? What behavior is not rewarded, especially for an ambitious woman? Is it acceptable to be assertive and speak your opinion in meetings? Pay attention. It’s not official policy, but what happens if you don’t comply? Will you get promoted? What happened? There’s an unwritten rule that you need to be there 90 minutes before the boss arrives and stay an hour after he/she leaves. First day on the job, you arrive at 9 am only to find that everyone else in your department has been there working since 7:30 am. What are the rules, and most importantly, what are the unwritten rules?Īn example of an unwritten rule is the employee handbook states that it’s a 40 hour work week. Build a strategic network of allies and champions who advocate for you and support your initiatives and advancement. Power and influence are constantly shifting so make sure you stay tuned into the dynamics in the office. Who has power and influence over your career? Who makes the key decisions about your future? Who influences those decisions? Is it your boss? If so, who is in their circle of influence? Who do they turn to for advice? You need to pay attention to three things. And what’s worse, I stayed out in the field and failed to nurture important relationships with the people in corporate who had power and influence over my career. I avoided office politics and was therefore totally ignorant about how the decision for that VP job would be made. What happened? I didn’t pay attention to what was going on in my company. I was passed over for the promotion to VP despite my outstanding performance. But after eight years with a company and a rapid rise to an AVP role, I discovered that what I thought was the right formula for getting ahead was wrong. I received two promotions very quickly and thought the secret to getting ahead was doing great work. I learned my lesson about the importance of office politics in the beginning of my career. Yet, they viewed office politics as a major waste of time, and they were hesitant to engage in any way. They expressed their anger, frustration, and betrayal when ‘political animals’, people who spent more time schmoozing than working, would rise through the ranks faster than they did.
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They described office politics as dirty, manipulative, and evil. I interviewed hundreds of women on the topic of office politics for my book.