The Office Politics Game: Why Playing by the Rules Actually Makes You Irrelevant

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Here's something that'll ruffle feathers: office politics isn't the problem. Your refusal to engage with it properly is.

After seventeen years consulting across Melbourne's corporate landscape—from the glossy towers of Collins Street to the gritty warehouses in Footscray—I've watched countless talented professionals torpedo their careers by taking the moral high ground on office politics. They sit there smugly, convinced their work speaks for itself while Gary from Accounts gets promoted again. Gary understands something they don't.

Politics isn't about backstabbing or water cooler gossip. That's playground stuff. Real office politics is about influence, relationships, and strategic positioning. It's chess, not checkers.

Most leadership books will tell you to "focus on your work and let results speak." Absolute rubbish. I believed this nonsense for years until I watched a brilliant engineer get passed over for a management role because she couldn't navigate the social dynamics that came with it. Meanwhile, the guy who got the job? Average technical skills, but he understood how to build coalitions and manage up effectively.

The Uncomfortable Truth About Workplace Hierarchies

Here's what they don't teach you in business school: every organisation has two power structures. The official org chart hanging in the break room, and the real network of influence that actually gets things done. Ignoring the second one is career suicide.

I learned this the hard way in 2019 when I was consulting for a major telecommunications company in Brisbane. On paper, the IT Director should have been my primary stakeholder. In reality, the EA to the CEO held more sway over project approvals than half the C-suite combined. Once I figured this out and started including her in my strategic conversations, suddenly my recommendations weren't getting "lost in committee" anymore.

The best leaders I've worked with—people like Atlassian's Mike Cannon-Brookes or Gerry Harvey from Harvey Norman—understand that building genuine relationships across an organisation isn't manipulation. It's leadership.

Why "Just Do Good Work" Is Terrible Career Advice

This might upset some people, but merit alone doesn't guarantee advancement. Never has, never will.

I've seen exceptional performers stuck in the same role for years because they refuse to engage in what they call "political games." Meanwhile, their less capable colleagues climb the ladder by understanding one fundamental truth: perception shapes reality in corporate environments.

Your manager doesn't have time to study every detail of your work. They form opinions based on brief interactions, hallway conversations, and feedback from peers. If you're invisible in these spaces, you're irrelevant regardless of your technical competence.

This doesn't mean becoming a scheming manipulator. It means being strategic about visibility and relationship-building. Show up to optional meetings. Volunteer for cross-functional projects. Have coffee with people from other departments. These aren't political machinations—they're basic professional networking.

The Three Types of Office Politicians (And Which One Wins)

Over the years, I've identified three distinct approaches to workplace politics:

The Ostrich: Buries their head in work and pretends politics doesn't exist. Usually complains about "unfair" promotions while remaining completely oblivious to their own irrelevance.

The Shark: Treats every interaction as zero-sum. Burns relationships for short-term gains. Might succeed initially but eventually runs out of allies.

The Diplomat: Builds genuine relationships across the organisation. Seeks win-win outcomes. Plays the long game and usually ends up running the place.

Guess which approach actually works?

The most successful executives I know are almost always Diplomats. They understand that sustainable influence comes from being genuinely helpful to others, not from political maneuvering.

Practical Politics: What Actually Works

Let me share some tactics that actually move the needle:

Master the Art of Strategic Visibility: Don't just complete projects—communicate their impact. When your quarterly report shows improved efficiency, make sure the right people know about it. Not through shameless self-promotion, but through thoughtful sharing of insights that help others.

Become a Connector: Be the person who introduces people who should know each other. When someone mentions they're struggling with supplier relationships and you know someone brilliant in procurement, make the introduction. This builds your reputation as someone who adds value beyond their job description.

Understand the Informal Networks: Every office has unofficial influencers. The admin assistant who's been there twenty years. The technical expert everyone consults. The team lead who mentors half the junior staff. These relationships matter more than the org chart suggests.

Practice Strategic Alliance Building: Find colleagues whose goals align with yours and support each other's initiatives. This isn't about forming cliques—it's about creating mutually beneficial professional relationships.

Here's where I'll probably lose some readers: sometimes you need to support ideas you're not entirely convinced about. If your manager is passionate about a new process improvement initiative that seems unnecessary, find ways to contribute positively rather than pointing out every potential flaw. Pick your battles wisely.

The Australian Advantage (And Disadvantage)

Working in Australia gives us certain cultural advantages in office politics. Our inherently egalitarian culture means most workplaces are less hierarchical than their American or European counterparts. People generally respond well to direct communication and informal relationship-building.

But this same culture can work against us. The tall poppy syndrome makes self-promotion feel uncomfortable, even when it's necessary for career advancement. We're socialised to downplay our achievements, which can be career limiting in competitive environments.

I've worked with brilliant Australian executives who struggled when their companies expanded internationally because they couldn't adapt their communication style to more formal, hierarchical cultures. Learning to navigate different political environments is a crucial skill in today's global marketplace.

When Politics Goes Wrong

Not all political behaviour is created equal. I've seen organisations where toxic politics creates genuinely harmful environments. Workplaces where advancement depends on favoritism rather than capability. Teams where information hoarding and blame-shifting are rewarded.

These situations require different strategies. Sometimes the best political move is to leave. Life's too short to spend eight hours a day in a dysfunctional environment that rewards the wrong behaviours.

But before you conclude your workplace is toxic, ask yourself honestly: are you sure you're not just bad at politics?

The Reality Check

Here's my final controversial take: if you've been passed over for promotion multiple times despite strong performance reviews, the problem probably isn't that your organisation doesn't recognise talent. The problem is that you haven't developed the relationship-building and influence skills that leadership roles require.

Technical competence gets you in the door. Political competence gets you promoted.

This doesn't mean compromising your values or becoming someone you're not. It means recognising that leadership is fundamentally about working through other people, and that requires understanding how organisations really function—not just how they're supposed to function.

The best news? These skills can be learned. Start small. Have coffee with someone from a different department this week. Volunteer for a cross-functional project. Ask your manager what they're trying to achieve and how you can help.

Because here's the thing about office politics: everyone's playing whether they admit it or not. The question isn't whether you'll engage—it's whether you'll get good at it.

And your career depends on the answer.