Key Point to Avoiding Office Politics

One key point to avoiding office politics (that I can't stress enough) is don't feed into it! There are many people with many different personality types that you are required to work with on a daily basis. Some employees are more apt to complain about work situations, or talk about other workers. If you participate in these conversations, the person who started the complaints will always come back to you when they have something to complain about.

If you listen to their complaints, but do not agree with what they are saying, or offer additional complaints to "fuel the fire", they will soon learn that they can't gossip with you, and will find others to complain to. If everyone were to take the stance that office complaints should be dealt with in a professional forum, rather than around the coffee machine (with no suggestions for improvement for their complaints), the atmosphere would be more professional and positive.

It's temping to offer opinions when someone comes to you and says "do you know what my manager made me do, and what a jerk", but it's not professional or productive. One thing I try to think of in situations like this is, don't say anything about anyone that you wouldn't say if they were in the room.

Cathy Thomas
Manager, Human Resources
Pangaea Systems Inc.

Cathy Thomas, Manager of Human Resources at Pangaea Systems Inc. (working in Calgary, Alberta) has been in the Human Resources field for the past 10 years, with a wide variety of experience in the public and private sector, and industries including oil and gas service, finance, government and high tech. A local Calgarian, Cathy enjoys involvement in HR networking, including memberships in HRAC and HTWN (High Tech Women's Network).

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