Every employee desires career progress. But people differ in terms of what they’re willing to do to get that reward.

Considering how messy it can get, and how painfully it can cost those who play it, is office politics worth adopting as a strategy to get ahead of others in your workplace?

“Vicious backstabbing” as Robert Kiyosaki once wrote, is a common practice employed by many who play that game.

I believe no decent minded person would engage in an activity that often requires hurting others in order to make progress. Be it at work or in the larger society, more responsible ways exist to achieve the same outcome!

This article uses the true story of a hardworking 30 year old employee in a corporate multinational to illustrate the foregoing point.

A “Guardian Angel” or “Office Politician”?

When the phone rang that day in his office, Oyat had no idea it would be Nitsua, his self-appointed “guardian angel”, calling to leak details of yet another top level management decision concerning him.

It was not the first time this was happening.

Two years before, Nitsua had called Oyat late at night with inside information about an impending secondment to a high profile position. Back then, Oyat had doubted him. But the announcement that came a fortnight later proved Nitsua was right. Since then Oyat had been promoted into a new position.

So, as Nitsua now told him he would soon be seconded to act as a Head of Department, he was less skeptical than before.

He however wondered why he had been chosen. So many other well qualified managers were around. Guys who had spent ten to fifteen years in the company before he even joined. They knew the ropes. Some had been deputies to the substantive head of department on a number of occasions. To him, that made them even more familiar with the job than he was – technically speaking at least.

Oyat was six years old in the company. To some extent he felt his only legitimate claim to competence was that he had influenced some major changes in the ways things were done early in his career e.g. by developing automated data handling and report generation solutions that were widely adopted. Judging from the news Nitsua had brought, it appeared his performance had apparently not gone unnoticed.

“Could it be that the big guys really believe I’m ready to handle the responsibilities of this big position? To go back to my former department – where I just left 6 months ago – and supervise my (mostly senior) former colleagues for 5 weeks? “ he wondered.

It was a lot to take in. He barely heard Nitsua who after congratulating him, was saying “Ol boy, you better start getting prepared. You know there’ll be some challenges on this job. But I’m sure you’ll do a good job. Take care!”. Mumbling his thanks, he hung up.

People Can Help You Without Necessarily Liking You – If It Benefits Them

Oyat later wondered what motives Nitsua had for always going out of his way to give him such privileged information. He never demanded anything in return. And yet, Oyat felt he had to be getting some kind of payoff. Or expecting it to come at some point.

He thought about it a bit longer. Then it hit him: “He wants me to think he’s doing me a favour, so I’ll feel indebted to him! But he’s not – I would have gotten the news eventually. Getting to know a few hours or days earlier really makes no difference – at least not to me: He’s just playing office politics!” he concluded..

Oyat had no connections with anyone in top management. So he knew it could not be that a godfather of some sort was making things happen for him from up there. To him that meant there was a good chance the decisions were being made based on his performance. He resolved to put in his best on the new assignment.

Aim To Do A Good Job – And Avoid “Lobbying” Decision Makers

One month later, he had successfully completed the secondment. His performance appraisal rating that year was his highest ever. The expatriate brewery head made a point of noting in the appraisal report that he “performed satisfactorily as department head.”

Even the company’s Director of Operations who had stopped over on the plant premises on Oyat’s last day as acting Manufacturing Manager had been pleased. He had shaken Oyat’s hand and said “We knew you could do it. Some people protested, but we told them you had the competence to do a good job, and you proved us right. Well done!”

To hear a director speak so glowingly of his abilities was a pleasant surprise and major motivational boost for him. But what he found most fulfilling was the knowledge that all the opportunities and accolades he’d earned had come without his lobbying for them.

When he was promoted 6 months earlier, a senior colleague advised him to visit the homes of senior managers who nominated him for the position, to thank them for doing so. According to him, if Oyat failed to go and "thank" them, they would consider him ungrateful, and thus stop recommending or nominating him.

Oyat had refused, stating that he never asked to be seconded or promoted. He said

“No. That’s office politics. And I don’t do “patronage”. As far as I’m concerned, they’ve given me these opportunities because they believe the company will benefit from having me there. I’ll show my gratitude by giving my best on the job at all times. If that’s not enough, then they’d bettor stop nominating me. Period.”

Final Words: Office Politics? Not Worth The Hassle!

A few weeks after that, Oyat got a letter informing him of his nomination, along with three senior managers to attend a facilitators’ workshop outside the country. They had been chosen from about 15 managers who had attended a pilot event a few weeks earlier.

As he packed his bags to go to the airport some days later, he could not help thinking that despite avoiding office politics, he continued to attract career advancement opportunities.

This reinforced his belief that those who indulged in office politics were wasting valuable time. Time that would be better spent chalking up good workplace performances to increase their chances of achieving similar career progress to his. “If only they would listen” he sighed.

This article uses a true story to illustrate a practical example of how to successfully introduce needed change, without causing conflict – even when you face resistance or opposition.

“Look Oyat, you can’t computerize everything! This is the way we’ve always done it. And that’s how you will do the reports this weekend!” said Ed, the veteran manager with a tone of finality.

And that ended a discussion initiated by the new ex-graduate trainee – Oyat – who had just joined the department. Ed was in charge of things while the departmental head was away. So his word was final.

Oyat shook his head in confusion, wondering why his senior colleagues who should know better could not see reason. His proposed use of spreadsheet automation would replace the cumbersome manual reporting processes they took turns to do weekly. And they would all be better off for it.

He had anticipated this. It was not that they had any personal grudge or issue with him though.

It was just that the manual calculator based method was what they were trained on, and had grown accustomed to. And like normal human beings they felt uncomfortable with any new idea that threathened to disrupt the mastery they had already established.

Who Wants To Use A Calculator, When A Spreadsheet Is Available?

When he was told it was his turn to do the weekly reports the day before, he had however not been keen to do it the old fashioned way they all seemed so comfortable with.

The time he’d spent with his “spreadsheet automation hobbyist” training manager had opened his eyes to the possibilities that existed for rapid reports preparation.

Unfortunately, at least for now, it was obvious that he alone appreciated the benefits to be had.

But he knew he could convince them to change their views, by showing them proof that what he proposed was indeed a better way.

So, on that day, he resolved to begin building spreadsheet equivalents of the daily manual record books, as well as the various reporting formats used in the department.

Oyat realised he would be better off starting the process by himself, and gradually introducing it to the others individually.

He already knew talking to them to get their involvement or cooperation was almost a taboo. So he began posting the daily manufacturing data needed for preparing the weekly and monthly reports into the equivalent spreadsheet entry tables he’d designed.

Quietly Preparing Proof To Convince The Others

Each day, he used his free time to collect other needed factory records from other departments, and the laboratory. Then while on duty, especially on night shifts, he would post the newly collected data into his experimental reports automation spreadsheets.

At each weekend, he quietly tested the formulas he had built into his spreadsheet based weekly waste computation report and factory output reports. He would compare the results from his spreadsheets with those accepted for official reporting based on manual calculations done by the duty manager.

In most cases there was close agreement between the numbers. And Oyat could not help noticing how easily he was able to generate his ready-to-print computer version. That is when compared to the tedious process his colleagues had to follow to achieve the same outcome.

One error meant they had to go right back to the calculator to repeat the weighted average computations!

In contrast, Oyat only needed to correct the wrong data entry in his linked spreadsheet table, and the dependent formulas in the report would be instantly updated.

Over time, especially as he became sure that they worked correctly and accurately, Oyat added intelligent maro automation to make it easier for users to update the spreadsheets without needing special spreadsheet training.

He knew that by adding the user friendly graphic user interface controls, it would be easier to convince his senior colleagues to give it a try.

Introducing The Proposed Automated Spreadsheet Alternatives

Eventually, after one month of privately testing the spreadsheets, he began introducing the automated spreadsheets to his senior colleagues individually.

Within a few weeks, most had become curious enough to begin using them alongside their manual systems. Then, as they saw that the output from the spreadsheets tallied with what they derived via manual computation, they gradually embraced them.

What made it even more appealing to them was the speed with which they saw that they could finish their jobs: within minutes, instead of long and tedious hours!

The Changes Are Adopted!

A few months later, the transformation was complete. And it became normal to see each manager sit behind the PC and post data updates, then print out relevant reports for dispatch to decision makers.

To be fair to him, after finally seeing the benefits of the new system, Ed made a point of formally acknowledging Oyat for his initiative and tenacity.

But if there was one thing Oyat was grateful for, and which had driven him to develop the alternative system, it was the removal of the need to prepare reports using those painfully time consuming manual methods.

To achieve that goal, he’d wisely recognised that he could not force his ideas on others. Instead, he had to provide them with proof that would convince them to accept the change. And he did that successfully.

You may find it useful to employ a similar strategy.

Employers Value Problem Solvers

No matter what kind of work you do: If you can solve (or quickly learn to solve) problems or introduce improvements, I guarantee you’ll be constantly courted by your employers and/or bosses.

I make this confident assertion based not just on my personal successes in paid employment, but also from working closely with management and staff of client companies over the past decade.

I provide below, links to pages containing verifiable details regarding my achievements in the fast paced working environment of Guinness Nigeria – my employer between 1995 and 2001.

So What Exactly Did I Achieve?

I’ve documented most of my key achievement in some fairly long articles I wrote years back(most being over 3,000 words).

No need therefore, to repeat myself here.

Below are titles and links to some of the articles.

Become A Habitual Peak Performer: Learn How To Get Into "Flow"(Or…"The Zone") More Frequently

How I Travelled Back To Nigeria – 12 Hours Overnight, By Sea, Under Heavy Rainfall, In A Leaky Boat – From Douala, Cameroon Despite Having No Money!

How To Make Yourself UNRETRENCHABLE!

Read This Or One Day The MD’s Presentation Could Flop Because Of You!(True Story)

How To Turn A Major Blunder At Work Into A Career Advancement Opportunity(True Story)

Achieve Recognition and Attract Career Advancement Opportunities By Being A Change Agent(True Story)

Do You Have A Self-Managed Development Guide?

Where Employee Training Fails, Self-Development for Spontaneous Coaching(SDfSD)™ Can Work For Your Company

Become A Leader At Work, By Making Your Company’s Decision Makers Take Favourable Notice Of You!

I Flopped Badly At The National Finals(How NOT To Prepare For/Deliver An Important Presentation – TRUE STORY)

Accelerate Organisational Learning – Use Formal Problem Solving Techniques To Boost Productivity!

Boost Employee Productivity Without Increasing Salaries – Proven, Yet Little Used Strategies

How To Be A Jack Of Many Trades, And Why It Can Make You Succeed More Often?( Based On Real-Life Practice)

The Key To My Success In Paid Employment Was My Problem Solving Expertise

My achievements, as well as the early high level recognition, and career advancement opportunities I enjoyed were – without exception – a direct result of my active problem solving disposition.

I readily put my various skills and knowledge to use in solving problems wherever they showed up.

It did not matter if the problem occurred in a seperate department. If I knew or could do anything to help I would.

Here’s one example.

In 2001 I worked as Training and Technical Development Manager(TTDM).

Apart from ensuring my department (where I was the trained in-house champion) passed the ISO 9000 zero Non-Conformity test conducted by the Standards Organision, I made out time to visit other departments and help resolve NCs that were raised.

This was so the NCs could be closed out before the auditors left.

Now, that had always been my attitude. But during the ISO certification audits everybody appreciated it more, because they knew that if even one department failed, the company would NOT pass the audit.

You can therefore imagine the goodwill I earned for myself during that trying period – especially when it was announced that we passed!

Make It Your Business To Help Eliminate Problems, Even When It’s Not Your Department

This brings me to the issue of a bad attitude some employees develop, to the detriment of their employer.

You hear them say:

“That’s YOUR department’s problem. We’ve done our bit. You sort yourselves out!”

I’ve seen that attitude lead to avoidable losses of useful production time for the entire company!

Potential outcomes of the above include lower sales, and if it persists, the company’s ability to pay employees (like those guilty of not acting responsibly in the first place), could be damaged.

“What goes around, comes around” as the popular saying goes.

Keep the above in mind at all times, and let it guide your actions!

Final Words: Why Should You Take My Advice?

For someone who fancies himself as having usable workplace performance improvement ideas to share, I only spent a mere 7 years working in paid employment

Some people would say that’s good reason for employers and organisational decision makers to NOT place much of a premium on advice I offer.

I however say THAT is exactly why they should listen to me.

We have a saying in my country, that:

“It’s not how far you’ve come, but how well you’ve performed.”

In 2002, I delivered – on formal invitation – a management research paper on Self Development, to a packed auditorium at the Center for Management Development here in Lagos.

As I mounted the platform to start my presentation, the Training Manager/announcer felt compelled to warn the audience (which included top management personnel) against taking my youthful appearance (I was 32) to mean I could not have anything useful to tell them.

I should add that he spoke from personal experience. I still recall being vaguely amused at his expression of surprise at my lack of grey hair the first time we met

He’d brought an invitation letter signed by the Director General, noting that they’d assumed from reading my paper that I must have spent up to 2 decades in paid employment to gain the kinds of insights I’d shared in it!

I’d assured him that 7 years were all I could boast of, but that I had even more useful ideas to share that I had not yet put on paper

The over 100 feedback forms returned to me from the audience that day had ratings and comments that supported my claims, as confirmed by the Training Manager, who read through each one, before passing on to me.

A formal letter from the centre later acknowledged the “lucid manner” in which I’d presented my ideas on that day.

It further noted that even those of them who’d assumed they knew enough about the subject (Self Development As A Tool For Achieving Career Advancement – A Practical Guide Based On Experience) came away with new insights.

Hopefully, you’ll find the above convincing enough to make you treat what I’ve proposed in this piece with the seriousness it deserves.

Your career might just depend on it!

This article will interest you if you work in paid employment, and enjoy the security of a regular salary.

Someday you’ll have to leave that job. Will you be ready to make that transition successfully when the time comes?

I discuss a major oversight that makes many who thrive on salaried jobs little prepared for the challenge of surviving outside paid employment. I end by suggesting practical strategies you can use.

A Potential Side Effect Of Earning Salaried Income, That’s Often Overlooked

A job that pays well, and is comfortable, has the tendency to give an employee a false sense of security if she forgets she’ll have to retire someday!

People who work with large and prosperous (e.g Fortune 500) companies can be especially prone to making the above error.

Let me share a true story that made me discover how dangerous this mindset can be to any salary earner.

Between 1994 and 1998, while working in a large multinational as a manager, I let myself forget there was an outside world I would return to after my time in paid employment.

Thankfully a visit to my office by someone who had sat in my chair ten years eariler served as my wakeup call.

He had spent over 25 years rising to a senior management position before departing with a hefty retirement cheque to the tune of many millions.

But as the saying goes “If money talks, the only thing we ever hear it say is goodbye!”

A few years later, all the millions were gone. And there he stood that day asking if he could get a contract to conduct training for employees.

My answer had to be in the negative since we had a standing rule that only approved training providers be used.

Before he left, he looked at me and said “You know I did this job you’re doing now, over ten years ago.”

I replied truthfully that I’d heard and read a lot about him. As he left, I told myself that I would do anything necessary to give myself a better chance of surviving in the real world post paid employment, than he’d had.

That decision eventually led me to make an early exit from paid employment. I felt I would need the advantage of my relative youth to tackle the challenges I would face.

The benefit of hindsight reveals clearly that doing so has in no small way given me the energy and resilience to get where I am today – ten years later.

What About YOU?

Are you prepared for that eventuality of leaving your secure salaried income?

Think about the job you get paid so well to do where you work right now.

If you had to do the exact same job related tasks as an independent operator, without access to the perks/benefits provided by your company, how successful would you be?

Imagine for instance that as an IT professional, instead of using the cosy office, flashy car and spending money your employer provides, you have to personally serve client companies as a self employed IT consultant.

Do you think you’d be able to get those you approach to readily pay you anything close to what you’d earn for your equivalent time/effort back in paid employment?

Would those clients you serve be prepared to pay you as well as your current employer, just showing up for instance?

It’s doubtful that will happen…if all you do for them is to show up and put in the bare minimum work – like some people do on their jobs!

But you could get them to pay you much more than your salary equivalent, if you implement solutions that deliver valuable savings in money, time and effort to them.

Not everyone readily appreciates this point however.

Yet it is often the reality they may have to face when eventually they leave paid employment.

Practice Doing Enough To Justify Your Salary

The above is why I strongly recommend that employees use their time at work to diligently practice putting in enough quality work effort to justify the salaries they earn.

Doing so will make them avoid developing the complacency that comes from knowing that they’ll get paid even if they exert themselves minimally.

It does not matter that your employer is not complaining.

This is actually about you making sure you’re competent to deliver enough value (that will command decent income post paid employment) – possibly by – doing what you do now as an employee.

Zig Ziglar once wrote with respect to the above, by challenging the reader to become a “meaningful specific” in the workplace.

He pointed out that some salaried persons who’ve been on a job 8 years, for instance, don’t have 8 years of experience.

Instead they have one year’s experience repeated over those 8 years.

Very true words indeed – and saddening too!

Final Words: Stay “Work” Fit & Acquire New/Useful Skills To Protect Yourself

It’s ironic that a positive job situation (of great pay and working conditions) is also capable of pushing people into a potentially harmful state of mind i.e complacency.

This could cause you to neglect taking timely/important action to weatherproof your income earning abilities well beyond your salaried years.

I once read about a famous entrepreneur who reportedly became very uncomfortable whenever it appeared things had been going smoothly for too long in his business.

He would consequently begin paying closer attention to things and checking/investigating to prevent any unexpected setbacks.

The above entrepreneur’s mental attitude is reflected in the quote below:

“A little dose of paranoia is healthy.”

Many salary earners routinely get paid their fat salaries even when they consistently fail to put in the bare minimum specified in their job descriptions.

Except for those who work on performance related commission, most employees get their pay checks as and when due by simply showing up every working day.

But the above situation can be dangerous to your long term financial health, if you let it make you complacent.

Remember that no situation is permanent, and things can change quite rapidly – for good or bad.

Sometimes great employees lose their jobs because the company they work for has a setback it cannot recover from, so that it has to let everyone go.

It therefore pays to be prepared!

Even your savings and investments may not be enough to help you maintain the living standard you prefer into your retirement years.

And that’s why with the tough financial times being so slow to depart globally, the skill to command substantial additional/alternative income by delivering value to others is a great asset to have today.

Don’t let your salary mislead you into thinking you need not prepare. Many people today are doing the smart thing of running part time businesses when they’re off duty from their routine jobs.

That’s a good way to get prepared.

It’s always better to be forearmed, so you can be safe instead of being sorry.

And your family will love you for your foresight.

Goodluck!

Many busy executives and managers sometimes struggle to keep abreast of the myriad of tasks they need to attend to.

Their demanding schedules are often responsible for this problem.

Unfortunately, not everyone can have (or afford) a personal assistant. And even for those who have, sometimes the PA may be unavailable, or worse, not at her best.

In this article, I use examples from my time in paid employment (see full details in my 11 page PDF resume -click here) , to explain how being able to use a PATS, can help you overcome the above limitations, to excel at work perpetually.

Background: Identifying My PATS As The Key To My Workplace Success

Before 2002, I worked as a high performing manager in a large corporate multinational.

Within 6 years of joining the company, I had achieved rapid career advancement ahead of others older in the company, and on the job, than I was.

On one occasion, I had a senior colleague from a different department make the following (scary) rhetorical statement to me in what sounded like a menacing voice:

“Solagbade, you want to do in 3 years what some people did in 5 years huh?”

That happened in 1997.

By 2001, I’d recorded other milestone achievements.

Most notably I’d gotten myself known across the company, for literally automating all the manual report preparation processes in my department (brewing/production), using my Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets macro programming skills.

[NB: Today I develop custom MS Excel-VB driven spreadsheet software for high profile clients, and for sale from my website.]

Following that, I got sent on a series of secondments in acting capacity to higher management positions. In each instance I did not disappoint.

Over time I was promoted, then later nominated for multiple international training courses, and also assigned to act in an even greater decision making position as departmental head.

The irony was that I had to perform this senior management acting role in the same department I’d just been promoted out of, three months earlier!

That required leading my former senior colleagues effectively, if I wanted to succeed.

It was tough, but I once again applied myself diligently, and pulled it off.

A few weeks later that year (in 2001), another senior colleague ran into me on the company grounds and (after exchanging pleasantries) asked:

“Solagbade, what is your secret?”

I told him I had none, and that all I tried to do each day was to ensure I NEVER left undone, anything I knew could be done.

That way, I was able to keep my list of tasks at any point in time, within manageable limits. And as a result, I never got overwhelmed by the work I had to do in any position I occupied.

How My PATS Helped Me Achieve Superior Results

I know this may sound rather simplistic, but looking back, I realised that my use of a PATS was actually the key to my success as an employee.

Funny enough, the sheet had no special features. Just 7 labelled columns (setup in a table printed out from an MS Excel template I created) as follows:

1. Serial Number : designated as “SN” to save space. In this column, I assigned a number in ascending format to every activity I entered into the table.

2. Description of Activity/Task:
Here I wrote, using abbreviations, key details of the outcome I wished to achieve by carrying out the task.

3. Date: The date on which the task or activity was entered on the PATS.

4. Who: Initials of individuals or names of groups I would need to liase with (or chase) to make the activity happen to completion.

5. When: The desired target date for completion of the task, or realisation of the target outcome.

6. Done (Yes/No): I would insert a “Yes” (or check mark) if the task had been completed by the start of a new week. Otherwise it would be a “No”.

In other words, each week I opened a fresh sheet, and checked off all completed tasks on the outgone week’s sheet.

Then I copied any outstanding ones left on the past week’s sheet, to the new one, so I could continue tracking them.

As the week progressed, I would add any new tasks that came up as a result of agreements reached at meetings, requests from others, or plans I had.

7. Comment(s): Here I would make notes to guide my implementation of each task, or to record notable points relevant to the results achieved.

The above format helped me keep my mind uncluttered. As a result I was often able to think faster and act smarter while at work. This inspite of the fact that I often started the day earlier (and closed much later) than most of the others I had to work with.

Anytime an issue arose that could not be dealt with instantly, and which therefore needed following up, I’d simply write it on a new serially numbered line on my PATS.

Then as the day/week progressed, I would run through the entries I’d made and make needed checks, visits, phonecalls or emails to get updates and/or try progressing them where possible.

This instrument was responsible for making me appear to other employees as if I had a super memory: I never seemed to forget to do anything that was assigned to me.

And if I was in a group I used the PATS to the group’s benefit. It was therefore no surprise that people came to see me as someone who could be trusted to get things done.

As a result I often got drafted (sometimes coerced) to join company paperwork computerisation project teams, long service awards organising committees, management staff association executives etc.

In most of these groups it was no accident that I had to often had to play the role of “Secretary”

Final Words

In the long run it all paid off for me, because I got to rub shoulders (and minds), a lot, with senior decision makers as a result of my exposure to the various groups and meetings.

What I learnt from those high profile interactions would equip me to later excel as career advancement opportunities came my way.

Without the use of my PATS I would never have impressed enough to earn those opportunities.

More importantly, I would not have been able to excel in doing those jobs like I did, if I had not used my PATS.

On a final note I will say that even today, I would prefer the paper version to the smartphone or PC based equivalents that may exist.

To save paper however, I often used the blank side of waste paper from printers from offices.

Alternatively, you can buy and use ruled notebooks.

Using a tool like the handwritten PATS I’ve described above, can help you excel as an employee.

Why not give it a try and see?