Office Politics and How to Rock the Boat

We recently met up with our friend, Andrew Timms. A great time was had by all as they say. He told us that he’s running for a local political office and related a conversation where it was stated that “politics is dirty business.”

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His response caught our attention. He said:

We think he’s right and we’re not trying to be partisan!

But we’ve forgotten that politics is supposed to be a noble endeavor. The term “politics” has gotten a bad rap because we use it when we really mean partisan.

Politics is supposed to be about give and take. It’s the business of compromise. According to Merriam-Webster, politics is about guiding or influencing governmental policy.

Those are pretty soft words, aren’t they? Guiding. Influencing.

Doesn’t sound dirty, does it?

On the other hand, Merriam-Webster says that partisanship is “a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause or person” but they don’t stop there. They add “especially: one exhibiting blind, prejudiced and unreasoning allegiance.”

Now that’s a pretty strong indictment. Partisanship is dirty at best and downright stupid at worst.

Because everybody is wrong sometimes. And every group misses the mark at least occasionally. 

Bigg success is life on your own terms. It means you think for yourself. You don’t blindly follow anyone or any group. 

Politics and partisanship doesn’t just apply to government. We have them at the office as well. It’s particularly important that leaders aren’t partisan.

So let’s go back to the 60’s to discuss 3 bitchin’ tips to rock the partisan boat as a leader. C’mon. Get your mojo going! Are you ready to rock?

You say yes. I say no.
You say stop. And I say go, go, go.
Oh no. You say goodbye. And I say hello.
Hello. Hello.

Now that we’re through with our tribute to the Beatles, our first tip is to be careful of “yes” people.

We all like confirmation of our ideas. It’s a boost to our ego. But a lot of times, it’s the counterpoint that keeps you out of trouble.

As a leader, you need to go out of your way to seek out opinions that differ from yours. Encourage your people – heck reward them – for speaking out with a different point-of-view.

Wild Thing, you make my heart sing.
Thanks to The Troggs, our second tip is to be a political animal. Great politicians are great compromisers.

As a bigg goal-getter, you can do even better. Bring factions together to find a better alternative. Don’t compromise. Synergize!

When you get people working together for a common solution instead of defending their side, you’ll find a bigger win in most cases than what either side could come up with on their own.

Let’s get past the British invasion and …

Break on Through to the Other Side!
Straight from The Doors, our third tip for rocking the partisan boat is to open the door to other parties.

If you’re a suit, get with the geeks.
If you’re a bean counter, hang out with the pitchmen or women.
If you’re white collar, spend some time with blue collar workers.
If you’re C-level, get out on the front line.
If you’re an insider, solicit the input of outsiders.

Take these groovy tips and rock the boat on partisanship. You’ll soon be bookin’ on the road to bigg success.

How do you rock the partisan boat?
Share that with us by leaving a comment, e-mailing us at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com or leaving a voice message at 877.988.BIGG(2444).

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Thanks for hanging out at our pad today. Please join us next time when we get out blender to create a better life. Until then, here’s to your bigg success.

 

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00494-100509.mp3

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(Image in today's post from Manthy)