Playing 'the game' at work

[nin9abadga]

unfortunately it's pretty much the same wherever you go if you're talking about progressing up a corporate ladder in a buisness discipline. there are ways and means though which aren't always about sucking up and jumping up and down in front of the boss and making him tea.

i have a friend who worked his way through some old school engineering companies and is now in Aus earning shed loads of cash, he used both of these tools (amongst other things obviously) but said they were really useful:

http://www.manager-tools.com/

http://www.manager-tools.com/podcasts/career-tools

It's also about opportunity, in some places there is nowhere to go or no progression route unless someone leaves, so in those cases it need to be recognised, exploit the company for what you can then move (in terms of training and stuff, not just nicking all the staplers).

 

[G18241]

i too...have just lost the game

 

[Andelusion]

It's important to commit to blue-sky thinking and touch base with everyone you work with from time to time. Although thinking out of the box is essential; you occasionally need to rise ideas up the flagpost to see who salutes them. Failing that, spurt bull**** continuously and you'll be fine.

 

[MattTheTall77]

After working in a marketing dept for 7 years you see how bad it gets, the bickering, back stabbing, smarmy, nastyness that goes on is crazy, and mostly the women, can't fully trust anyone as they're normally more than happy to screw you over to make themselves better or sometimes just for the fun of it.

 

[Macro]

Perception is reality, make sure you are networking and develop your personal brand

 

[Suarez7]

Also the amount of backstabbing you see in a company. I may have the odd dig at someone behind their back but when I do it's for a damn good reason. However I've heard people insulting the life out of a coworker to another colleague then 10 minutes later standing in the corridor laughing and joking with the person they've just ripped the **** out of as if they're best mates. 90% of people in the workplace seem two-faced and will do literally anything to get recognised.

 

[BennyC]

We all 'play the game' where I work. One of the first pieces of advice my colleagues gave me. Boss is a bit of a firework so we all try to stay on the right side!

The company is investing a fair amount in my personal development so I play it more than most as I want to progress significantly, more so than others. That said I don't loose sight of my morals and would be uncomfortable creating misfortune for others.

 

[Mr^B]

Why do people want to climb the management chain? Is it just the money? Do you not enjoy what you are currently doing?

I've been in the same sort of role since graduating (software development) and I've never felt the need to go into management, and my past and present employers were both happy for me to stay where I am.

If it's just the money, then find a company which doesn't have a glass ceiling for certain roles/grades. They do exist.

 

[Suarez7]

Why do people want to climb the management chain? Is it just the money? Do you not enjoy what you are currently doing?

I've been in the same sort of role since graduating (software development) and I've never felt the need to go into management, and my past and present employers were both happy for me to stay where I am.

If it's just the money, then find a company which doesn't have a glass ceiling for certain roles/grades. They do exist.

Some people just want money and don't care what they sacrifice to get more of it. Also as we all know a percentage of managers do sweet fa.

 

[GAC]

Being young and i guess you could say naive, it's slowly occurring to me that a lot of people play 'the game' at work to keep their job/progress in a company.

I've never really thought much about it, and i like to think everyone should just be as honest and straight forward as possible, but that isn't happening in my experience so far.

After receiving certain feedback from my manager, who had to be as professional as possible, but hinted at me needing to play the game a little more with the top level managers, i am left thinking..

How do you guys play the game at work?

and this is what is wrong with business in the uk, too many people faffing about with infighting and back biting about who's who in there office.

no wonder so many companies dont grow as well as they could do when people spend hours a week trying to back stab each other.

 

[The Funktopus]

Also the amount of backstabbing you see in a company. I may have the odd dig at someone behind their back but when I do it's for a damn good reason. However I've heard people insulting the life out of a coworker to another colleague then 10 minutes later standing in the corridor laughing and joking with the person they've just ripped the **** out of as if they're best mates. 90% of people in the workplace seem two-faced and will do literally anything to get recognised.

This. A girl in my last office was particularly bad for this, her greatest hits included:

Telling two people who'd unknowingly gone for the same internal vacancy that they'd both gone for the same job, in the hope it'd cause a falling-out or something. In her own words when bragging to me about it "because she likes to see the sparks fly..."

Backing me on one point before a meeting with management, and then doing a complete 180 and stabbing me in the back during the meeting itself.

I got my revenge though. I knew shortly after I took the job in the June that I'd be starting a course and a career in the following January, so I just had to grit my teeth and get through the following six months. When I left she got landed with the role I vacated, and by all accounts of a friend who still works there, is constantly taking time off with stress.

 

[Suarez7]

is constantly taking time off with stress.

It's always the ones who bitch and cause the bother who do this.

You can tell there's a problem in the UK when trends have been identified straight away in this thread.

 

[Dj_Jestar]

Why do people want to climb the management chain? Is it just the money? Do you not enjoy what you are currently doing?

I've been in the same sort of role since graduating (software development) and I've never felt the need to go into management, and my past and present employers were both happy for me to stay where I am.

If it's just the money, then find a company which doesn't have a glass ceiling for certain roles/grades. They do exist.

Are you me, or am I you? The number of threads that you have posted in with exactly what I have wanted to contribute is getting so high I am beginning to wonder if I'm in Fight Club or something :/

 

[Mr^B]

Are you me, or am I you? The number of threads that you have posted in with exactly what I have wanted to contribute is getting so high I am beginning to wonder if I'm in Fight Club or something :/

I don't know, what number am I thinking of?

 

[No1newts]

This is why I've never done well in my work, I refuse to play the corporate game. My bitter view and summing up is this...

Employees are judged on number of hours they spend in the office, and not on the actual amount of work they do. Frequently I would see people who I knew didn't do half as much work as me getting promotions just because they turned up half and hour early everyday and left an hour late. On the odd occasions I did need to work late, I'd often walk through the office and see people staying, yet not actually doing anything.

I've seen far too much nepotism in the corporate environment, family members of bosses given jobs and pay-rises often blatantly.

I also refuse to play the entitled staff member, I once worked with a guy who told me he'd go and see the boss once and month and ask for a payrise. My view has always been that my bosses should see how good a worker I am and offer it to me.

I've also never been on to blow my own trumpet to pimp myself. I've always done lots of stuff above and beyond my remit but I don't go running to the boss and say "look what I did", as a result I've always found myself massively appreciated by my colleagues but often overlooked by my bosses.

Good post.

I hate playing the game and in my review last year got told to fit more. I don't particularly want to socialise with work people as I have enough going on in my social life. I don't see the point in CC'ing people when there is no need. I do my job extremely well, much better than my colleague who does the same job but he gets much more notice and everyone thinks he's doing a better job because he emails everyone about bull**** just to get his name seen. He barely does his own job (I end up picking up a lot of his stuff) but he drops "Hollywood" eye catching emails and spends half the day strolling the office talking to people doing nothing. Most his employees come to me saying he's **** and he gets nothing done. However, according to senior management he's excelling

It's bull but that's the way it is unfortunately. Luckily I'm not bothered about promotions I'm happy doing what I'm doing, getting more time to myself and still paid well. Still irritates me though

 

[[FnG]magnolia]

uh

 

[pingwing]

I work part time in a primary school, the only game I get to play is rate the teachers. Some of the teaching staff are very attractive... It makes my day when I get to have the odd chat with a few in the evenings.

Probably should get a real job and play real games instead of just gazing longingly at the attractive teachers.

 

[LiE]

Sounds like you need a manager who isn't a douche.

 

[a1ex2001]

I'm not sure if it's playing the game or not but it certainly plays to trumpet yor successes and ensure you get the credit for them with the people who actually make the decisions. Otherwise it is all to easy for the middle management guy to take all the credit and the reward that goes with it, it's your career so be proactive don't expect the rewars to just fall in your lap you need to get out there and take them.

Those people I work with who refuse to play the game are generally the ones who've been sat at the same desk for 10 years doing the same thing and moan about lack of oppertunities etc.

As for moving companies to avoid the game it doesn't work in my experience as every company has it just in different forms there is always someone who holds the keys and the purse strings and it's them you need to have support from and they are the ones who need to know how good and valuable to the company you are.

 

[Sash]

Are you me, or am I you? The number of threads that you have posted in with exactly what I have wanted to contribute is getting so high I am beginning to wonder if I'm in Fight Club or something :/

I don't know, what number am I thinking of?