BSS: Surviving Office Politics. Coping and succeeding in the workplace jungle

Never cut off options until you have to.

In this respect—if not always in others—they are decisive

If you see a moment when it is right to demand the earth with a 100 per cent chance of success, seize the moment; and let the rest of us know when such a moment may occur

There can be no doubt that a secretary, or at least a good one, is one of your most important allies in the office war

A.O.B.—this stands, of course, for ‘Any Other Business’

Planning is the first. Meetings do not just happen

There are two kinds of meetings: yours, which means you have to chair them; and those convened by other people, which you have to attend. The first means you have to do some work, but that you do have a degree of control. The second means you have to do some work if you want to stand any chance of getting your own way, as you have little or no control.

It is said that there are managers who:

• do not know what is happening

• talk about what is happening

• watch what is happening

• make things happen

A case is often best presented as a range of options. A range with one that somehow meets the need very much better than the others

Learn to be a good communicator.