I am Autistic and a paper that I am working on involves a “political mindset” to solve a problem. I am seeing ways to survive office politics but I am not sure ultimately what it is. Please help.
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Since you describe yourself as Autistic, lets approach the question systematically.
First: what is the definition of politics. The Mirriam-Webster dictionary has a number of definitions of politics but the one that I would say fits best to our topic is
>*relations or conduct in a particular area of experience especially as seen or dealt with from a political point of view*
*^(office politics)*
*^(ethnic politics)*
Basically, it tells us that it covers everything from your professional relationships with your colleagues to how you conduct yourself at the office.
So to approach your question of how to have a “political mindset” and ways to survive office politics my definition would be
1. Be aware of your behaviour when you are at the office or speaking with someone from the office.
2. Be aware of how others might percieve your intentions when you are at the office or speaking with someone from the office.
3. How to act to get what you want at your place of work or from a professional relationship.
I understand how these are points are hard to follow for someone with autism so lets break them up further.
First of all, behaving professionally means not creating a situation where someone you are interacting with at work will feel uncomfortable or unsafe. This is extra important if it is a colleague as they will most likely have to put up with you for 8 hours a day every day (depending on your job).
Here are some good rules:
1. Wear clean clothes
2. Do NOT talk about politics or intimate topics.
3. Do not say anything that can be considered offensive (even if you don’t agree).
4. Remember to smile back and return eye-contact when someone is talking to you.
5. Do not arrive late to meetings or waste someones time.
6. Don’t expect an apology to be enough. It is good to apologize but its even better to be prepared so you don’t make the mistake in the first place.
7. Don’t expect an apology to be enough. It is good to apologize but it’s even better to be prepared so you don’t make the mistake in the first place.
8. Don’t be lazy. It’s better to take a few seconds to do things right than to try to haste something and risk having to recall your work to fix the problem.
9. Think before you speak. What you say as a professional carries a lot of weight. It is better that you speak slowly and comprehensively than that you say something that is incorrect or too ambiguous. Your words represent your expertise and you don’t want to risk ruining your reputation or worse, the reputation of your employer.
10. Remember to smile back and return eye contact when someone is talking to you.
11. (This one might be controversial but is very important to me) speak up for yourself. There is always a risk that you might be hired under someone less professional. It is then important that you communicate any problems with this person in a way that is to the point without hurting that person’s ego. If you let your boss or a client/customer take advantage of you, it will only get worse. That is not professionalism, it is masochism. You can not be expected to do a good job under duress and it is your responsibility to express when you or your body is in such a state that you can not do your work properly.
12. Communicate in advance if you need to cancel any appointments or if you are going to be late for work. If you wake up and feel too sick. Make sure you have enough time to let your boss find someone else to cover your shift.
13. Recognize your responsibilities. If you don’t know what they are, ask your boss. Make sure that you are told why that is your responsibility if it is unclear or sounds suspicious., Some bosses might try to shift their own responsibilities onto their underlings. This is not professional of them and if you suspect such might be the case, make sure that you get credit for that work. For example, if your boss asks you to find someone to cover for you. Make sure that his/her boss knows that you are handling your own time management.
14. Learn the culture of the region you work in as well as the office culture. There might be certain “traditions” in the office like a collective coffe break at 3pm every day etc. Make sure to attend these and talk with your colleagues. If your office is trying to create a friendly environment, then make sure that you are helping to contribute to that friendliness.
There is of course more to office politics but most of those topics aren’t relevant until you start getting responsibility over other employees. So nothing for anyone at entry-level.
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