Politics is a weapon. Whether you use it to protect or to divide depends on how, and why, you wield it.
“If you’re not playing politics as a leader, someone else is, and your team will pay for it.”
Leadership is political. Pretending otherwise doesn’t make you principled, it makes you a bystander.
You Can’t Protect People by Pretending the Game Isn’t Real
Office politics has a branding problem. It conjures images of manipulation, ego-stroking, and ladder-climbing. So, some leaders wear political abstinence like a badge of honor.
“I don’t play politics.”
Except, you do. If you care who gets funded, who gets credit, or who gets left behind, you’re in the game. You just might be playing it poorly.
Refusing to engage in politics isn’t noble. It’s negligent. Because someone is making the call about your team’s future, and it should probably be you.
Politics Is a Weapon. It Depends on How You Wield It
It’s important to clarify. This isn’t an endorsement of the toxic forms of office politics we all dread, the gossiping, backstabbing, credit-stealing, or manipulative power grabs. Those behaviors are corrosive and leadership should actively work to eliminate them.
Instead, we’re talking about a different kind of politics. One rooted in strategic communication, proactive advocacy, and building genuine alliances for the collective good.
Think of office politics like a lightsaber. It can be used to protect, to cut through bureaucracy, to create space for your team to grow. Or it can be used to slice down trust, hoard power, and leave others in the dark.
The tool isn’t evil. But it amplifies intent.
If you refuse to wield it at all, don’t be surprised when someone else uses it to reshape the battlefield, and your team becomes collateral.
What You’re Actually Avoiding
When leaders reject “politics,” they’re often rejecting discomfort: the awkward pre-alignment meeting before a big pitch, the mental load of understanding unspoken power dynamics, or the vulnerability of advocating for your team and possibly being ignored.
But the cost of avoidance is real. Projects get quietly de-prioritized. High performers are overlooked. Invisible labor stays invisible.
I once watched a promising engineer on another team get quietly passed up for a promotion to Staff Engineer. They were technically brilliant. Easily one of the sharpest minds I’d seen. But they refused to engage with their lead or teammates outside of work conversations. No casual check-ins. No relationship-building. No hallway chats. When the time came, leadership simply didn’t have the context or confidence to advocate for their promotion, even though I know it was something they deeply wanted and, on merit alone, could have earned.
Meanwhile, another engineer, less technically sharp but far more socially present, got the nod. They showed up to morning coffee even though they didn’t drink coffee. They made small talk, shared early progress, and gave others a chance to see their work evolve in real time. They were trusted. They were visible. Their impact was known. It wasn’t a breakdown of meritocracy, it was a reminder that merit and visibility are not the same. And in most organizations, influence depends on both.
The Leader’s Role Is Political by Design
As a leader, your job is to translate, making your team’s work legible to non-technical, non-close stakeholders. It’s to shield, intervening before burnouts, budget cuts, or misaligned priorities hit your people. And it’s to position, advocating early, before strategy is set and before others write the narrative.
That’s politics. Done right, it’s not ego. It’s defense.
How to Wield It Without Losing Yourself
Ethical political engagement requires constant self-awareness. Even “good politics” can drift, creating exclusive circles, unspoken alliances, or decision-making silos that leave others out. That’s why integrity isn’t a one-time decision. It’s a muscle you flex through transparency, inclusion, and reflection.
Build coalitions before you need support. Make others look good, especially when you don’t need to. Advocate in rooms your team isn’t in. Say hard truths gently, but publicly when it counts. That might mean voicing concern when a cross-functional partner proposes an unrealistic timeline, not to embarrass them, but to protect your team from silent overcommitment. Or respectfully challenging a budget cut in a planning meeting, not in private DMs afterward, so the stakes are visible and your team knows you’ve got their back. Track where influence lives - not just where authority is titled. If you’re getting early asks for input on key decisions, being looped in before priorities shift, or sought out as a thought partner in ambiguous conversations, you’re likely being seen as a trusted political operator, not just a task executor.
These aren’t tricks. They’re tactics. And if you don’t use them, someone else will.
Navigating Politics in a Hybrid World
Remote and hybrid work environments haven’t erased politics. They’ve just relocated them. Influence now flows through Slack channels, comment threads, and asynchronous updates. Leaders must intentionally shape digital presence: boosting visibility for team wins, building coalitions across time zones, and ensuring remote voices aren’t drowned out by those in the room. Political fluency now includes knowing when to DM, when to cc, and when to raise your hand on a Zoom call.
Measuring Political Effectiveness. Subtly
How do you know if you’re wielding politics effectively? Look for the ripple effects: Is your team consistently getting the resources they need? Are their successes recognized broadly? Are they shielded from unnecessary turbulence or misdirection? Are their ideas gaining traction in higher-level discussions? These are subtle but powerful indicators of your political impact.
Closing: Lead Like a Guardian, Not a Bystander
Yes, politics can be corrosive. Yes, it gets misused. But if you step back because it’s messy, you leave the floor to people who don’t have your team’s interests at heart.
You don’t have to game the system. You do have to navigate it consciously.
And when the storm hits, funding cuts, performance reviews, shifting priorities, your people won’t care how pure you were. They’ll care whether you kept them safe.
TL;DR
Office politics aren’t optional, they’re part of leadership. The difference is how you use them: protection vs self-promotion. Your team needs you politically engaged, not above it.
Because if you won’t fight for your team, someone else will shape their future for you.