When Office Politics Work in your Favour

 

A Stylist Magazine journalist asked me to contribute to her article, asking me ‘Can office politics actually work in your favour?’ While she quoted me in this article, I thought you’d find my complete answer interesting, or maybe even useful.

Office politics usually get framed as something to endure or avoid. Something unpleasant, murky, or faintly embarrassing to admit you’ve noticed.

But there is another way to look at them.

When office politics aren’t personal or toxic, they are often simply information. Patterns of influence, attention, and decision-making that exist whether we like them or not.

I bet you’re someone who naturally reads the room, who readily notices shifts in tone, energy, or alignment. If that’s more or less true, then your challenge with office politics begins when that perception turns inward.

When you’re busy interpreting, analysing, or questioning yourself, office politics can feel destabilising. You start assuming that someone else’s tension relates back to you, or that every setback is a reflection of your competence … rather than noticing what’s actually going on around you.

But when you step back just enough to observe calmly, something shifts.

You stop taking things personally and start seeing patterns.

Not just who speaks in meetings, but who shapes decisions outside the room. Whose opinions carry weight even when they say less. Who interrupts, who fills silence, and how credit is claimed or quietly redirected.

At that point, sensing other people’s emotional state stops feeling vague or instinctive to you, and starts to feel intentional.

Instead of reacting automatically, you choose your moment. Sometimes that means speaking plainly and early. Other times it means pausing, holding your ground, and letting your presence do the work.

What you begin to do now is shift one or more of the 7 Credibility Levers.

 

7 Credibility Levers

These levers name the specific moments where credibility leaks for empathic, competent people, and show you how to respond intentionally rather than on autopilot.

They help you notice:

•     Boundaries – when to say no without softening it, apologising, or over-giving your time and energy
•     Voice – when to speak plainly instead of cushioning your words to keep things comfortable
•     Presence – when to stay visible in the room, rather than shrinking, rushing, or stepping back
•     Recognition – when to receive credit without minimising your effort or deflecting praise
•     Authority – when to stand by your thinking instead of watering down decisions under pressure
•     Responsibility – when to step back instead of carrying emotional weight or problems that aren’t yours
•     Judgement – when to stay anchored in yourself, even if feedback, silence, or tension shows up

Once you can spot which of these levers you’re pulling automatically, you stop reacting on autopilot.

Instead, you start choosing.

 

Paving the Way to Calm Authority

And that’s when office politics stop draining you, and start working in your favour: they become information. And that information helps you protect your energy, advocate for your work, and lead with calm authority.

If you’d like to see where these patterns show up most strongly for you, I’ve created a free Credibility Check-In. It helps you identify which of the 7 Credibility Levers are quietly working against you, and where a small shift would make the biggest difference.

Click below for instant access to the CREDIBILITY CHECK-IN

👉 https://jessbakerconsulting.mvsite.app/products/courses/view/1191534

One small invitation before you move on … In your next meeting or conversation, don’t try to change anything just yet, but instead, become better at noticing: who speaks first, who fills the silence, and what do you feel the urge to do when the dynamic feels tense?

If you’re willing to, comment below and tell me just one thing that comes to mind, or that you notice this week.

Warmly,

Jess

 

ps. You don’t have to change who you are, but you can change the way you show up.

Start HERE with the Credibility Check-In to discover the 7 Credibility Levers quietly draining your authority, and strengthen your leadership presence.