One of my core principles of office politics is this: You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, and know when to fold ‘em.
Cheesy as that may be (yes, I know you’re humming that country song in your head as we speak!), it’s broadly applicable in so many situations at work.
A lot of those scenarios are dependent on developing one key skill: The fine art of keeping your mouth shut.
Have you ever noticed that those who are the highest rank in the room usually say the least? That’s because, over the course of becoming the highest rank in the room, they’ve learned when to speak up and when to keep quiet. The earlier you can learn this in your career, the better off you will be.
Be warned: This is a difficult skill to master! I’ve taught it for years now and I still struggle with it.
If I’m in a bad mood, or someone has really done something to make me mad, it takes all of the energy I have in the world to keep my mouth shut … and I’m not always successful. But at the end of the day, you have to own your own behavior.
You can think anything you want about the people you work with, but that doesn’t mean you are obligated to behave negatively towards them.
It goes like this:
What if you’re directly asked your opinion in front of a group of people and you have no choice but to give it?
You have to think about the larger context. Count your votes – if you’re not going to win, don’t take a moral victory by voicing a descending opinion. Just say you’re fine with what the team thinks, or something to that effect. You haven’t gained anything, but you haven’t lost anything either.
So, when in doubt, keep your mouth shut. When you don’t say anything, you (usually) can’t get into hot water for it.
This was originally published on Zen Workplace.