Things You Might Want to Work On at the Office

Do you work in an office environment but hate your job? Unhappy with slow advancement? Not thrilled with some of your co-workers? Brace yourself: You could be part of the problem.

I’ve worked in an office my entire career. A time or two I’ve been less than a happy camper. On those occasions I was always convinced the fault lay with someone else, certainly not at my doorstep.

But I’ve been reading the “10 Office Politics Tips” from Womens Focus, a two-partner career development firm in Tustin run by Charlene Walker and Sandra Young. Walker’s background is in career counseling. Young worked her way up to management in the corporate workplace from a secretary’s job. While much of their work is targeted to women, their office tips are meant for everybody. Their message: Take responsibility.

I pass their tips along, convinced they’ll help you--and me. But be warned: They’ll be darned hard to live up to.

1. Mind your own business. Don’t talk about people. Right off, we’re in conflict. From the day I took my first assignment, I’ve never been able to mind my own business. I don’t just want to know who in the office is sleeping with whom. I want to know who’s driving a new car and who had to eat it on their taxes. I want to know who is in good standing with the boss, and especially who isn’t.

Don’t talk about people? My wife once worked for a company where a visiting consultant inadvertently left on a desk there a list of his previous dates and how he rated them as sexual partners. A short time later he called the receptionist, said he’d forgotten some private papers, and would she please lock them away until he could get back? Too late. She’d already run off copies for many of her co-workers.

2. Don’t choose sides. Avoid triangles. Another tough one. I can’t think of a time I didn’t choose sides. But Walker of Womens Focus explains: “We often see the people we work with as family, so there’s a tendency to want to step in between two people who are in conflict.” It can only lead to trouble for you, she says; stay out!

3. Don’t go above your boss without taking the proper channels. “Proper channels,” Walker explains, “are there to protect you. Also, taking on your boss without using proper channels can get you fired.”

4. Don’t assume you are irreplaceable. This one has never been a problem for me.

5. Pay your dues; earn your way. Often, Walker says, we spend too much time worrying about why the other person is getting promoted instead of us. When it happens, just get back to work, she says, and work harder.

6. Commit to excellence. This one eats me up with guilt.

7. No whining. Walker says that in her office you get five minutes to whine, then you’re expected to move on, get over it. For some it takes five minutes just to warm up a good whine. OK, today, I stop whining.

8. Bounce back--be flexible. Don’t take rejection so personally. If one project gets turned down, get busy on the next one. Great advice. But what about those who live for rejection?

9. Make your own boss look good whenever possible. I made a feeble attempt at this one today. I asked my boss: “You doing OK?” His comment: “I think so. Is someone saying I’m not?”

10. Practice spotting hot buttons--yours and others--and then avoid them. Walker explains: “Don’t irritate people you know can be irritated easily.” Also, don’t be so quick to get irritated yourself. Just relax. Cool your button.

How about taking this list to your office? Work on all 10 tips daily for awhile. Then give me a call and let me know the results. Walker says these tips can help advance our careers, or at least make us feel better about the jobs we have. Let’s see if she’s right.

Burying Time: Take a guess how old the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa is this year. Doesn’t seem that long ago the ground was just farm fields. But it’s celebrating its 10th anniversary. And its leaders are asking you to participate in its fun.

On Sept. 29, as a closing ceremony for the 10th anniversary, they’ll bury a time capsule in front of the center’s Grand Portal.

You’re invited to write a letter about “What the Center Means to Orange County.” The best of the bunch will be included in the time capsule. Send them to Jan Landstrom at the Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive.

Paris in Newport Beach: How many of you did not know that Sunday is Bastille Day? You certainly would if you’re among the estimated 100,000 in Orange County of French ancestry. That’s the day the French destroyed the Bastille prison in 1789, to find munitions to fight the king’s army.

The Sutton Place Hotel in Newport Beach--remember, it used to be Le Meridien--will hold its Bastille party today (a few days early). Admission is free, so you can listen to the music and watch the festivities poolside at no cost. Hors d’oeuvres and glasses of wine are a little extra. Party time is 5 to 8 p.m.

Wrap-Up: In the 10 years I covered criminal courts for this newspaper, I can’t recall a single defendant who didn’t see himself as the victim. Even those who admitted their crimes always had a reason why someone else was at fault.

So it jumped out at me when Walker and Young summed up their office politics tips with these four words: Watch the victim role. How many people do you know who always see themselves as the victim, thinking that everything bad at the office always happens to them?

“You can spend your whole life telling other people why you are miserable,” Walker says. “You get a lot of attention that way. But if you want to get ahead, you need to tell yourself, I’m here because I want to be. And then, get to work.”

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax (714) 966-7711, or e-mail (Jerry.Hicks@latimes.com).