You Need To Play Politics.

If you're employed in a large organization, an essential component of your annual review is how much your manager likes/needs you.

I don't mean this cynically or flippantly.

There are a lot of bureaucratic processes around annual reviews to make them seem "fair" and "objective.”

But they never have been, and they never will be. They’re based on set measures from ‘on-high’ (management/HR), how valuable you are (how hard would it be to replace you), and how much your manager likes you.

If you do amazing work worthy of the highest rating, whether or not you get it depends on how much your manager is willing to talk you up to their superiors.

And if you don't do amazing work, you can still get an excellent performance rating if your manager likes you.

It's significantly more straightforward to advocate for someone you like than for someone you're indifferent to.

So for those of you who don't like to play politics: too bad.

You can't opt out of politics. You can either play well or play badly.

Put some thought into where you stand, what people (your manager and his manager) think of you, and how you can get what you want, whether it's a promotion, quality of life, or whatever.

Next week, we’ll discuss politics and how to do it without sacrificing your principles.