Office politics no one warns you about

No matter which corporate environment you step into, there are two sides to that company. The first is the one you see on the website and social media or when you walk into their offices and everything is set in place.

The second is the invisible web of influence, favours, pushbacks and unspoken alliances that actually dictate how certain decisions are made. Should you be blind to these underlying developments, you may become invisible not because you lack the technical skills, but because you’re not a player in this rigged game.

Sometimes, the most influential person in the office is not the one with the biggest office but the one who controls the flow of information. Think about it, Executive Assistants, long-serving Office Managers and senior IT staff often hold more functional power than even mid-level managers.

They decide whose "urgent" request actually reaches the boss and whose calendar invite is quietly declined. If you’re a recruit or still learning the ropes, watch who people check in with before they approach the CEO.

The best way to do this is to treat everyone with equal professional respect. A bridge built with a gatekeeper is a shortcut to efficiency that no title can grant you. Best believe!

One of the most frustrating experiences for a new hire is presenting a brilliant, data-backed, well-researched idea only to have it met with a lukewarm "we’ll think about it," while a mediocre idea from a colleague is instantly greenlit. What you don’t realise is that strategic decisions are rarely made in the official meeting.

They are usually discussed in private chats and groups on social media or Whatsapp or Slack and finalised through quick phone calls hours or days before the meeting day. If a meeting feels like a scripted performance where everyone seems to be in agreement or be in the know, you missed the "pre-meeting."

This is a subtle tactic where a manager or a dominant colleague shields you from high-visibility, high-risk projects under the guise of managing your workload.

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The truth is, while it feels like they are looking out for your well-being, if you can believe that, they are actually keeping you on a leash to ensure things run smoothly, effectively preventing you from gaining the visibility needed for recognition or a promotion.

If you are doing 80 per cent of the work but have zero per cent of face-time with leadership, you must find a way to break from that shadow.

During those days, we all reported to work physically, office gossip was real and every hallway and office was filled with rumour mills. Now? It has moved to digital platforms. A mistake many employees make is assuming that private messages or "off-the-record" calls are safe spaces, forgetting that company-owned hardware and software are never truly private.

If that isn’t bad enough, a complaint about a supervisor or manager in a group chat, no matter how genuine it may be, leaves a permanent record that can be used to justify your layoff or a denied promotion for years to come.

If your primary social connection with a group is based on venting about the company, do not fall for that trap. Be the person who only listens and if you have anything to say, use private messages or talk to that person physically and only if you trust them.