397. The psychology of office politics
The Psychology of your 20s
iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When we think about office politics, you might think gossip, favouritism, or power plays - the kind of behind-the-scenes drama that makes work feel draining. But office politics isn’t just about one-upmanship or ambition. At its core, it’s a very human process: how people build trust, navigate competition, and influence decisions in the workplace.
In this episode, we break down the ‘unwritten’ dynamics of office politics - why they exist, how they affect your daily work life, and what you can do to navigate them without compromising your values.
We explore:
• The types of influence and power at work that you can leverage for yourself
• Why office politics feels inevitable
• How to recognise unspoken rules and social dynamics
• Advice on office gossip
• The 5 things you should be doing at work to get ahead (ethically)
If you want to go into the office with less dread and more clarity, this episode is for you.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everybody, I'm Jemma Spake and welcome back to the psychology of your 20s, the podcast |
| 0:10.2 | where we talk through the biggest changes, moments and transitions of our 20s and what they |
| 0:16.4 | mean for our psychology. |
| 0:23.3 | Hello everybody. |
| 0:24.7 | Welcome back to the show. |
| 0:26.2 | Welcome back to the podcast. |
| 0:28.1 | It is so great to have you here back for another episode as we, of course, break down the psychology of our 20s. |
| 0:35.4 | Here is a story I hear a lot from listeners of the show. It is the story |
| 0:41.2 | of someone being fresh out of college, fresh out of uni, getting their first job, starting a new |
| 0:49.2 | job, being super optimistic and excited and they're excited for the security and for the paycheck and |
| 0:55.1 | like for the beginning of something new. And then a few months in, they encounter someone who just |
| 1:00.8 | like wants to make their life miserable, whether that is a colleague, whether that is a boss, |
| 1:06.0 | or they realize like, hey, like, wait a second, this workplace literally feels like I'm back in high school. |
| 1:12.5 | Why does this person have an issue with me? Why are these people sleeping together? Why did I not |
| 1:17.2 | get that promotion when I obviously work harder? Why does this person just hate me? I hear a story |
| 1:22.9 | about this probably every week, a story about office politics, about drama and backstabbing and affairs |
| 1:30.0 | and stuff that honestly nobody prepares us for in the workplace. We spend so much time at work |
| 1:38.3 | and office politics and situations like this do not get enough credit for how stressful they can be. |
| 1:46.9 | Because often part of the stress is we have zero idea what to do. |
| 1:50.6 | Especially in our 20s, we feel so helpless. |
| 1:53.4 | Our work begins to suffer. |
| 1:54.9 | We feel pessimistic about work in general. |
... |
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