Ditch the politics and see people as people

Like it or not, politics is a part of most offices. The games that people play for getting a project or advancing up the career ladder are somehow part of the nature of every company with more than just a few employees.  In my opinion, the culture that this breeds is poisonous. Friends collaborate but individuals compete. The biggest problem that I see is when your co-workers and managers stop being your friends and become the competition.  This is most destructive in engineering organizations where collaboration is the real goal to building something awesome. By focusing on building friendships in a company, you can create a culture where politics are minimized and productivity is increased. It doesn't take some complicated team building exercise, just a few minutes to get to know someone and to treat them as you would like to be treated.