Delivering consistently stellar results should be enough to get ahead at work. Keeping your head down and focusing on getting your work done should help you move up the ranks of a company. But, unfortunately, doing good work is only part of the success equation. If you want to prove your worth, you must embrace office politics. You have to “play the game” and navigate all of the tricky interpersonal relationships and sticky situations that go well beyond your actual job description. Observe how those who are rising through the ranks at your company communicate, network, and strategically manage their own careers, and try to replicate their techniques. Look for chances to talk to influential executives, and make sure your contributions are noticed by those above you. If it feels unnatural or uncomfortable at first, that’s okay. Professional growth often requires getting outside of your comfort zone. Adapted from “Great Leaders Embrace Office Politics,” by Michael Chang Wenderoth

When you give a presentation, you’re trying to change your audience’s beliefs about something. So it’s crucial to consider what assumptions your audience holds about your topic — and how you want those to change. For example, let’s say you’re delivering a presentation to potential university donors. You want to move them from being skeptical that the school will make good use of the money to feeling excited about the innovative research they could help support. This shift will encourage them to donate, so keep it in mind when planning your presentation. Ask yourself, “How do I want them to behave differently? How must their attitudes or emotions change before their behavior can change?” Acknowledge the difficulty of what you’re asking them to do in order to accept your idea. If you want to make it clear that you understand their point of view, explicitly acknowledge their concerns and outline a concrete idea to address them. Focusing on what people care about will make them much more open to change. Adapted from the HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations, by Nancy Duarte

360-degree feedback synthesizes many people’s perspectives about an employee and his performance, giving you a much more complete view of the person than you’d get otherwise. But gathering and putting together these reports can be time-consuming, and people may be uncomfortable formally criticizing their colleagues. So if you choose to implement a 360-degree feedback process, you should first explain to people that it’s meant to be constructive, not punitive. When gathering opinions, ask for specific examples about what the employee is doing well and what they should work on. Make sure to diversify your pool of respondents by asking several peers, direct reports, and internal and external customers for input. Once you’ve collected their feedback, select what would be relevant to your performance review and use this data to supplement your observations. Adapted from Performance Reviews (20-Minute Manager).

Negotiating your salary can reap huge long-term benefits. But most of us are reluctant to try. Here are some common excuses and how to overcome them: “What if they get upset with me for asking?” To avoid potential backlash, invest extra effort in how you ask. Let the other person know in advance that you wish to negotiate. Give them time to prepare, and meet in person, if possible. “What if they say no?” Stop thinking about how bad you’ll feel if you hear a no. Think instead about how good you’ll feel when you’ve initiated the conversation. That way you’ll be saving face if you have the conversation and losing face if you continue to avoid it. “It’s not like me to ask.” This is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Throw out this mental picture and replace it with an image of a person you can view as a negotiation role model. Adapted from “Overcome Your Reluctance and Start Negotiating Your Salary,” by Judith White

You’re in the middle of a heated negotiation with your colleague. You want to come across as confident, but inside you feel timid. During these difficult situations, there are actually two conversations happening at the same time. One is obvious: It’s the conversation you’re having with someone else. The other is the conversation you’re having within yourself about how willing and able you are to stretch outside your comfort zone. To negotiate successfully, you need to question your position in both conversations. When you’re negotiating with someone else, look beyond your stated position to find commonalities. And when you’re negotiating with yourself, your “position” might be that you’re unwilling to be more assertive. Dig a little deeper and ask yourself why. Is it an emotional challenge? Are you afraid of being assertive? Or is it a skill-based challenge? Getting to the bottom of why you’re unwilling to step outside your comfort zone is the first step in becoming a better negotiator. Adapted from “The Two Conversations You’re Having When You Negotiate,” by Andy Molinsky

There it is in your inbox: an invite to a meeting you really don’t want to attend. Maybe it’s shoehorned into one of the few remaining open spaces in your calendar. Or maybe it’s for a time that’s already booked, and now you’re left to decide whom to turn down. How do you decline an invite without burning bridges? Ask yourself: Can I recommend someone else? Invest some effort in finding the right person to attend the meeting so you don’t appear to be shirking the responsibility. Can I contribute in advance? Take a few minutes to pull together some notes and brief the chair or a suitable participant ahead of time. Can I attend for part of the meeting? If one or more agenda items don’t apply to you, ask if you can attend only the parts of the meeting that do. Adapted from “Polite Ways to Decline a Meeting Invitation,” by Liane Davey

Data can provide enlightening information to a company’s leaders, guiding their decisions. But measurements can be misleading, which will push you in the wrong direction. Identifying whether your data can be trusted isn’t as difficult as you may think. Start by clarifying what you want to know. If you are timing a multistep process, for example, do you want to know how long each individual step is or how long the entire process is? Both have valid uses but are quite different. Then see how closely the measurements align with what you really want to know. Strive to distinguish “pretty close” from “a good-enough indicator” from “not what I had in mind.” You may have to settle for a less-than-perfect measurement, but at least you’ll know exactly what it is you are settling on. And be sure to try the “smell test.” When results just don’t seem right, dig deeper. Adapted from “4 Steps for Thinking Critically About Data Measurements,” by Thomas C. Redman