Don't Hide From Office Politics

Every, I repeat every, office has some degree of office politics. You may not enjoy office politics or you may just feel you aren't good at it, but whatever the reason don't try to avoid it. You need to engage with the other people in your office and even if you aren't "playing the gane" you need to know what's going on. And you need to control your part in it.

You may not like office politics, but you must master networking. Read Networking: Better than office politics to learn how to build your networks and use them to help your career.