Stop Avoiding Politics
Good politics is just being strategic about relationships and influence in the service of good outcomes.
I tried to add comments on this post, but the whole thing is so good that you should just go and read it. If you really need convincing, here's the strongest paragraph from the whole thing:
The alternative to good politics isn’t no politics. It’s bad politics winning by default. It’s the loud person who’s wrong getting their way because the quiet person who’s right won’t speak up. It’s good projects dying because nobody advocated for them. It’s talented people leaving because they couldn’t navigate the organizational dynamics.