The Cranky Middle Manager Show #312 The Future of the MBA Ken Starkey
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #160 Office Politics with Franke James
Posted on 16. Sep, 2008 by Wayne in Podcast
Today Wayne Turmel talks to Franke James, editor of Officepolitics.com about the scourge of middle managers everywhere- the hated office politics and “playing the game”. There’s no avoiding it, as the founder of Rome will tell you….
Officepolitics.com’s Franke James.
And the cure for the political weasels in your office!
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome behind the looking glass, gang. Today we take a look at the dreaded office politics… it’s unavoidable but everyone claims to hate it. We also look at Romulus, who knew what he was doing when he created the Roman Senate.
3:00 The quote of the week is from someone you’ll find a couple of times in my book, “125 Quotes for Whacking Weasels- Centuries of Wisdom, Motivation and Snappy Comebacks From the Cranky Middle Manager Show”. Marcus Aurelius is one of my favorite writers, and he knew a thing or two about politics… tolerate them or teach them- those are pretty much the options.
4:30 Welcome Franke James. Today we’re talking about Office Politics and her site, which involves good people like Marty Seldman and Erika Andersen. Office politics is inevitable if there are more than one person in a company. Of course there are also bullies, snakes, toxic people, princesses and of course WEASELS.
9:25 A lot of managers think if you just keep your head down, everything will be okay. It ain’t gonna happen.
11:30 Let’s take a look at an example from her site and how to use a mindmap to figure out the politics at work. What are the connections and relationships that impact you and your work?
17:22 What do you do when you are playing by the rules but there’s a weasely back-stabber screwing things up? Recognize the tactics and figure out what you’re dealing with. There is a line between paranoia and observation.
21:00 Can you learn to see the politics around you? Some people are just more politically attuned than others but they are learn-able. Franke has even invented an Office Politics Game to help them figure things out.
26:00 Has anything really changed since the first grade? All the types are still there.. bullies, pets and the like. Let’s rise above it…. yeah right.
Franke’s Resources
Kathleen Kelly Reardon…. Franke mistaken called it the Golden handshake but… it’s The SECRET Handshake
Don’t let the weasels get you down!
I just discovered this blog. With the risk of giving away my age I have a question. Would it be possible to receive an email with every update. I’m not ‘into’ RSS, I prefer email…feedburner.com has a nice (free) service but I guess there are more possibilities…
With kind regards,
Fred Schenk