This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

Office politics is not a character flaw that some people have. It is what happens automatically whenever decisions are made by several people with different interests and unequal authority. Which is every organisation.

The version most people believe

That good work speaks for itself, that the org chart describes who decides things, and that anyone who pays attention to alliances is being underhanded. All three are comfortable and none is true. The proposal that wins usually had three people already agreeing with it before the meeting, and the person who arranged that was not being manipulative — they were doing something the rest of us had decided was beneath us. I held that view for years and lost several arguments I was right about.

What this course actually covers

Six blocks, moving from the system to the person. First, the map: how a structure is designed, where formal authority separates from real authority, what a matrix does to accountability, the leadership cascade, and span of control as a signal of where attention actually goes. Second, ten lessons on the practice of influence without authority — entering a team you do not manage, the one-to-one, working with engagement, burnout, development and difficult people when you cannot instruct anyone. Third, reading people: six personality frameworks, including recognising type in conversation without a test. Fourth, your own signal — what you transmit in the seconds before you speak, and how to change it. Fifth, reach: getting a message past one room and measuring whether it arrived. Sixth, open conflict — escalation, prevention, political conflict named directly, and mediation.

A note on two of the blocks

Sixteen of the forty-four lessons come from a people-function frame: partnering with a business unit, and internal communications. That is deliberate. It is the most thoroughly documented practice of influencing without authority that exists, because the function has never had any. The mechanics transfer to anyone who owns an outcome and not the resources.

Who is teaching this

I am Mike. I built the people system at Preply as it became a unicorn, which meant influencing every function without formal authority over any of them, and I have worked at Wargaming, iDeals and Alfa-Bank. More than 1.6 million students have enrolled in my courses across 185 countries, and over 150,000 specialists have gone through my programmes. I hold PHRi and SHRM-CP certifications and represent HRCI in more than ten countries.

What is included

• Lifetime access to all 44 lessons

• Active instructor support in the Q&A section

• A Udemy Certificate of Completion

• Working material: the six design drivers, matrix power distribution, six personality frameworks, the one-to-one structure, audience personas and channel mix, the conflict resolution algorithm

• Real organisational cases, including Wargaming and ArcelorMittal

Where to start

Take the last significant decision that affected your work and write down who actually agreed to it before it was announced. If you cannot reconstruct that list, that gap is the subject of this course. Enrol now and start today.