This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

Office politics is not a character flaw some people have. It is what happens whenever decisions are made by several people with different interests and unequal authority, which is every organisation. Here are 260 tools to work with it openly: 158 ready-to-use question lists, templates, procedures, checklists and matrices, 98 models and methods, 3 services shown on screen and the Decision Backing Map.

Open a lecture, take the map, prepare your next important decision.

The version most people believe

Good work speaks for itself, the org chart shows who decides, and 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 agreeing with it before the meeting, and the person who arranged that was not manipulating anyone; they were doing their job.

What changes after this course

You see how your organisation is really arranged and where power sits. You win agreement from people outside your line, build support before decisions, read people and your own reactions, and carry a message beyond one room. When interests collide openly, you handle the conflict instead of avoiding it.

What is inside: 260 tools, counted lecture by lecture

You do not have to take this number on trust. Open any lecture and read its description: every tool inside is listed there by name.

• 45 downloadable resources: the lecture presentations plus the Decision Backing Map
• 158 ready-to-use tools inside the presentations:
• 47 question lists and scripts: leadership role design, expectations alignment, business understanding interview, communication focus groups
• 38 templates and sample documents: conditional negotiation offers, resource request evaluation, effective message, communication goals planning table
• 27 step-by-step procedures and workflows: one-on-one meeting agenda, personal relationship map, difficult meeting management, interpersonal conflict resolution
• 20 checklists: negotiation preparation and conduct, persuasion rules, bad news communication, conflict situation formulation
• 12 scorecards, rubrics and matrices: RACI matrix, stakeholder influence-interest matrix, change resistance intervention matrix, competitive differentiation map
• 7 formulas and metric sets: onboarding business case calculation, stress and burnout cost calculation, five areas of communication evaluation
• 6 other working tools and 1 search string: Kennedy negotiation styles self-assessment, personal histories exercise, developmental relationships reflection
• 98 models and methods explained with examples: RAPID decision model, Simons levers of control, five dysfunctions of a team, social identity theory
• 3 services shown on screen: 16Personalities, MuchSkills and Workvivo

Where the tools are

• The map of power (3 sections, 48 tools). How the organisation is arranged, layers, span of control and real redesign cases.
• Influence without authority (4 sections, 108 tools). Entering, planning, engagement, coaching, development, exits and difficult people.
• Reading people and yourself (5 sections, 39 tools). MBTI, DISC, PAEI, team roles, your own signal, empathy and changing your position.
• Reach (2 sections, 46 tools). Getting a message past one room, channels, bad news and measurement.
• Open conflict (2 sections, 39 tools). Clashing interests, prevention and mediation.

Who is teaching

I am Mike, the #1 HR instructor on Udemy, with 1,800,000+ course enrollments from 170,000 students, and the author of about 200 books on Amazon. I built the people system at Preply as it became a unicorn and worked at Wargaming, iDeals and Alfa-Bank across 20 years in HR. I hold PHRi, SHRM-CP and HCI sHRBP certifications and represent HRCI in Eastern Europe.

At the STB TV channel the head of business optimisation reported to the board and sponsored many projects; when he saw where improvements were needed, he opened doors for them. At Wargaming the managers I worked with told me things that could have cost them their jobs, because they knew I would not use them against them. That kind of trust is built over time, not given on day one.

How to use the course

Start with the Decision Backing Map and the map of power, then go to influence, reading people, reach or conflict as your situation needs. Section and lecture titles show how many tools are inside, and each lecture description lists them by name.

What is included

• 46 lectures across 17 sections, 26 hours
• 45 downloadable resources: lecture presentations and the Decision Backing Map
• 260 tools across the lessons
• Lifetime access to all materials
• Active instructor support in the Q&A section
• A Udemy Certificate of Completion

Where to start

Take the next decision you need and list who must agree, who can block it and who has not been asked yet. Enrol now and start your first lesson today.