Latest / New Manager Conversations with Fexingo: First 90 Days, Managing Former Peers, and Leadership Basics / How New Managers Can Navigate Office Politics Without Playing Games
Transcript
- Lucas: New managers hear it all the time — 'stay above the politics,' 'don't get caught up in it,' 'just focus on the work.' I think that advice is well-intentioned but it's actually pretty dangerous. Luna: Dangerous how? I get the instinct to avoid the messy stuff, especially if you're new and trying to prove yourself. Lucas: Right, and that instinct is exactly the trap. Because if you ignore office politics, you don't escape them — you just forfeit any influence over how decisions get made. Your team suffers, your projects stall, and you burn out trying to push a boulder uphill by yourself. Luna: So you're saying new managers need to get political? That feels like a recipe for losing trust with their teams. Lucas: I'm saying they need to understand how power and influence actually flow in their organization. There's a big difference between being political — which is about manipulation and self-interest — and having organizational intelligence, which is about reading the informal structure and building relationships to get things done. One is a weapon. The other is a map. Luna: Organizational intelligence — I like that framing. How do you start developing it? Lucas: First step is to map the influence network. On paper, your company has an org chart — that's formal authority. But real decisions often get made by a different set of people. Maybe it's a senior engineer everyone trusts, a product manager who's been there for ten years, an executive assistant who knows where everything actually lands. You need to identify who those people are. Luna: And then what? You just start building relationships with them? Lucas: Not randomly. You start by observing. Who does your skip-level manager go to for advice before big decisions? Which teams consistently get their projects resourced? When there's a roadblock, whose buy-in actually matters? Spend two weeks just noticing. Then you make a deliberate choice about which relationships to invest in based on what your team needs. Luna: That's the part I think new managers struggle with — the deliberate choice. It feels opportunistic. Lucas: It can feel that way, but reframe it: you're building a network of allies to help your team succeed. That's not selfish; it's stewardship. One concrete tactic is to look for sponsors — people who will advocate for you and your team when you're not in the room. A mentor gives you advice; a sponsor puts their capital on the line for you. Luna: I read a study that found employees with sponsors were 23 percent more likely to get promoted than those with only mentors. That's not trivial. Lucas: Exactly. And finding a sponsor often starts with delivering value to them first. Maybe you solve a problem for their team, or you share data that helps them make a case. It's reciprocal, not transactional. Luna: So what about the common scenario where a new manager is caught between their team's needs and a stakeholder's agenda? That's where politics gets really uncomfortable. Lucas: That's the classic tension. And the answer isn't to pick a side — it's to translate. Your job is to help each party see what the other values. The stakeholder wants speed; your team needs stability. You don't negotiate one against the other. You find a path that addresses both concerns. That's the work. Luna: Can you give a concrete example? Lucas: Sure. A product VP asks your engineering team to fast-track a feature for a key client. Your team is already over capacity. If you just say 'we can't,' you look like a blocker. If you just say 'yes,' you burn out your team. The political play is to set up a five-minute conversation with the VP and say: 'I want to make this happen. Here's what we'd have to deprioritize to get it done in two weeks. Can you help me decide which of these three lower-priority items we drop?' Now you're not blocking — you're partnering on the trade-off. Luna: And you've also signaled that you understand the business pressure, which builds trust. Lucas: Exactly. You've demonstrated organizational intelligence. You knew the VP's constraint, you had the data ready, you proposed a solution that gave them a choice. That's how you become someone people want to work with. Luna: Another scenario I've seen trip up new managers is when a former peer — now a direct report — has stronger relationships with senior leaders. Suddenly you feel sidelined. Lucas: Oh, that's a hard one. The instinct is to assert authority, which usually backfires. Instead, leverage that relationship. Ask your direct report to introduce you to those leaders. Frame it as 'I want to make sure I understand the broader context so I can support the team better.' That turns a perceived threat into an asset. Luna: And it also shows the senior leaders that you're secure enough to learn from your own team. Lucas: Right. And that's credibility you can't buy. Let's take another common one: reorganizations. When a company restructures, the official org chart changes, but the influence networks don't always shift overnight. The people who used to be influential still are, even if they now report to a different VP. Luna: So if you're a new manager going through a reorg, what do you do? Lucas: Don't rely on the new org chart for context. Go talk to people. Ask: 'Who do you go to when you need a decision fast?' 'Which leaders have credibility with the team right now?' 'Where are the bottlenecks?' You'll hear a different story than what the official structure suggests. Luna: One thing I've noticed is that women and underrepresented groups sometimes get told they need to play the game better, but they're penalized when they do. How does organizational intelligence apply there? Lucas: That's a real and frustrating double bind. The research is clear: women who advocate assertively are often seen as aggressive, while men doing the same thing are seen as confident. So the advice can't be just 'be more strategic.' It has to account for bias. Luna: Exactly. So what's the workaround? Lucas: One tactic is to anchor your advocacy in data and team outcomes, not personal ambition. Instead of 'I think we should do this,' say 'The data from last quarter shows this approach saved us 30 percent in rework. I'd recommend we apply it here.' That shifts the conversation from personality to evidence. Also, find allies who will amplify your points in rooms you're not in. That's where sponsorship becomes critical. Luna: And if you're a manager with privilege, you can use your organizational intelligence to advocate for others. Pull them into meetings, credit them publicly, make sure their ideas get heard. Lucas: That's a great point. Organizational intelligence shouldn't be a zero-sum game. The best practitioners use their map to open doors for their whole team. Luna: So if a new manager is listening right now and thinking 'I don't even know where to start with mapping influence,' what's one small step they can take this week? Lucas: Pick one decision that matters to your team — maybe a budget allocation, a project prioritization, a hiring approval — and trace who actually made the call. Not who signed the paper, but who influenced the outcome. Ask three people who were in the room. You'll start to see patterns. Luna: And then what do you do with that information? Lucas: Start building a relationship with one of those influencers. Doesn't have to be a big ask. Schedule a 15-minute coffee chat. Say you want to learn about their priorities. Listen more than you talk. That alone shifts you from being invisible to being on their radar. Luna: You know, I think we cover a lot of ground on this show for new managers. And honestly, if today's episode helped you think about navigating your workplace a little more clearly, that's great. This podcast stays ad-free because listeners who find it useful sometimes choose to support us. If you wanted to, you could buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure at all, just a way to keep the conversations coming. Lucas: Yeah, and every bit of that support goes right back into making the show better — interviews, research, editing. So thank you to anyone who's ever chipped in. Luna: Alright, back to the practical stuff. One more angle I want to hit: what about when you're new and you disagree with a senior leader's direction? How do you push back without getting labeled as difficult? Lucas: That's a high-wire act, but it's doable if you frame it as shared risk. Say: 'I want to make sure we hit the outcome you're aiming for. Based on what I'm seeing, there's a risk that this approach could cause X problem. Could we test it on a smaller scale first?' You're not saying they're wrong. You're adding data to the conversation. Luna: And you're also showing that you care about the outcome, not just your own opinion. Lucas: Exactly. That's organizational intelligence in action — you're reading the room, respecting the hierarchy, but still advocating for what's right. Over time, that builds a reputation as someone who's both competent and trustworthy. Luna: I think the underlying message of this whole episode is that office politics isn't something you can opt out of. The only choice is whether you navigate it consciously or unconsciously. Lucas: That's the takeaway. And if you do it consciously, with a focus on your team and your mission, you can be effective without being manipulative. That's the sweet spot for any new manager. Luna: Alright, if you want to dive deeper, we'll link to some resources on mapping influence networks in the show notes. Next episode, we're talking about how to handle a team member who's clearly disengaged — what's going on under the surface and what you can actually do about it. Lucas: That's a big one. See you next time.