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: Alright, let's talk about something every new manager hates hearing about but absolutely cannot afford to ignore: office politics. Luna: Just hearing that phrase makes people cringe. But if you pretend it doesn't exist, you lose. Lucas: Exactly. And I want to be really specific about why. I was talking to a product manager who got promoted six months ago. Bright, great with her team, shipping features on time. Then her department's budget got cut by twenty percent. Her project was the one that got slashed. She told me, 'I thought if I just did good work, people would see it.' But she never built the relationships with the people who made that budget decision. Luna: Ouch. So she was playing the game by rules that didn't exist. Lucas: Right. Office politics isn't about scheming or backstabbing. It's simply the informal exercise of influence and power in an organization. And if you don't participate, you're effectively ceding your team's interests to people who do. Luna: So what's the first step? Most new managers I know are terrified of being seen as 'political.' They'd rather stay invisible. Lucas: And that's exactly the trap. The first step is to map the influence network. Not the org chart—the real one. Who does the VP actually grab lunch with? Whose opinion does the CTO seek out before a big meeting? You don't need a spreadsheet, just a mental model. And you build it by having one-on-ones that go beyond status updates. Luna: Give me an example of a question that maps influence without being gossipy. Lucas: Sure. You can ask a peer: 'Who else should I be talking to as I get up to speed on X initiative?' Or: 'When a decision about Y gets made, whose input tends to carry the most weight?' If you ask it as a genuine learning question, it lands completely differently than if you're fishing for dirt. Luna: I like that. It's framed as, 'Help me understand how things actually work here.' Lucas: Exactly. And once you have that map, step two is to build asymmetric relationships. That means you invest time in people who can give you something you can't get elsewhere: context, sponsorship, early warning of changes. Luna: Asymmetric in what sense? Lucas: You're looking for relationships where the value flows both ways, but not necessarily in equal measure. For example, a skip-level meeting with your VP. You get visibility into strategic priorities; they get a ground-level perspective they don't normally hear. That's asymmetric. Or building a relationship with a senior leader in a different function—say, marketing if you're in engineering. You get their lens on the company narrative; they get a technical reality check. Both sides win, but on different dimensions. Luna: So it's not about collecting powerful friends. It's about creating genuine exchange. Lucas: Right. And the best currency you have as a new manager isn't favors—it's your team's work. That's step three. Use your team's wins as your political capital. Luna: Can you unpack that? Because most new managers are told to 'promote their team's work,' but they don't know how. Lucas: Sure. Let's say your team just shipped a feature that reduced customer support tickets by fifteen percent. That's a win. But the political move is to communicate that win in a way that makes your stakeholders look good, too. You write a brief email to the VP of Support saying, 'Because your team identified this pain point, we were able to prioritize it. Here's the result.' Now you've built a bridge. Luna: So you're giving credit upward and outward. That builds trust. Lucas: Exactly. And when you need that trust later—say, to protect your budget—you've already deposited in the relationship bank. The product manager I mentioned earlier never made those deposits. She just assumed her results would speak for themselves. Luna: But what about the scenario where a senior leader takes credit for your team's work? I've seen that destroy new managers. Lucas: That's a tough one. The key is to prevent it before it happens. If you know your work is going to be presented at a leadership meeting, offer to share a one-page summary in advance. That way you frame the narrative. And if it does happen, address it privately, not publicly. Say, 'I noticed my team's work was highlighted in the meeting. In the future, I'd appreciate if you could mention their names specifically—it goes a long way for their morale.' Most senior leaders will correct course if you make it about the team, not about your ego. Luna: That's a really good script. I'm writing that down. What about new managers who are managing former peers? Office politics gets even trickier when you used to be equals. Lucas: It does. Because now you have to navigate both formal authority and informal relationships. The best advice I've seen is to have explicit conversations about the new dynamic. Say to your former peer, 'My role has changed, and I want to be transparent about how I see us working together. I still value your input, but I will sometimes need to make decisions that you might not agree with. Can we agree to talk through those directly?' Luna: That sets a norm. It also signals that you're not going to pretend nothing changed. Lucas: Right. And one more thing on that front: don't try to be everyone's best friend. The new manager who over-functions socially to avoid conflict usually ends up with no authority and no real friendships either. Luna: So what's the line? How do you stay approachable but not a pushover? Lucas: You stay approachable by being consistent, fair, and transparent. You avoid being a pushover by holding standards. If someone misses a deadline, you address it. You don't let it slide because you used to grab beers together. The respect comes from clarity, not from being nice. Luna: Let me ask about another common scenario. A new manager gets pulled into a conflict between two senior leaders. They're stuck in the middle. Lucas: That's a landmine. The instinct is to mediate, but you don't have the authority or context. The smarter play is to listen, acknowledge both perspectives, and then say, 'I need to think about how this affects my team, and I'll get back to you with my perspective.' That buys you time to check with your own manager or a trusted mentor. Luna: So you don't take sides. You buy time and ground it in your team's interest. Lucas: Exactly. And that brings us to the most important principle in office politics: always act in the interest of your team. If you're ever uncertain about a political move, ask yourself, 'Does this help my team do better work?' If the answer is no, don't do it. Luna: That's a good north star. Because politics without a moral compass just turns you into a manipulator. Lucas: Right. And you don't need to be a manipulator to be effective. You just need to be intentional about relationships and communication. Luna: You know, I think a lot of people hearing this who've been burned by office politics might be skeptical. They've seen people play dirty and get ahead. Lucas: And that happens. But playing dirty has a short shelf life. People eventually see through it. The approach we're talking about is sustainable. It builds a reputation as someone who is both capable and collaborative. That's the kind of person who gets tapped for bigger roles. Luna: I want to zoom in on one tactical move you mentioned earlier: the skip-level ally. How does a new manager actually do that without seeming like they're going over someone's head? Lucas: Great question. The key is transparency. You can say to your direct manager, 'I'd like to set up a quarterly touch-base with your boss to share our team's progress and get their strategic context. Does that work for you?' If your manager has any concerns, they'll voice them. Most will appreciate that you asked. And when you meet with the skip-level, you don't complain. You share wins, ask about priorities, and listen. That's it. Luna: And over time, that skip-level becomes a sponsor. They see your competence and your character. Lucas: Yes. And sponsorship is the highest form of political capital. It's not just someone who likes you—it's someone who will actively advocate for you when you're not in the room. Luna: I want to go back to something you said at the top about mapping influence. I think new managers often underestimate how much time this takes. Lucas: It does take time. You're not going to map an organization in a week. But you can start with one conversation per week. Ask a different person each time: 'What's the biggest challenge you see coming for our department?' or 'Who do you think has the most influence on decisions about X?' Over a quarter, you'll have a pretty good picture. Luna: And you're not gathering this for manipulation—you're gathering it for effectiveness. Lucas: Exactly. It's like a leaderboard in a video game. You can't play well if you don't know who has what power. And the better you understand the landscape, the better you can navigate it for your team. Luna: So let's put together a quick summary. Step one: map the influence network. Step two: build asymmetric relationships. Step three: use team wins as political capital. Lucas: That's it. And the underlying principle is always team-first. If you keep that at the center, you won't lose your way. Luna: If today's episode was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support. You can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It really helps keep the show going. Lucas: Yeah, and we appreciate every single one. It lets us keep having these conversations without sponsors dictating the topics. Luna: Exactly. So back to the politics piece—I think the biggest takeaway for me is that you can't opt out. But you can opt in with integrity. Lucas: Right. Office politics is just the informal system of getting things done. And as a manager, getting things done is your job. So learn the system, play it clean, and always put your team first. That's the path to being both effective and respected.