About this course
Everybody says "that's just politics" when a decision goes somewhere the org chart did not predict. This course replaces the shrug with a map. It is for managers who need to read decisions they were not in the room for, for leads who raise hard points and want them to land with the right person, and for anyone who has watched a complaint, an alliance or a closed door move work they thought they controlled.
The first half builds the tools. You mark three kinds of decision and see where the chart stops telling the truth. Not Said by You gives you three reads before you raise something hard. Before / In / After shows that every decision passes through three rooms, and the formal one is rarely the one that decides. How a Complaint Travels shows why every retelling shrinks the facts, grows the villain and widens the late rooms that never heard the original. Cases take you through a stalled rebrand, a decision made on the drive back, and a complaint that got bigger every time it was told.
The second half turns the reading toward you. Who Moves Together shows that information travels on relationship, not on the distribution list. Who Holds the Door names the doors that move a career and who actually holds them. Your Own Weight shows what stops reaching you once people believe you can change their week. How You Are Read gives three gauges (Pressure, People, Price) taken before anyone looks at the work.
ENRICH (Ethnicity, Nationality, Race, Identity, Culture, Heritage), created by Duane K. Andrews and Sherry M. Jerimie, sits over the whole map: the politics look different depending on who is reading them, and the course teaches you to see that without making identity the only explanation.
Who it is for
- Managers and supervisors who need to read decisions they are not in the room for.
- Team leads who raise hard points and want them to land with the right person.
- Directors and senior managers who want to see how complaints, alliances and doors actually move work.
- Anyone who has been told "that's just politics" and wants a map instead of a shrug.
Learning objectives and outcomes
By the end of the course you will be able to:
- Mark who really decides. Separate who signs from who decides, and name the rooms before and after the formal one.
- Choose who should say it. Use Not Said by You to decide whether a hard point should come from you, from someone else, or not yet.
- Read the three rooms. Trace a decision through Before, In and After, and see what each room did to it.
- Track a complaint. Follow how a retelling shrinks facts, grows the villain and drops the late rooms.
- See who moves together. Read groups from what they do in the room, not from who they look like.
- Name who holds the door. Map the doors that move a career and what each holder needs.
- Feel your own weight. Spot what stopped reaching you once people believed you could change their week.
- Gauge how you are read. Use Pressure, People and Price, describe never diagnose, and choose one decision to take forward.
What is included
The Participant Booklet is the knowledge companion to the course: every framework drawn, every case, the reference you keep after the video ends.
The Workbook is the fillable PDF: prompts, cases and private entries you complete while you watch. Open the player to download both PDFs with your course.
Course booklet & workbook
The booklet is the knowledge companion. The workbook is the fillable PDF. Buy either one, or both together.
Chapters
27 chapters, 2 h 31 min of video.
- 00Welcome3:47
Who really decides, how word travels, and how you are being read. How to work this course on your own.
- 01Politics Is How It Runs4:40
The need nobody names, and eight models on two floors.
- 02Who Really Decides5:50
The chart shows who signs. It does not show who decides.
- 03Exercise - Three Marks2:32
Three kinds of decision, three marks, circles where you guess.
- 04Case - The Rebrand That Stalled8:24
A family-owned furniture maker, and a signature that never arrived.
- 05Why ENRICH3:01
A language built on contribution, not deficit.
- 06Facets and the Lens4:16
Where each facet sits, six checks on one moment, and two terms.
- 07Not Said by You7:42
Three reads before you raise something hard, and who should carry it.
- 08Exercise - Who Should Say It6:08
Eight true points nobody heard, tagged and carried.
- 09Before, In, After7:09
Every decision passes through three rooms. Most people only ever reach the middle one.
- 10Exercise - The Transcript and Two Notes4:13
One meeting, two notes, and what was really decided.
- 11Case - Decided on the Drive Back8:24
Three rooms, and Arash was only ever in the middle one.
- 12How a Complaint Travels3:47
Every retelling shrinks the facts, grows the villain, widens the late rooms.
- 13Exercise - The Relay2:43
Five tellings later: what shrank, what grew, who heard none of it.
- 14Case - It Got Bigger Every Time8:45
Five tellings, and the late rooms were gone by the third.
- 15Halfway2:56
One decision to take forward, and four readings that turn toward you.
- 16Who Moves Together9:11
Information travels on relationship. Read the groups.
- 17Exercise - Who Moved Together2:38
One meeting that surprised you, read with three signs.
- 18Who Holds the Door7:26
The doors that move a career are held all over the building.
- 19Exercise - Doors in a Row2:01
Three doors that matter, and one you hold.
- 20Case - The Client Dinner List9:34
One door, two holders, and a route nobody announced.
- 21Your Own Weight8:41
Once people believe you can change their week, the news that reaches you changes.
- 22Exercise - What Stopped Reaching You2:17
Your weight, what stopped, where it goes, one fix.
- 23How You Are Read4:22
Pressure, People, Price: three readings taken before anyone looks at the work.
- 24Exercise - The Gauge3:20
One hard question, three readings, describe never diagnose.
- 25Case - The Question From the Board8:18
High on Pressure and People, low and uneven on Price.
- 26The Whole Course9:16
Eight readings, eight answers, and a decision that is yours.