seshat's blog post - Power play in action

Well, lovely coincidence, right after my seminar on power play, I was "fortunate" enough to experience some manipulation techniques myself... It turns out that my co-worker (see blogs May 30 and June is trying to play some games with me and my boss.

Thursday I had a meeting with him to talk about my potential future function. I already sensed him trying to "push my buttons" to get me enthusiastic: glorifying the future position, appealing to my vanity and being demeaning about my current job. Especially that last tactic infuriated me, but I stayed cool. I spent the rest of the day thinking about the job, and prepared a list of remarks for a meeting with my boss, feeling apprehensive.

Yesterday I talked with my boss. This conversation revealed to me that the co-worker had been trying to manipulate not just me, but my boss as well... She was unaware of the extent of his plans, and (fortunately) didn't agree at all with them. I proceeded to explain to her how he had tried to "push my buttons" and had made negative remarks about my current job. I then told her that I had also asked him explicitly who's idea it had been to offer me this position: he had replied that it had been her idea, which was clearly not the case...

Well, I went out of that meeting being proud of my boss, even more convinced that I want to continue to work directly for her. And I felt disgusted at how the co-worker had tried to manipulate both of us into doing what he wanted. I'm not entirely sure, but despite him having a higher position in the organisation, bf has suggested that he might have been jealous of my position close to the boss, and therefore tried to have me transfered to a "better" position further away from my boss. But whatever the reason, my boss is going to have a serious chat with him Monday...