#psychology #games-people-play #transactional-analysis #corporate-world #office-politics
idea
Fall man is a game where Connected leads a failing project. Connected is an employee with good connections in the organization, and allies in the hierarchy. Before the project fails entirely, Connected gets help from Allied Exec to be substituted as project lead by Patsy.
Connected is re-assigned to another project, a move that is presented as a disappointment for Connected who really wanted to see the project to its success. Patsy is put as the lead of the project. The intent is for Patsy to absorb responsibility for the failure, and serve as the Fall Man, a fuse.
Connected is valued through their connections in the organization. They're in the inner ring. Maybe they are friends with Exec. On the other hand, Patsy is outside of the inner ring, and seen as expendable.
The apparent relation between Exec and Patsy is P-C, Patsy is asked to take over and be the lead. Exec plays a figure of authority, triggering an emotional response from Patsy given the trust placed in them. The real situation though is happening between Exec and Connected, and it is an A-A situation, a calculated move to protect Connected, and more generally the inner ring. The game is then formed by this crossed triangular relation AA-PC.
Getting out of Fall Man first requires to understand that the player is in fall-man in the first place. Once realization occurs, the game can evolve in two ways:
- Turn around: If Patsy skillfuly manage to turn the project around and make it successful
- Damage control: Since Patsy is already trapped in the game, it is a matter of limitting impact.
In both situation the first step is to assess how bad the situation is, and openly communicate on it, at various levels of the organization. It will be much harder for Exec to blame Patsy for the failure if failure is already recognized.
The composure of Patsy also plays a role. Remaining outcome-oriented, and keeping eyes on the impact for the business rather than individual can solidify the participation of other actors (e.g. exec or even Connected) and limit the capacity to serve as a fuse, potentially even buying allyship and turning the project around.
Damage control can be done by either personally getting out, such an organization is dangerous. It can otherwise be done by recognizing the failure of the project, salvaging what can be, and preventing the project to drag because of Sunk cost fallacy.
Finally the idea is also to realize that every political battle cannot be won, and knowing when to engage and when to retreat.
links
Development opportunity is often played along to sell the project to Patsy
references
21 Dirty Tricks at Work #todo: Add notes