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Power & Conflict at Work

The scripts, frameworks, and political intuition HR needs when influence — not authority — is on the line.

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The Pillar

Start here — the foundational read.

Power & politics at work: a step-by-step HR playbook (with scripts)

A 7-step playbook HR can run when politics turn toxic — map the power bases, diagnose the game, intervene with scripts for the manager, the influencer, the…

16 min readAdvancedRead the pillar

Scenarios

14 situations, each with a step-by-step script.

Every scenario is self-contained — open whichever one matches what's on your desk this week.

Advanced15 min

Conflict styles in action: a step-by-step HR playbook with scripts

A practical playbook for HR — diagnose the conflict, pick the right Thomas-Kilmann mode for the situation (not your comfort zone), and run the conversation…

Open scenario

Advanced14 min

Managing up a difficult executive: a step-by-step playbook with scripts

A practical playbook for managing up a volatile, absent, or controlling executive — diagnose the pattern, build the contract, run the upward 1:1, and protect…

Open scenario

Advanced13 min

Influence without authority: a step-by-step playbook for HR & staff functions

HR, security, and platform teams have to get things done without owning the people who do the work. A 6-step playbook with scripts for stakeholder mapping…

Open scenario

Advanced12 min

Team conflict mediation: a 90-minute facilitator playbook with scripts

A timed 90-minute mediation playbook for HR — pre-work, opening, structured airing, interest mapping, option generation, decision, and written agreement.

Open scenario

Advanced14 min

Two cofounders in conflict: an HR mediation playbook with scripts

When cofounders stop trusting each other, the company has 90 days. A step-by-step HR playbook — diagnose the rupture type, run the structured conversation…

Open scenario

Advanced12 min

The high performer behaving badly: a step-by-step HR playbook

The brilliant jerk problem — how to keep standards when the offender is your top revenue or top engineer. A 5-step playbook with scripts for the manager, the…

Open scenario

Advanced11 min

Conflict on a remote/async team: a step-by-step HR playbook with scripts

Async conflict festers differently — silence reads as hostility, time zones distort intent, written tone amplifies friction.

Open scenario

Advanced12 min

Manager-vs-manager turf war: a step-by-step HR playbook with scripts

Two peer managers fighting over scope, headcount, or a shared report. A playbook for the HR partner — diagnose the structural cause, run the joint…

Open scenario

Advanced14 min

Power and politics at work: French & Raven's six bases of power

The taxonomy of where workplace power actually comes from — coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, referent, informational — and how each one ages, scales, and…

Open scenario

Intermediate12 min

Conflict styles: the Thomas-Kilmann model and when each mode actually works

The most-used conflict-style instrument in the world is also the most misused. The 5 modes — competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, accommodating…

Open scenario

Intermediate11 min

Conflict Management — Productive Friction Without Damage

Conflict isn't the problem — avoided or escalated conflict is. The Thomas-Kilmann model gives you 5 modes and a clean way to pick between them by stakes…

Open scenario

Intermediate18 min

Grievance Handling: The Quiet 30% of an HRBP's Calendar

A practical, theory-grounded guide to receiving, triaging, and resolving employee grievances without escalating risk or eroding trust — the workflow that…

Open scenario

Intermediate14 min

Conflict Escalation Paths: The Map Every Manager Should Have on the Wall

Most workplace conflict resolves at peer level. The risk lives in the middle layer — friction that festers because no one knows the next escalation door.

Open scenario

Advanced20 min

Workplace Investigations: The Standard HRBPs Are Held To

The investigator's checklist that holds up in tribunals, labor boards, and EEOC reviews — scoping, interviews, evidence handling, the report, and the…

Open scenario

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