In order to get ahead of the game, you need to know what is happening, throughout your organisation. And not just the official stuff ("the contract with XXX Corp will be renewed on the 23rd", “congratulations to Peter Piper on his promotion to Principle Pickled-Pepper Planner”), but other more important things:
i) You need to know the official stuff before it is announced. Afterwards is too late – you cannot either do anything to change it, or get invited to join it, or avoid it, afterwards.
ii) You need to know the unofficial stuff. Who is having an affair with whom? Who has suddenly started sitting on the same lunch-table as the Head of Personnel? Who is having an affair with the Head of Personnel? You can’t find this out directly (unless you are the Head of Personnel), so your spies need to do this for you.
Many Loyalists will instinctively spy for you, especially if you identify areas or individuals who you perceive as worthy of observation as “threats” to you. Remember your Loyalists, especially your Dependents, are dependent on you – they will not want to see you threatened. Others can easily be persuaded to do so. Because your team spirit will be based in some way around the “special-ness” of your area, you can paint other departments as trying to interfere with this special aura and more importantly with your staffs’ special place within it. Again, your Loyalists and sometimes other staff too – especially Extension staff – can often be persuaded to act as spies for you in this way.
Of course you don’t call it “spying”. It is “keeping an eye on Julie in Production in case she tries to take resources away from our project”. Or simply office gossip, in which you should appear – although most people do this naturally anyway, it being one of the advantages of working in an organisation instead of alone – to take a considerable interest. Not because you give a fig whether Edgar has got engaged, but because you do care whether Edgar is going to be interested primarily in his work or his wedding over the next few months.
Particularly valuable Loyalists either are, or have strong relationships with, PAs/secretaries and shift staff. These two groups always know everything that is going on, and the better ones can be persuaded to talk about it. Shift staff are best if they have the kind of jobs where they are “on-standby”, or spend their working hours watching computer terminals waiting for something to happen. Since this basically means doing nothing, they will fill this time with gossip and intrigue. Many computer-based staff of this kind also have a sideline in hacking, and hackers invariably need to show off their discoveries. Make sure they display them to your Loyalists.
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