Plotting On The Supportive To Hostile Axis

Political Mapping. A solution selling stalwart. Have we a new angle on it this week?

Along comes this gift direct from The House of Common’s leathered green benches. In the form of a leak from the heart of Westminster’s Official Opposition.

Beset by despotic paranoia, the UK’s second-largest party’s leadership appear to have commissioned an assessment of where their comrades truly stand behind them.

We know this, apparently, due to a spreadsheet printout left behind in a local London pub.

The scale was instantly dubbed supportive to hostile. Here’s the five levels;

Core Group

Core Group Plus

Neutral But Not Hostile

Core Group Negative

Hostile Group

Quite the taxonomy. The glee the right-wing press had quoting that the vast majority were deemed not to be onside was side-splitting.

So often (in the rare cases it is done) deal political mapping takes the form of a quick whiteboard 2×2. Those stuck in the cement of someone else’s theoretical process (even scarcer) may look to cross buyer types with degrees of influence.

Yet is there a quick check thermometer here to apply to a key deal at your next account review session?

Well, possibly. As a one-off this quarter maybe. It’s only a one-dimensional view. So can be used to highlight what’s just beneath the surface only.

Whilst that in itself can indeed be a valid exercise, note some of the parodies that erupted in the fervour surrounding the Parliamentary Labour Party.

The childish nature of the task was highlighted by altering category names to such as “not in my gang”, “not in my class”. As well as equating each Member with a superhero, made-up or filmed. Perhaps more ideas though, hey…