By Ysolt Usigan
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Take it from TV's "Survivor" - you can incorporate tribal skills in the workplace to advance to the next round, which will inevitably bring you a handsome reward.
Alliances
Richard Hatch's final words when he became the ultimate Survivor on the reality show's first season: "I really feel I earned where I am. The first hour on the island, I stepped into my strategy and thought, 'I'm going to focus on how to establish an alliance with four people early on,'" he attests. "I wanted this to be planned and I wanted it to be based on what I needed to do to win the game."
Of course, "Boston" Rob and Amber took Richard's strategy a step further and displayed possibly the strongest TV alliance you'll ever see. The result? Amber won "Survivor All Star" and the two are engaged to be married.
Survival Tactic: The minute you step into the office, pick your teammates. This should be easy since your alliance consists of your group or department.
Professionals enrolled in Thomas Edison State College's online master of arts in professional studies (MAPS) program formed an alliance so tight that they became a formal Greek honor society - Gamma Epsilon Alpha. "We were together in a class and began relying on one another to keep the discussion board going," explains Susen Edwards, MAPS student and co-founder of the Somerset School of Massage Therapy. "Class became very lively and a core group of us became very active in discussions."
Bonnie Harris, president of Wax Marketing, Inc., agrees that forming affiliations via smart networking are key to navigating your way around the cubicle jungle. Before starting her own marketing agency, she worked in the corporate jungle for 20 years. "Alliances are crucial in the corporate world, [especially] the higher you go," she explains. "It's very important to network with a larger span of people so if a particular person begins to badmouth or try to hurt your reputation, you'll hear about it from 'trusted' sources."
Harris befell such a predicament while working for an Internet technology firm when a coworker tried to have her voted off the office island. "[Someone] was sending out e-mails to [colleagues] maligning my financial analysis skills and making up lies about how I got ahead [in the company]," recalls the former vice president of Renaissance Worldwide. "My [allies] filled me in, and I went to the president of the company."
Immunization
Though "who you know" is certainly important, who you are and what you bring to the table are key as well. Although Kelly Wiglesworth lost to Richard in the end of the first season of Survivor, it was her athletic prowess that got her thisclose to the million-dollar cash prize. It helped her gain immunity at critical points of the game, sending Rudy and Susan packing.
Similarly, physical skills are keeping current Survivor contestant Tom Westman, a New York City firefighter, afloat and immune during integral challenges that could otherwise send him packing. Although the tribespeople of the latest season have their eyes set on voting off Stephanie LaGrossa, who's seen as a major threat to their survivor fate, the immunity challenges will essentially determine who stays and goes up until the final tribal council.
Survival Tactic: You don't necessarily need to be physically fit to excel in your office, but you can gain immunity at work by keeping your brain in shape and educating yourself about your industry. More and more full-time employees find that hitting the books to broaden their knowledge, gain new skills, and stay abreast of recent changes in their fields is a workout for their minds and their careers.
Eric Hom, a computer analyst who works in the financial industry, plans to go back to school for that very reason. "The industry's always changing. There are constantly new developments in technology," he explains. "Keeping myself up to date will help take my career to the next level."
Because of a schedule that has him getting up at 5 a.m. and coming home at nearly 7 p.m., Eric is considering distance learning programs from schools like DeVry University Online and Boston University. This way, he can earn a master's degree when he has time to spare - on his one-hour bus commute to and from work, at night after dinner, and on weekends.
Time management and prioritization are essential tools to building your own corporate victory, says Harris. "We work in matrixed environments." In other words, you're often trying to satisfy people in various areas - in finance, your boss, your clients or customers, even your human resource department. "Demands come in all the time from different sources. You have to know what to do first by knowing who the most important party is to satisfy first."
When it comes to "Survivor," the contestants' main priority is keeping their alliances from betraying them during tribal council. When it comes to the corporate world, Harris divulges her number-one priority: "Make sure your strongest alliance is with your boss." This alliance is so significant that it grants you immunity in the workplace.
Tribal Council
If you don't have immunity, you might find yourself before your tribe amidst a vote-off. To avoid this fate, make sure not to alienate others outside of your alliance. After all, these individuals may be the ones to eventually decide whether you succeed or meet your doom at the unemployment line. In Richard's case, he won the Survivor challenge because more voters in the tribal council of past opponents chose him over his rival Kelly.
In fact, before becoming the ultimate Survivor, Richard ran his own business as a corporate trainer and consultant. Prior to the show, he conducted seminars on conflict management, team building, and public speaking. Many speculate he played the "Survivor" game to a science using his corporate skills on the island.
Survival Tactic: Overcome the vote-off and keep your position by enhancing your communication skills.
According to William A. Salmon and Rosemary T. Salmon, authors of "The Mid-Career Tune-Up: 10 New Habits for Keeping Your Edge in Today's Fast-Paced Workplace" (Amacom, 2000), with the increased competition in the corporate industry and the greater demands to do more with less, it's critical to use sharp communication skills to establish your reputation as those who give and get information effectively. "The challenge is to figure out how to achieve open, two-way communication as efficiently as possible," they explain.
Ask yourself the following:
- Who has the information you need?
- How do you usually get that information?
- What information do you have that will help others do their jobs more effectively?
- Who needs the information that you have?
- What can you do to improve the information exchange?
It'll take some training. Since you still have to keep your day job, consider communication courses online with schools like Ellis College of New York Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland, University College. Unless the real Richard Hatch is still conducting seminars, that is.
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